Promoting your show in podcast apps

• The costs of growing your podcast by buying ads in podcast apps have been compared by podcast app Fountain. Unsurprisingly, Fountain does quite well - but it’s a helpful look at the costs of each of the apps and how they work.

• An interesting example of good podcast ad-targeting on entertainment business podcast The Town (from Puck and The Ringer) - an ad targeting Disney shareholders telling them who to vote for in an upcoming AGM. (Thank you for the spot, Gene Monterastelli)

• The YouTube Music app is working on a silence-skip function says 9to5 Google.

• Blubrry has launched a set of widgets for its podcasters to enhance listener engagement. The widgets include promotion of “the next live show”, Podcasting 2.0’s boostagrams, trailers and more.

• Spotify is to launch Countdown Pages for Audiobooks, a way for authors to pre-promote new books coming out soon, for readers to pre-save the books. (For a second, we thought: that would be great for podcasts, wouldn’t it? But, of course, we have pre-launch trailers.)

• StreamGuys is to launch an upgrade to RevenueStream, a live audience subscription revenue product. It’ll be highlighted at the NAB Show in Las Vegas next month (W1743).

• Chinese independent media organization Initium Media is to launch Initium Reports next week. The media company, formerly based in Hong Kong, moved to Singapore in 2022. The podcast, in Mandarin Chinese, will be released twice a week and aims to connect Chinese-speaking communities worldwide through audio journalism and storytelling.

Moves and hires

• In Canada, Nina Sturm has joined The Podcast Exchange as Senior Client Partner. She joins from the Canadian Traffic Network.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• The Podcast Host reviews the Shute SM7db, the version of the SM7b with a pre-amp inside it, for why you might want it.

• Want to make decent podcast artwork?

Podcast News - with Airwave

From the Airwave podcast network: What Should I Read Next? is the show for every reader who has ever finished a book and faced the problem of not knowing what to read next. We’re currently enjoying “Number Go Up” by Zeke Faux, as it happens.

Oxford Road’s Media Roundtable looks at Spotify’s hosting dominance, the IAB Australia’s Crime Pays report, and media buyer and planner Spencer Semonson’s new phone. Guests include our Editor, James Cridland.

The Capitalism and Freedom in the Twenty-First Century Podcast had a scoop yesterday. Steve Levitt from Freakonomics Radio was the guest, who announced that he’s retiring from the University of Chicago, where he is a professor of economics. “I’m not going to be an academic anymore. I’m going to be doing what I really love to do,” he said. The show is part of the New Books Network.

Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs has been launched, with iHeart. The podcast itself is accompanied by an exclusive playlist on the iHeartRadio app with the songs mentioned. That list dates from 2021, and had more than 300 voters from across the music industry.

My Other Podcast Is… is new from Danny Brown, chatting with podcasters from around the world about their other podcast - one that listeners or their regular shows might not know about, and is the complete opposite of what that podcaster is best known for. It’s launching with a YouTube video podcast too.

Hosted by Nancy Twine, founder and CEO of Briogeo Hair Care, Makers Mindset delves into the stories of female founders and leaders, providing listeners with a look into the triumphs and trials of building a successful business while inspiring both business success and a life well-lived. It’s new today.