Morgan Stanley: Spotify is now #1 podcast platform, beating Apple

• In a private note for investors, Morgan Stanley has published its 6th Annual Audio Entertainment Survey. The survey notes that Spotify is now the most popular podcast platform in the US, claiming 24% of podcast listeners surveyed used Spotify while 21% used Apple Podcasts. Spotify seems to be growing, rather than Apple declining. The research also claims that people are finding it harder to discover new podcasts, not easier. The survey was conducted online, interviewing a nationally representative 1,961 US adults.

• Don’t hide your potty mouth, say Apple. In an apparently new section of the Apple Podcast requirements, Apple tell you to use full swear-words: “All words should be completely spelled out and should not be censored. Apple Podcasts automatically censors certain explicit words in titles. Don’t insert the asterisks yourself”. (HT: Daniel J Lewis)

  • We don’t use the censored titles in Podnews, so you can compare this Anchor podcast on Apple with our naughtier listing of it; or this Podbean title on Apple with our listing. In both cases, the artwork contains the potty-mouthed word, though. The naughty words are not censored in Castbox, Overcast, Luminary, Podchaser, RadioPublic and Spotify; and this one isn’t censored in Google Podcasts either.
  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 20 2023

• Nick and Caroline from HotPod have published their predictions of the big stories in podcasting they expect to be covering this year.

  • Meanwhile, RAIN was sent 153 predictions about podcasting in 2020. Yikes!

• The Publisher Podcast Awards have published their shortlist of podcasts up for an award. The event is in London in March.

• Kaveinthran Pulanthran, a blind podcast listener, has done an accessibility review of Podchaser, Podyssey and Listen Notes. There is work to be done for all three websites. As he adds: accessibility is a design principle, not a feature to be added later. (We would welcome feedback on our accessibility).

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• Podtrac have released December’s top podcast publisher list, which is now a top 15 and shows a sales contact. The data is US-only, opt-in and incomplete. It faces competition from Triton Digital’s Podcast Ranker, which launches later this year.

  
  Aug 20 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Podcast Movement have announced a new set of speakers for Podcast Movement Evolutions. Our Editor is speaking about international podcasting trends.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 20 2023

• Matt Saraceni, formerly of Omny Studio and Telstra, has joined Australian broadcaster SCA as “Innovation Director - Audio on Demand”.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 20 2023

• Want to get to know the person responsible for featuring podcasts on Pocket Casts? Darian Muka, Content Creator for Pocket Casts, talks about how to get your show featured on the Podcasting Essentials podcast in the latest episode.

  • We love people called Darian, and would do anything - anything - for them. Anything at all. Especially people who work in Brooklyn, they’re the best kinds of Darian. Coincidentally, we have a podcast, too! Who’d have thought it? Have a great day! etc

Thank you to the premier podcast sales network The Roost for becoming our first Gold Supporter of 2020. They offer a “full-service, high-touch sales team that understands where your brand fits creatively in order to deliver the most dynamic reads and results”. You can be like them.

Tips and tricks - with Acast Open

• What are the benefits of building a podcast website? Resonate Recordings tells us why they can be very powerful.

• How can you do better interviews on your podcast? There’s one thing that makes all the difference, says Joey Held.

Podcasts

Michael Moore has launched a new podcast, says BoingBoing - describing it as “rage-filled optimism”. It’s called Rumble and is hosted on Anchor.
Aug 20 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

Immigrantly is a podcast from a Pakistani American human rights activist, which explores racial identity, culture, and class through the lens of immigrant experiences. Some episodes have made it to public radio; season five has just launched. (Libsyn)

We Stan Together is a brand new podcast that presents theories, dissertations, STANments about a piece of pop-culture. Episode topics include Singers Trying to Act, and 80’s Ladies Pop Stars. (More Banana / Megaphone)