It's twenty years since RSS 2.0

Podnews is publishing early today, to allow time to reflect.

• RSS 2.0 celebrated its 20th anniversary yesterday. It was the first version of RSS to include namespaces, which allow for extensions of the format; major namespaces in use today include those from Apple and the new podcast namespace.

  • Here’s more history: the first podcast feed, and the history of the word podcast.

• Apple Podcasts wants a website link for your podcast. In an email, the company has reiterated that your podcast should have a link to its homepage in the <link> tag (which you normally set with your podcast hosting company’s dashboard). Apple suggest it is an EU legal requirement that your website contains a legal address, telephone number and email.

  • Google Podcasts also requires a link to your homepage.

• Measurement company Podtrac has seen a significant growth in the shows using its analytics, according to new data from John Spurlock’s Livewire, a podcast research website. iHeart’s Spreaker, a podcast hosting company, appears to have added the Podtrac code to the majority of new episodes.

  • This could be an attempt to boost “iHeart” numbers on Podtrac. If so, there could be more iHeart traffic to be added: currently unmeasured by Podtrac are Triton Digital and Omny Studio, who are owned by iHeart, and iHeart affiliates, like ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia or Bell Media’s iHeart Canada.

• Amazon Music is celebrating two years since the launch of podcasts in the app. It currently has a 0.7% share globally, though is a top 3 app in Japan.

  • In the UK, some users are seeing an incentive in the Amazon app to play a podcast and get paid £5 ($5.70).

• Despite adding support for removing the AppleCoreMedia user agent in iOS 16, disappointingly Apple Podcasts doesn’t yet use it. Most podcast analytics assume that AppleCoreMedia is the same as Apple Podcasts, incorrectly boosting Apple’s figures by 4%.

• The winners of the Irish Podcast Awards were announced. Podcast of the year went to The Witness.

• Podcast hosting company Buzzsprout has added control of midroll settings for Buzzsprout Ads.

• The New Zealand Podcast Awards are looking for judges. You do not have to be in New Zealand.

• Billboard covers Spotify’s appearance as the new #1 podcast publisher.

• Podcast Hall of Famer Evo Terra is to write a newsletter on audio fiction podcasts: specifically, those that have completed (so you can listen right through to the end). The newsletter is called The End.

• Rebecca Lavoie, a podcast critic and executive, has questioned why the New York Times has not updated or corrected the reporting in Serial, after new developments in the case.

The Tech Stuff, People and Tips & Tricks all return tomorrow

Podcast News - with Lemonada Media

From Lemonada Media: Raised by Ricki looks back on and re-examines the groundbreaking Ricki Lake Show. Hosted by award-winning talk show host Ricki Lake and television personality and digital creator Kalen Allen.

Podland News has an 'extra’ episode today, containing a full-length interview with Persephonica’s Dino Sofos; a look at RedCircle’s new dynamic ads system for creators with Mike Kadin; and more from Eric Nuzum about his time at Audible.

Congratulations to the Accidental Tech Podcast for reaching episode 500. The show is hosted by Marco Arment, Casey Liss and John Siracusa.

CBC Podcasts’ Kuper Island has been chosen to be included in a Canada-wide education initiative as part of Truth and Reconciliation Week 2022, a program dedicated to educating students about Indigenous culture, the Canadian Residential School System, and intergenerational trauma. Kuper Island is an eight-part series that tells the stories of four students who attended one of Canada’s most notorious residential schools, where unsolved deaths, abuse, and lies haunt the community and the survivors to this day.