RØDE launch Vlogger Kits

• RØDE Microphones has launched a set of all-in-one filmmaking kits for vloggers, including a microphone, gimbal phone grip and LED light. Aptly, here’s a YouTube video.

• First look: Podimo is to translate and adapt iHeartMedia podcasts for listeners globally. The first podcast for the project is Forgotten: Women of Juárez, to be translated into Spanish, German and Danish.

• “We see podcasts as a way to lean in – it’s driven by personalities, and personality driven media is the way to connect with consumers,” said Kevin Welsh, Senior Marketing Manager at Molson Coors in a recent webinar with AdResultsMedia, which you can watch now.

• How did African podcasters deal with a rocky 2020? An Oral History by African Podcasters in 2020 is a free event this Friday, including podcasters from Angola, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and more.

• Triton Digital have published their latest LATAM Podcast Report. There are two new companies being measured: Sonoro Media and the audio·ad Podcast Network. The #1 remains O Assunto, a Portuguese-language news show. An incomplete ranker, it measures participating publishers only.

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• Use Spreaker? It’s now easier to share your content on social media with Headliner integration.

• If you’re still on Mac OS Mojave, and you use Safari, Libsyn reckons Apple has broken something in a recent update. They’re suggesting you use Chrome or Firefox instead.

  • According to investors Greystone Capital, Libsyn is “cheap, growing, with catalysts on the horizon”, adding “unlike Anchor, Megaphone and Wondery, LSYN is profitable, and highly cash generative”. Ouch. Libsyn is still looking for a new CEO.

• Automation and programmatic advertising is less than 15% of Acast Australia’s business currently, according to the company’s MD, Henrik Isaksson. He says his first fully independent quarter was the company’s best-ever, and reckons he’ll pull more money from radio in future. (Acast used to be in partnership with radio company NOVA Entertainment).

• Corey Layton and Stephanie Coombes from ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network is interviewed, saying that for their radio group, the incremental revenue from podcasting is rapidly growing.

• Richard Stern, ex Audible, is the new CEO of TuneIn. Juliette Morris appears to have left the company after 18 months as TuneIn’s CEO.

  
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• The BBC has launched a new synthetic voice which reads out website pages. Here’s a typical page with the synthetic voice on it.

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Tips and tricks

• The Top 10 Reasons Why Podcasts Fail

• If you try telling data stories in podcasts, keep simplifying, says podcaster, author and economist Tim Harford. Particularly, he says, drop the decimal places: they’re probably not important.

Podcast News - with Vurbl

On Vurbl Voices - get to know the co-founders of Vurbl with a behind the scenes launch episode. They talk about why they’re building the platform, developing the team, what they’re excited about most for Vurbl and what creators and listeners can expect from the platform. Listen on Vurbl

I’m Not A Monster is the first collaboration between PBS and the BBC - a tale of one family’s journey from Indiana to the Islamic State group, where they were forced to threaten the US President in a propaganda video. It launched this week. It’s also the first time that the BBC Sounds app is being deliberately marketed outside of the UK.

As lockdown 2.0 endures in the UK, the mental health crisis faces another huge challenge. Writer and actor Shaun Nolan has created a new podcast, What I’m Grateful for Today, which highlights the importance of gratitude in these uncertain times. The podcast has a different guest each week, discussing three things they’re grateful for right now.