Podimo hits a million paid podcast subscribers

• Breaking: Subscription-based podcast and audiobook company Podimo has hit 1 million paid global subscribers, the company announced this morning. The five year-old company is profitable in three of its markets, and operates in Europe and Latin America.

• Audiochuck, the podcast company run by Ashley Flowers, has received $40mn in investment from the Chernin Group. The company turned a profit of $45mn last year, reports Bloomberg. She’s looking to expand her staff to 130.

• Dan Bongino, who had Donald Trump on his podcast before the election, has been named the deputy director of the FBI. The Dan Bongino Show does around 322,000 downloads per episode, as well as being syndicated across radio stations in the US, as a replacement for Rush Limbaugh. “We extend our heartfelt congratulations,” said Cumulus Media. “Dan has entertained and informed tens of millions of listeners every day and we are grateful for our successful partnership. We look forward to welcoming Dan back in the future.” His last show will be Friday, March 14th.

• Exclusive: Evergreen Podcasts and Rhapsody Voices have announced a new partnership with Airship, and the IP acquisition of its American Criminal podcast.

• Podsights will reveal the Q4/2024 Performance Benchmarks report in a webinar this week. Attendees will get the new data a week before everyone else. It’s free to sign up.

  • One exclusive piece of information we’ve gleaned: promo codes and vanity URLs only capture around 15% of podcast-driven conversions, the data will say.22 Those podcast ads are driving much more impact than anyone would realise.

• YouTube is planning a “Premium Lite” tier, for viewers in the US, Australia, Germany and Thailand. It’ll offer most programming, says Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman, including podcasts, without ads; music videos will still include ads, though.

  • As a Podnews reader, we’ve got you a special 25%-off discount on Ashley’s Soundbite newsletter, and the rest of the company’s tech newsletters, for a whole year.

• The British Podcast Awards are now open for entry. Among the new categories is a video innovation award, for “outstanding visual podcasting, including editing, production, and audience engagement in video format.”

• Eurowaves has launched a Google Group of European podcasters - and it’s celebrating its 200th member already. If you’re into podcasts in Europe, it’s free to join.

• Archives and new performance samples from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop are now available for purchase - the unit was responsible for music and sound effects from Doctor Who to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. More than a thousand sounds are available in a plugin. Here’s a little more history.

• Audio ads grew by 17.8% in Australia, says the IAB in a new report today; the market is now AUD $313mn (US $200mn).

• Who are the people behind The MeidasTouch Podcast? The Daily Beast digs in to one of the shows that has de-throned Joe Rogan to be #1.

• iHeart’s payment of $961,000 to Ted Cruz’s super PAC was all fine, according to the Federal Election Commission. Even though Cruz went to iHeart for meetings and hosted the show three times a week, he never thought to ask where the money was going, said the FEC, and that’s all fine with them.

• The Journal of Radio and Audio Media has issued a call for papers about “the turn to podcasts as a mass campaign medium”.

• Amplifi Media’s Steve Goldstein talks to Cumulus Media’s Pierre Bouvard about how podcasting can reach $5bn …

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

Apple Podcasts has officially supported its second Podcasting 2.0 feature. The new “claim your show” tool, which is also used to transfer show ownership from one account to another, uses the podcast:txt feature to put a token within a podcaster’s RSS feed.

Yet, Apple Podcasts has also launched its own proprietary tag to achieve the same thing, itunes:applepodcastsverify. This is the first time the company has produced an alternative tag of its own to go alongside an open tag from the Podcasting 2.0 project; the podcast:transcript tag doesn’t have an iTunes alternative.

We’re unclear quite why Apple has chosen two duplicate tags here.

Tips and tricks - with Pod Predictor by Coleman Insights

• What if you can’t do a new podcast episode every week? There are still options, says Rachel Corbett.

Podcast News - with Memberful

Using Memberful: PodCraft teaches the entire art of podcasting, from launching your show, to growing your own (or your company’s!) legion of fanatical fans.

From The Telegraph in the UK, Ukraine: The Latest is to publish in both English and, using AI, Ukranian from today. The AI tool has been developed by The Telegraph, and will retain the cadence and nuances of the original presenters.

White Smoke - The Path to a New Pope is new today, examining the carefully preserved ceremonies, protocols, and traditions that have guided papal transitions throughout history. The show explores how the Catholic Church has perfected its sacred traditions of leadership transition over two millennia. It’s from Caloroga Shark Media.