How many podcasts are no longer being updated?

• There might be about 540,000 shows in Apple Podcasts, but they’re not all active. In fact, according to Todd Cochrane from Blubrry, 75% of podcast [shows] are no longer in production, he tells Stephen Goldstein - a phenomenon known as “podfade”. Separately, Chartable’s hosting data suggests only 16% of podcasts on the free podcast host Anchor have published more than 9 episodes: that figure rises to 77% of podcasts hosted on the paid platform Libsyn. (Anchor is considerably younger, of course.)

  
  Aug 5 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Yesterday was GCSE results day in the UK, where teens hear how they’ve done in examinations. The Teenage Diary Podcast from Radio Stakhanov (the team behind The Football Ramble and Abroad in Japan) published a Results Day Special. “It was brilliant fun to make and packed full of memories of 3am revision starts, CGP textbooks, and being completely covered in highlighter for 2 months of the year.”

• Podcraft has launched a closed trial of Produce, a Production-as-a-Service platform. “It’s like working with a professional producer with guidance, insights, and best practices built from more than 30 years of the team’s deep domain expertise, and optimized by the latest data.” If you want a test drive, contact them.

• The Punies is a new kids podcast launched tomorrow by Cadence13 and Kobe Bryant’s Granity Studios, promising “listening entertainment for the whole family on the way to weekend sporting activities”.

• The CBC have launched their Q3 2018 podcast slate. They promise an audio fiction podcast The Shadows from Kaitlin Prest; Uncover: Escaping Nxivm investigating the alleged cult; and the fifth season of hit true crime series Someone Knows Something.

• WNYC, and owner New York Public Radio, has a new Chief Marketing Officer: Lisa Baird joins from the US Olympic Committee.

• Australia’s Southern Cross Austereo, which has the Podcast One brand in the country, claims 45m downloads in its first year of operation.

  
  Aug 5 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• The More Perfect podcast from WNYC is releasing a music album. Each track is “inspired by one of the 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution”, featuring artists like Dolly Parton, They Might Be Giants and others. The album will be released digitally on September 18th and will be available for free to listeners everywhere; here’s a track from Kevin Morby.

• Libsyn’s Elsie Escobar writes a guest blog for Jacobs Media, highlighting “5 Things Radio Broadcasters Should Know About Podcasting”. Especially, she talks about the power of the RSS feed which offers the freedom to “meet our listeners where they are”; at the same time as broadcast radio increasingly removes itself from aggregator apps like TuneIn.

• Hints and tips: BE Media Production post How to build your personal brand through podcasting; and VoiceMarketing explores the “close relationship between podcasts and voice apps”.

• Event: the Mid Atlantic Podcast Conference is in Philadelphia on 7 and 8 September.

Thank you to Himalaya, “connecting podcasters and audiences with interactive features such as tip jar fundraising, group chat and live streaming”, and to Lower Street, a podcast production and promotion service, for your kind support.

Welcome to some excellent new subscribers at SpliceCast, Podcast One, Voxnest, Squadcast, Slate, Fugitive Media, NPR, Gimlet Media, Blinkist, the BBC, SRF, Radio Works, StreamGuys and the Washington Post.