Podimo reflects on 2023

• Podcast and audiobook subscription service Podimo has released Podimo Reflect, a look back for subscribers to see what they listened to in 2023. Insights include a decline in popularity from true crime in Finland and Norway, growth in news and politics for listeners in Spain and the Netherlands, and a feast of filth for naughty Germans.

• Tom Connaughton, the Managing Director of Spotify UK & Ireland, has announced that he has left the company. His announcement appears to have been made a week after Spotify announced 1,500 job cuts. He had worked for the company since 2018, moving from Vevo and MySpace.

• From The Times in the UK, Off Air with Jane Garvey and Fi Glover has hit 10mn downloads after its launch 14 months ago. The release suggests that Fortunately, the broadcasters’ previous podcast when at the BBC, achieved an average of 6mn a year.

• Exclusive: Airwave has signed History That Doesn’t Suck! The podcast network will work with the podcast’s host Professor Greg Jackson in distribution, monetisation and marketing of the popular show, which gets one million downloads a month.

• Have you spotted a theme in your favourite audio fiction shows? Audio fiction newsletter The End is thinking of a way to identify thematically similar audio shows, and is looking for your help in compiling a list.

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• Magellan AI published its November 2023 top spenders in podcast advertising list. BetterHelp is still #1. Apple is #4, with ads like this. (Spotify and Google aren’t in the list).

• A new website, Podcast Script Generator, claims to write a podcast script for either a daily news show or a true crime show. Here’s a copy of an example script about the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland, as an example, generated in less than ten minutes.

• An interesting spot (thank you Steffen) - a German community radio website which offers a personalised RSS feed for the shows and content you want. You can even choose “English stuff only”.

Podcast promotion in the wild

Spotted by Sophia Franklin in a London train, not just one - more than two - three ads for audio content. “It made me SO happy to see it”, she posted on LinkedIn.

Spot some marketing for podcasts in the real world? Hit reply and send us a (landscape) photograph.