Spotify rolls out video podcasting globally

• Spotify has released video podcasts everywhere - “in 180 global markets”. Spotify and Anchor's blog posts, made in July, have been updated. Until now they’ve only been in twelve markets; the proprietary service launched in April.

  • The service only works for shows hosted with Anchor, for playback within Spotify. Open video podcasts using RSS work across many other platforms including Apple Podcasts; Podnews analysis of the Podcast Index suggests there are now 53,952 video podcast shows on RSS, up 38% year-on-year.

• Editing software Descript has launched a new version of the program. Descript Storyboard has more than 30 new visual and AI-powered editing features. The company has also announced a $50m funding round.

  • Jay LeBoeuf from Descript will be a guest on the Podnews Weekly Review podcast this Friday.

• In the UK, Octave Audio has renewed its partnership with Veritonic’s Brand Lift technology.

• Zeno Media has partnered with SoundStack.

• RØDE has released the NT-USB+ - a condenser USB-C microphone.

• The Guardian has launched Noisycharts - a way of turning data into sound. Might be handy for podcasts?

• PSA: Applied for a job with JAR Audio only to find they want money? It’s not them: it’s just a phishing scam. Tell your friends.

• Further reading: The Duke Chronicle listened to 24 hours of podcasts and reveals “six increasingly spicy hot takes”. One of them: “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend is the best podcast in the world”.

Thank you to Hear. Here. Singapore for becoming our latest supporter. Recorded in binaural, it takes you to different places in Singapore for a few minutes, letting you travel there without leaving home. You should be like them and support us.

Moves and hires

• Matt Martinez has been appointed as showrunner for The Assignment with Audie Cornish. Martinez is responsible for all aspects of The Assignment’s show development, editorial and production for the podcast; he moves from The On Being Project. The CNN podcast starts tomorrow.

Podcast News - with CBC Podcasts

From CBC Podcasts #10 is: Pop Chat Why are people mad at Drake? Does this season of The Crown go too far? Every Wednesday host Elamin Abdelmahmoud is joined by Kevin Fallon and Amil Niazi to dissect and debate the biggest pop culture stories of the week

The New Yorker is refreshing its politics podcast. The Political Scene is its new name, replacing Politics and More. It will have new programming and new hosts.

In the UK, The Guardian's Football Weekly was named Podcast of the Year by the Football Supporters Association.

Podcast company Ausha has launched a new podcast called Tips - How to grow your podcast - hosted by Sarah Donnelly, an American comedian and podcaster, it’s also available on YouTube. “Our goal is to create 10 minute bursts of joy, clarity, and inspiration for podcasters,” says Odile Beniflah, Head of US at Ausha.

Ozarks True Crime is returning for a new season, focusing on the Feeney family murders. The first season of the podcast, The Springfield Three, surpassed over 1.5 million downloads. It’s from editaudio and Anne Roderique-Jones.

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Podcast ads in the wild



Promoting Built To Thrive, hosted by Dr Rangan Chatterjee, a daily health and wellbeing podcast on Amazon Music produced by Listen, this bright digital billboard is in Shoreditch High Street in London. It’s a location once home to The London Music Hall, a proper old East End theatre where Charlie Chaplin once appeared. It’s now a car park, where you can pay £15 (US$17) to stay up to three hours to admire this beautiful advert.