Together Apart focuses on how we get together when we can’t

• Voxnest and Spreaker have integrated with Nielsen Audience Segments, allowing specific advertising targeting for podcasts. (Here’s how Nielsen Audience Segments works).

  
  Aug 23 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Yesterday, we got all excited after Libsyn’s Rob Walch spotted that podcasts had been removed from Google Play Music’s iOS app. Google tells us: “We actually have never had podcasts in Google Play Music on iOS.” (We didn’t know either.)

  • Google are, though, sending some people an early invite to something called the Google Podcasts Manager, an analytics tool which 'helps you get to know your audience better and reach new listeners’. We’ve asked for a bit more information.

• Squadcast has announced a partnership with Dolby Laboratories. The partnership promises automatic leveling, EQ, noise reduction, and a “spatialised audio” function that claims to “make you and your guests sound and feel like you’re sonically in the same room”. (We linked to DolbyOn on Apr 6, a free Android app with similar features).

• Podcasting is growing in China, according to a piece in the Chinese government’s China Daily. The piece includes financial information for the biggest apps in the country, including Ximalaya FM, Qingting FM and Lizhi FM. “Paid content is in decline,” it notes.

• iHeartMedia and Aaron Mahnke have signed a multi-year agreement for content, including new podcasts.

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• The UK media regulator Ofcom says that almost half (46%) of people have come across false or misleading information about covid-19 in the past week.

• Omny Studio are working from home; but have posted a slew of platform and feature updates.

• Podcast Movement has added a page highlighting top side hustles for podcasters that need extra income.

Podcast News

Cover story: Together Apart is a new podcast from The New York Times with Priya Parker. Just two weeks in the making after a previous show was affected by the virus, it’s produced by Magnificent Noise, and focuses on events that have now been made virtual: and how we meaningfully gather even while we have to be apart. The first episode focuses on Passover.

We’re sending rockets to Mars to search for signs of past life. Thunderbirds Are Go: Mission to Mars is a ten-part series make to teach children about the ExoMars Mission. It’s produced by Fun Kids, with support from the UK Space Agency and voice talent from the ITV series Thunderbirds Are Go.