Sony Music to lay off “significant” number in podcast division

• Sony Music is to lay off “a significant percentage” of its podcast division, according to a report in Bloomberg. The company is also to cancel High Low with EmRata, its celebrity podcast with Emily Ratajkowski.

• Podcasts are now available via search in the YouTube Music app in many more countries. A search for Podnews Daily now finds our podcast in - according to our searches - Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand (and, perhaps, other countries too) - along with the US, Canada and Latin America, who’ve had it for a while. It looks like this. We’re not yet seeing podcasts appear in search results in Europe or the Middle East; though the search box correctly auto-completes “Podnews Daily”.

• AdLarge, Flightpath and Sounder have announced an integration to offer brand safety, contextual targeting, and customized campaign forecasting and planninng.

• Podcast website creator Podpage has released Podpage Elite, a premium subscription for creators which offers many more features, including an advanced SEO analysis tool, episode deep-linking, and link tracking.

• Freakonomics Radio is to launch a paid membership program with Supporting Cast. Members will get access to exclusive episodes as well as ad-free access.

• Arab podcast platform Podeo has onboarded Dubai-based podcast network Dukkan Media into its hosting and distribution platform.

• Castos is now offering free podcast transcripts for all shows.

• Blubrry has quietly launched support for the new podcast namespace in Podcast Mirror, the company’s RSS feed mirroring platform. It now means you can accept value-for-value payments, and support other new features, wherever you host your podcast. A full launch will happen shortly.

Podcast News - with Airwave

From the Airwave Podcast Network: Good morning from Engadget! In Engadget Morning Edition, join Mat Smith as he takes you through the day’s biggest tech stories.

Win or lose, sink or swim: one thing is certain, we’ll never give in. McCartney: A Life in Lyrics is new from Pushkin Industries and iHeart, and is a collaboration between the former Beatle and the poet Paul Muldoon. Arm in arm, hand in hand, we all stand together in downloading the first episode, out today.

Ohio Roots was launched yesterday - the official podcast of the Ohio Genealogical Society. You can expect discussions that delve into a wide range of topics, uncovering captivating stories and shedding light on Ohio’s intricate past.

Handsome Molly is a new YA fiction podcast, based on a novel by Joëlle Anthony. The story, a dystopian near-future adventure set on Canada’s west coast, was adapted by The Chop Theatre, and re-worked for audio by JAR Audio.

The Reason We’re All Still Here is from Gilded Audio, and is hosted by world-renowned nuclear expert and professor, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis. The show will introduce listeners to the private citizens who step in to manage global problems when their governments can’t or won’t - scientists, analysts, and idealists who’ve gone to crazy lengths just for a shot at making peace and building understanding.

Former British Champion and the first Black woman to ever swim for Great Britain, Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell hosts the second series of the Physical Capital podcast which launches today. The show will focus on the human relationship with swimming, including how humans’ ability to swim has been influenced by politics, geography and the unequal distribution of resources. It’s from Broccoli Productions.