Popular podcast goes on the road

• Above, a live show for The Rest is Politics, in Brighton, UK. The Goalhanger show is doing a tour of the country; the show in Brighton, above, was the first of the tour; the auditorium fits up to 4,500 people.

• Blubrry published its stats report for August. The share of Apple Podcasts downloads on the platform dropped to a new low, from 56% in January to 47.3%. Buzzsprout also reported a three-year Apple low for September, and Libsyn has similarly reported an all-time low for Apple Podcasts in August’s numbers.

• Today is World Mental Health Day, and Spotify is launching Take a Beat, a section with field recordings from nature, to nature-themed albums, guided meditations to inspiring podcasts.

• The Atlantic writes about why Trump and Harris are turning to podcasts. Writer Helen Lewis says: “We need to stop treating these podcasts as the “alternative” media when they are absolutely the mainstream these days. The top ones have audiences as big as, if not bigger than, most legacy outlets … We should stop treating the mega-podcasts like mom-and-pop outfits competing with chain stores. They’re behemoths.”

• Podcast Gold - An Evening of British Podcast Award Winners is planned in London on Mon Nov 18. The event is free - a chance to hear from some of the winning presenters and producers on how they created podcasts, what makes them a success and what comes next after winning Gold.

• Walmart is “redefining podcast advertising”, says Ad Age, with some new integrated advertising formats.

• Acast is to expand into the Chinese-speaking market, partnering with Initium Media.

• Just in time for Halloween, the Wondery show Morbid has released an exclusive merch collaboration with Spencer’s.

• A podcast link service launched in 2021, availableon.com, appears to have ceased.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• Want to install Apple Podcasts on your Android phone? Yes, you can do that, using their web app.

• We’ve updated our page on how to get your podcast some universal links to include tools like episodes.fm and Linkfire.

Podcast News

Indie show Sliding Doors, hosted by Jennie Becker, releases its 100th episode today. The guest is legendary broadcaster Tony Blackburn. Celebrating his 60th year on the radio, Tony delves into his 3 Sliding Doors moments in his most in-depth podcast interview about his life on radio, being crowned the first king of the jungle and his favourite memories from his life and career over the past 60 years.

The Lamorning After has joined Headgum’s slate of shows. Ad sales for The Lamorning After will be facilitated by Gumball. In the inaugural Headgum episode of the podcast, Lamorne and Kyle chat with Saturday Night director Jason Reitman about the film, which releases nationwide October 11.

Mics to Millions today has Jeremy Enns as guest, from the Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter. We’re told “he shared some incredible insights and takeaways on how podcasters can increase revenue by combining their podcast with an email strategy, specifically looking at how adding a newsletter can boost their income.” - get off our land, Enns!

Squid Game: The Official Podcast is Netflix’s first-ever official rewatch podcast, looking at season 1 (in anticipation of season 2 of the series coming in December). There are full video versions on Spotify, too. It launches today.

The Rebel Maker starts season 3 today - focusing on writing and publishing books (traditionally or independently), or how to make real money from your writing. On the first episode: what to do when you have too many book ideas and don’t know where to start.