A thousand episodes of Start Here from ABC News

Caila Litman writes for Sounds Profitable this week with Gumball, looking at Good Data - highlighting growth in younger audiences and why listeners find podcasting compelling.

• In the US, the flagship podcast from ABC News, Start Here, marks 1,000 episodes today. Since its launch in March 2018, the podcast’s host, Brad Mielke, has interviewed the country’s biggest newsmakers and earnt an Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation. Speaking to Podnews, he said he’s learnt “how much importance simple facts carry … Facts needs to be the most important thing you’re imparting. … It’s a big deal.”

  • Hear a full interview with Brad Mielke tomorrow in the Podland podcast; and today in the Podnews podcast, how he learnt the former President had COVID.

• Apple Podcasts has launched “Listen With”, a podcast playlist service to help listeners discover new shows. The first podcast guide is Jay Shetty; creators can request to be included in Spotlight, Listen With, and Kids & Family using this form.

• Podca$h is giving $100,000 to budding podcasters, offering sponsorship to US podcasters. You’ve until March 4th to apply.

• The Shelter in Place podcast has launched a training program for mastering the art, and science, of audio storytelling. With a limited class size of 24 students, registration closes on Jan 31.

• Podchaser reviews are now available in Podcast Guru, a podcast app. Podcast Guru users can read, and add, reviews direct from the app - they’ve been able to see ratings in the app for a year or so.

  
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• B2B content marketers spend 82% of their time creating content, a report from Casted has discovered, rather than doing the actual marketing bit. The company produces tools to organise content, including podcasting.

• PBS Digital Studios is to launch its first-ever podcasts. IT’S LIT! [UNABRIDGED] debuts in February; and EONS: MYSTERIES OF DEEP TIME in March. They’ll be distributed by PRX.

Moves and hires - with Pod People

• Sachin Doshi has joined Podimo as Chief Content Officer. He was formerly VP of Content at Spotify and Director of Product at Twitter.

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• Laurence Grissell is to join Blanchard House as Head of Content; he is an award-winning documentary producer for the BBC, and has worked there for 22 years. The company has also signed with WME.

This link is no longer available, as at Sep 10 2023
• Shirin Peykar has been hired as SVP of Performance Sales at Audacy. She moves from Stitcher, and will be selling podcasts.

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• Dan Wolman also joins Audacy from Stitcher, as VP, Performance Sales.

This link is no longer available, as at Sep 10 2023

Tips and tricks - with Podpage

• Apple has posted “Insights to help launch a successful subscription on Apple Podcasts”. Focusing on its subscription product, it claims subscriptions grow your podcast’s overall audience, and above the best performing creators, more than 10% of listeners have signed up for a subscription.
  • Podnews lists Apple Channels - we’re aware of 291 paid subscription channels in our sample; we suspect the true number is around 500.

Podcast News - with Quill

Produced by Quill: C Suite Join Claudette McGowan, TD Bank’s Global Executive Officer for Cyber Security, as she explores how cyber-attacks happen and what we can do to avoid them. From phishing schemes to robocalls, Claudette meets with C Suite leaders to discuss cyber challenges and ways to help people become more protected.

Baby or Bust is new from Dr Lora Shahine, and will gather medical experts and patients to bust myths, shatter stigmas, and provide encouraging best practices to help anyone trying make their baby dream come true. The series will address the numerous questions that people struggling with fertility have but are too scared or uncomfortable to ask, and launches today.

Saturn’s Return, a contemporary fable about loss, sacrifice, and ordinary magic, has been launched: all episodes are available now. It’s by the team that created the award-nominated mystery thriller “Dreamland”, and based on a sell-out stage play. - read more

Go Love Yourself is new from Laura Adlington, a Great British Bake Off (Great British Baking Show) finalist. The show sees Laura and best friend Lauren Smith tackle body image, confidence, and all things self-love. It’s the latest podcast from Crowd Network, the fast-growing audio-on-demand network based in Manchester - the first in a slate of new shows set to launch in 2022, including a second series of its popular podcast dot com series. - read more

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To honor your work in the 26th Annual Webby Awards, enter by the Extended Entry Deadline on Friday, February 11th, 2022!