Podcasts go live in Pandora

• Podcasts are now live on Pandora, the US-only music service. “We are now introducing hundreds of podcasts”, the official blog post says. Techcrunch also covers the news. The app has 76m users in the US.

  • The bottom of their blog post contains details for submitting your podcast.

• Google is trialling a news radio station - kind of - on your smart speaker. The company is planning an equivalent to NPR One, which lets you flick between individual news stories. It’s unclear what this means for short-form podcasts currently available on Google’s News Briefing; and may be where the 60dB team ended up.

• What’s the average age of a podcast? Why, it’s 174 days, says Dan Misener.

• Spotify has published the most listened-to podcasts on the platform. Focusing on Spotify-exclusive content, Amy Schumer’s much-promoted podcast only reaches #4. Most popular: Fest und Flauschig, a German-language podcast. Erstaunlich!

  • Meanwhile, Canadian public service broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada have announced that selected podcasts are now available on Spotify.

• Anchor is a divisive podcast host. Rebel Base Media’s Mark Asquith thinks they aren’t the villain in the podcasting story that the podcasting elite would claim they are.

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• Global’s DAX has signed to represent OmniCast Media's Something You Should Know.

• In advance of a slew of “what will the future of podcasting be in 2019” articles, for fun you might like to re-read this compilation of predictions for 2018 from Pacific Content.

• The BBC has announced box sets on BBC Sounds, including a slew of new releases. Some content is exclusive to the BBC Sounds app which is only available within the UK.

• After Steven Goldstein’s post yesterday about the apparent failure of Google Podcasts to make any headway, Seth Resler points out that they’re the only podcast app without a Twitter handle, which speaks volumes.

• The Bello Collective have published their 100 Outstanding Podcasts of 2018 list. Also here’s Nick Quah’s top 10 in Vulture, and Sarah Larson’s Best Podcasts of 2018 from the New Yorker.

• Visual podcast app Entale has added bookmarks to their app; opened the waitlist for their Android app, and announces that they’re 91% funded.

• Song Exploder has a new 'guest’ host for 2019: Thao Nguyen. Meanwhile, they’re fending off very specific listener requests.

• Argentina’s La Nacion does a good job of explaining how to listen to their podcast.

Podcasts

Better at Everything calls itself a zero bulls**t, wholly practical self-help show for anyone who feels stuck. In season one, the podcast aims to help listeners not only conquer procrastination on a daily basis, but understand why it happens. We might listen to it tomorrow. (Macmillan / ART19)

For the TV show’s 15th anniversary Battlestar Galacticast is an “episode-by-episode rewatch of Battlestar Galactica in its entirety”. (SYFY WIRE / ART19)

Health Fact vs Fiction is a frank and fascinating mix of myth-busting and chat about all things health. The podcast aims to get to the heart of a different medical topic each episode, from the menopause and memory, to healthy guts. Bengo Media’s first major commercial podcast, it’s already achieving good download numbers. (HCA Healthcare UK / Bengo Media / Spreaker)

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