Brits love podcasts on smart TVs

• Smart TVs are the new place to watch podcasts, according to new data released this week from Signal Hill Insights and FlightStory - with almost half of UK podcast consumers using their smartTV to watch podcasts. The data suggests that podcasts are competing directly with linear TV and streaming, and most consumption happens 7pm-11pm. It’s, says Paul Riismandel, “a fundamental shift in how UK audiences are spending their evenings.” FlightStory also released its own data alongside the study. (Of note: while you can watch Spotify video podcasts, Apple Podcasts has no support for video on TV as yet - and, unlike Apple TV, doesn’t have an app on other platforms.)

  • Our take: For this audience, video is probably a required part of the experience, although the full research says 21% used their smart TV just to listen. This might also be a marketing opportunity: 42% say they consumed a podcast on a Smart TV with someone else (the typical number for co-listening to audio podcasts on a phone is around 10%).

• Supporting Cast claimed yesterday that it was the first podcast subscription platform to deliver gated, subscriber-only podcast video on Spotify. Competitors Supercast beg to differ: they claim Supercast has had creators publishing gated video on Spotify since April 27th. The upshot of all of this is that we now have twice the opportunity to offer video as a paid-for upsell (on Spotify).

• Just a day after we carried an Ankler story with a senior Spotify executive saying they don’t do exclusives any more, Spotify has signed an exclusive, alongside Netflix, for Jay Shetty’s On Purpose. The deal is reportedly worth $100mn. We’d reported he was leaving iHeart back in March. The show will be no longer posted onto YouTube; but will be available as audio on all podcast platforms; Spotify will handle ad-sales.

• You can now save and share clips of your favourite podcast on Spotify, with a new tool that is rolling out from today. “Availability expanding across more shows over time” seems to suggest that this is restricted only to certain podcasts; we’ve asked for clarification.

• YouTube is to make AI labelling clearer on its platform. Labels will be visible on, or near, all videos that have been generated by AI.

  • Our take: This is in stark contrast to podcasting, which - in spite of an AI label proposal for creators within RSS - makes no effort to label AI generated material in a meaningful and consistent way; and where guidelines exist, they are not enforced.

• Punchup Live has launched a new podcast tool - built to unify podcast subscriptions, premium content and live ticketing in one ecosystem. The opportunity to sell tickets positions the company around the live entertainment economy.

• Digital ad platform Azerion has integrated the Spotify Ad Exchange into Hawk DSP, to simplify purchasing for advertisers.

• NPR made around 30 layoffs. The cuts were made to the broadcaster’s newsroom as part of a restructure … meanwhile, Irish broadcaster Onic, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, is to shed a number of staff.

Podseo turns episodes into social posts — automatically

Paid content

Podseo is rolling out tools that help podcasters extend the reach of every episode without extra production work.

The platform already generates short Instagram Reels from podcast audio, surfacing the strongest moments and packaging them ready to publish. Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn support is in active development, giving creators a single workflow for cross-platform clips.

Next on the roadmap: automatic posting of new episode extracts the moment they’re released, and a built-in scheduler so podcasters can plan a steady drumbeat of social content across the week — no manual cropping, captioning or uploading required.

The goal is simple: turn the hours of audio podcasters already produce into discoverable, shareable moments that bring new listeners back to the show.

Try it free at podseo.com

Tips and tricks - with The Podcast Show London

• Podcasts for the deaf, or for the hard of hearing, are a thing: with plenty of help from many podcast apps to allow everyone to enjoy them.
• Bill Wyman hates your podcast. Not for one reason - for 23 of them. How many of these are you guilty of?

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: Fast Company Daily yesterday published advice on the secret to getting assigned high-value projects. Stories, tips, and advice on how employees, managers, and businesses are working smarter, all from Fast Company and all in less than five minutes each weekday.

Simon Calder, a UK travel expert, is to host a podcast for The Telegraph. The Travel Expert will launch in June. Calder will also deliver his characteristically straight-talking videos on social channels, providing travel advice and commentary, and lead the Telegraph’s Travel newsletter, which already has an audience of almost 200,000 subscribers.

A new female-hosted weekly podcast, Slander & Slay is hosted by sports media veterans Tracy Sandler and Nikki Kay, and delivers a smart, funny and distinctly female perspective on sports and pop culture. It’s new from BZZR, a sports platform that brings together live games, athletes, creators, and fans in one place.

Series three of Surviving Trump is new this week. 'Using Government Power’ shows how the podcast claims the US government is inching toward authoritarian rule. DEI offices are shut down and civil rights protections reversed. Courts are captured and civil rights law is turned against the people it was built to protect. Prosecutors and police are weaponized for political ends. The press is attacked and speech is controlled. And the First Amendment itself comes under threat.

In American Evangelicals - A History Podcast this week, historians John Fea, Dan Hummel, and Maggie Capra discuss race in American Evangelicalism. Discover how race shaped a movement.