iOS 16.2 brings a change to Apple Podcasts

• A small but important UX change in Apple Podcasts comes with the release of iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 this week: the “+” button is now clearly marked “+ Follow”.

  • Spotify also uses “follow”; so between them, more than two-thirds of podcasts are already consumed using a service that uses the phrase “follow”. Listeners follow shows to add them to their Library, receive new episodes, and be notified when they’re available. They can subscribe to support their favorite shows and unlock premium audio experiences.
  • Time to check our calls-to-action? And: should we be asking other podcast apps to “follow” suit?

• Should your podcast take a break for the holidays? At Bumper, Dan Misener looked at release data and consumption data to discover what really happens.

• Rusty Quill has published a long article tackling allegations made in an opinion piece that we covered yesterday by Newt Schottelkotte, which the company calls “unprofessional misinformation”.

• Elon Musk has been mentioned in nearly 44 million downloads across Acast’s podcasts, says Georgie Holt, Acast MD for the Americas. She highlights why podcast advertising is a rather safer bet than Twitter.

• Spanish-language podcast platform iVoox has shared the most listened-to podcasts in 2022 on the service. The company claims more than 800m listens, more than 13m episodes published and more than 220,000 new podcasts carried on their platform, of which 72,000 are in Spanish. The most listened-to podcast is Dias Extraños (“Strange Days”), covering stories that “are left out of the media’s focus because they are considered too controversial, too strange or contrary to the corporate interests of the media themselves”.

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• Spotify Live shows are being cancelled, according to a paywalled article from Ashley Carman, summarised by Seeking Alpha.

• Citing a lack of funding, NPR has cancelled the company’s summer internship program next year.

• The new Australian Podcast Ranker was released. Mamamia joins the ranker and claims it is “the biggest Australian pure podcast network”; both LiSTNR and iHeart also claimed they were #1.

• What day do shows in your podcast genre release new episodes? Podchaser analyzes six months of podcast data and shows the most/least popular days to publish a podcast.

Moves and hires

• Stephen Michael has joined Wolf Entertainment as VP of Audio. He joins from Gunpowder & Sky.

• Leandro Saucedo, Acast’s Chief Business and Strategy Officer, has left the company. “I’ve certainly got a few ideas of what to do next,” he says.

• Buffalo sports reporter Jerry Sullivan has been fired from WIVB-TV and two newspapers after making sexist comments on a live podcast. Train Wreck Sports has also apologised.

Podcast News - with Campaign Legal Center

Buzzcast, Buzzsprout’s own podcast, tried a new email marketing strategy that grew Buzzcast downloads by over 40%. In today’s episode they break down exactly what they did to boost their numbers and how they’re tracking if these downloads turn into new followers.

From iHeartMedia, Table for Two is hosted by celebrity restauranteur Bruce Bozzi. He’s joined by some of his customers - Hollywood’s biggest stars. The first episode features Scarlett Johansson. It’s co-produced by AirMail.

The Journal., a podcast from the Wall Street Journal and Gimlet, has premiered the special miniseries “Uncontrolled Substances: The Cerebral Story” - examining the story of how a buzzy Silicon Valley start-up, Cerebral, tried to fix the mental healthcare industry and how it spun out of control. A four-episode miniseries, it comes out weekly every Friday.

Changemakers In Autism returns for a second season. The podcast, from the non-profit REED Autism Services, introduces listeners to the thought leaders raising awareness of the most pressing issues in the autism community. The first episode this season features filmmakers and co-producers Caren Zucker and John Donvan for an in-depth discussion on history’s portrayal of autism and their groundbreaking documentary, “In a Different Key."