When 1 second of listening means a 90 second download

• Play just one second of a podcast on Spotify, and you’ve downloaded over 90 seconds of audio - enough to count as an IAB certified podcast download. Writing in Sounds Profitable this week with Claritas, Bryan Barletta concludes: “podcast streaming is a myth”. A fascinating deep-dive into listener-initiated downloads and player-initiated downloads - worth getting it every week.

  
  Sep 1 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Breaking: PodFest Expo has been postponed. The in-person event was planned for June 10-13 in Florida. New dates will be announced.

• Is Apple getting ready to launch paid subscriptions? One of the changes in the new iOS 14.5 beta 4, released yesterday, is that Apple has stopped describing all the content in Apple Podcasts as 'available for free’ says 9to5Mac. It also promotes a “smart play” button, which changes depending on whether a listener has heard the show before.

• Matt Deegan is grumpy that Apple Podcasts hasn’t considered telling podcasters about the upcoming change from 'subscribe’ to 'follow’. “There is no corporate benefit in restricting this information,” he adds, pointing out that it’s apparently been planned for eighteen months.

• In Australia, the IAB has published its Audio Advertising State of the Nation Research. A third of media agencies aren’t tailoring their ads to different audio environments, says the data. Half of all media agencies have tried podcast advertising; a quarter use it regularly. The news genre attracts the most advertisers.

Get the free Podnews newsletter for more like this

Get it free

• The New York Times report What Really Happened at Reply All?

• ART19 has launched the One Star Network, a podcast network dedicated to the service industry. Six shows are in the initial lineup.

• Ivy FM, a podcast app, now appears to list podcast award-winners, like this example.

• Seen advertising on Facebook: Talkia, which can “Create Amazing, Professional Voiceovers That Sound Like Real Human Voices”

• DAX owner Global, which is the UK’s largest commercial radio company and also owns an out-of-home ad company, is seeking to own 49.99% of iHeartMedia.

• Pro-tip: if you ask someone to appear on your podcast and they politely say no, don’t behave like this.

Programming note: Daylight savings fades curtains and confuses cows, according to our former Premier, and we’re having none of it. You may notice, as you come out of daylight savings (or go into it), Podnews comes into your inbox an hour early or an hour late.

Tips and tricks - with Radiodays Asia

• How to use your podcasting skills on Clubhouse (Blubrry)

• Could a Newsletter Help Your Podcast Community Grow? asks SquadCast. (You can use our stuff in one).

Podcast News - With Toyota Untold

From shops to showrooms past, present, and future — Toyota Untold goes beyond the cars and into the journeys, with stories 
from drivers, engineers, fans, and experts.

The Allusionist gets a feature in PodBible magazine, with three recommended episodes, and host Helen Zaltzman’s commentary on them.

Buzzcast from Buzzsprout unveiled new “dynamic descriptions”, and went into detail about how they made the special show about their DDOS attack.