Podcasts benefit from growth in spoken word audio

• Spoken word audio continues to grow, with younger audiences (13-24) listening to more than twice as much spoken word in the last eight years, says The Spoken Word Audio Report 2022 from NPR and Edison Research. Podcast’s share of time with spoken word audio has increased by 163% over the last eight years. The report is published in full on National Public Media’s website.

• Apple has published a set of insights about paid subscriptions on Apple Podcasts. One-third of all new subscription sign-ups are for annual plans, the company says, and if you’re making a serialised show, subscribers are 20% more likely to finish it.

• Spotted: Adobe’s Project Shasta, which we first spotted in Dec 21, appears to now be called Adobe Express Podcast. It’s a podcast editor that lets you “edit words, not waveforms”, and is in early preview.

• Ashley Carman has analysed Spotify’s podcaster contracts. The company offers a 50% revenue share, which is below some similar creator splits.

• The Normal Gossip podcast is responsible for 2,500 paid subscriptions to Defector Media’s website, the company says.

• Ad network Gumball is now paying podcasters faster: podcasters now get paid within days rather than, as is usual, having to wait 90 days or more. (Despite being called LightningPay and featuring a lightning bolt, it isn’t related to the Bitcoin Lightning Network).

• Jemele Hill is to expand her podcasts on Spotify with the launch of the Unbothered Network, and two new shows.

• Bytedance (owner of Resso and TikTok) is hiring for a Podcast Business Development role in Los Angeles. Hmm.

• Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is no longer doing his podcast, The Dave Portnoy Show. He says his show was terrible. “I’m not going to do content that I know stinks,” he added.

Tips and tricks

• What’s in a name? Pacific Content write about how the company chose the title for a recent show.

• How to remove background noise in Audacity for cleaner podcasts

Podcast News - with Lemonada Media

From Lemonada Media: FIRST! - A funny show hosted by comedian Kareem Rahma that highlights spectacular people who had a serious impact on society and culture because they were FIRST!

Podland News this week has an interview with Dylan Pugh from the Sports Podcast Network. An ex-Spotify executive, he suggests that exclusive podcasts don’t work: and that exclusives on the service are a short-term play for the company. Episode 99 of the podcast, Sam Sethi and Podnews editor James Cridland make suggestions throughout that episode 100 might sound a little different. Whatever can they mean?

How many podcasts do you listen-to which are 100% whispered? Sleep Whispers has published more than 450 episodes, and now has more than 2,000 ratings on Apple Podcasts and 5 million total downloads. Shhh.

Has Bone Valley solved a murder? The Orlando Sentinel reports a development in the case, and a new suspect (who’s currently in prison for an unrelated crime).
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