Spanish public broadcaster latest to threaten open RSS

• Exclusive: The Spanish public broadcaster RTVE is blocking podcasts from its national radio station RNE in third party podcast apps - and breaking how open RSS works altogether. One app that it’s blocked, AntennaPod, is free on Android and open-source, but its users can see but can’t download RNE shows - in a country where over 80% of people use Android. As we write in a special report today, it’s the latest in a series of public broadcasters trying to limit how the public listen to their shows.

• The New York Times examines video podcasts, and asks Who Is Watching All These Podcasts? - with anecdotes from NYT readers confirming much of the existing research.

• The Telegraph in the UK explains How podcasters are taking over TV, suggesting that “the bleeding of audio shows into television poses a new threat to traditional broadcasters”.

• Nick Heer blogs that there is no real alternative to YouTube for video on the internet. “If someone does not like how their podcast host is behaving, they can move their show. That is not the case for video.”

• The HigherEd PodCon took place recently. Podcast host RSS.com was a founding sponsor of the event; Greg Wasserman, who spoke at the conference, recapped the event in the company’s blog.

• The BBC Sounds app closes today to international users. Most - though not all - podcasts are available in the BBC app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• Mission Media AI has partnered with VSiN, The Sports Betting Network to represent advertising sales across the network’s portfolio.

• Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown has joined Impact Theory as the network’s first external show.

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• If you want to embed your Apple Podcasts reviews into your own website, a new tool called Podcast Reviews has just been launched. The service can be set to only show good reviews (!), and can be styled to suit - it’s just one piece of embed code. The author, Tanner Campbell, asks for support if you like using it.

• Podcast app TrueFans is now in the Apple App store and the Google Play store. The app is free, and offers ways to pay podcasters, follow your fans, and a set of additional features.

• The Snipd app is the latest to support the funding tag - which gives links for listeners to help podcasters fund their shows.

• Pocket Casts has added “smarter” notifications including recommendations and feature tips.

Moves and hires

• Sarah Kruger has been appointed as Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at IAB Australia. She joins from Seven West Media and Commercial Radio & Audio.

Tips and tricks - with Podcast Movement

• So, you’re in Apple Podcasts. You’re in Spotify. Job done, right? No - there are plenty of other places to get your podcasts into.

Podcast News

In today’s episode of PodBiz, our Editor, James Cridland, appears with Norma Jean Belenky to talk about the business of podcasting, including revenue models beyond traditional ads, the value of newsletters, building community, and some tech trends worth watching. Growing and sustaining a podcast? This might be for you.

Children’s audio network Fun Kids launched 360 Seconds today, a quiz show for families where they work together to answer all the questions before the timer runs out. The show’s out every Monday morning over the UK Summer Holidays, broadcast on the radio, as an audio podcast and as a video version too.

Hamlet is “a big creative swing at the most famous play ever written, taking full advantage of the superpowers of audio storytelling”. The show uses binaural sound design, and tells the whole story from Hamlet’s point of view - which helps make sense of an incomprehensible world. It had its premiere at Tribeca earlier this year.

The Daily Friday was launched by Almost Friday Media at the end of last week. It’s the podcast companion to the successful Daily Friday Newsletter which has 170k+ loyal subscribers. Hosted by comedian Jack Lawler, the show breaks down news from the week every Friday: insane headlines, wild takes, absurd viral trends, and featuring guests ranging from subject matter experts to comedians.

Is video really the next big thing? How can podcasts make money? And what is a podcast anyway? 🤔 In the latest episode of AMPLIFY, Podnews Editor James Cridland talks with Max Conrad about what was, what is, and what will be relevant in the podcast industry - and a shot at answering what podcasting is in 2025.

In a recent episode of Scientista, Bill Nye The Science Guy reveals how he predicted social media’s impact on attention spans. He says that he was designing content for the social media age back in the 1990s, deliberately structuring his show around 45-second segments: the same rapid-fire pace he observed people using when flipping through magazines. “We anticipated this thing that kids are doing with their electric phones where you watch things very quickly,” Nye explained.

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