Another record for podcast revenue

• Podcasting revenue in the US was a record $314m in 2017, according to the IAB. In 2016, the figure was $169m, representing 86% growth year-on-year. Recode reports this figure in a sneering article as “close to nothing”.

  
  Aug 3 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• PwC predicts that podcasting revenue in Australia will grow 85.9% year-on-year until 2022, in a new report. Podcast listeners in the country will also double in that time, they say.

• French radio station Europe 1 is launching its first native podcast: Varennes. Olivier Lendresse, Lagardere’s Head of Digital, tells Podnews: Varennes is half fiction, half documentary. It relates a great moment of French History, when King Louis XVI fled from Paris during French Revolution. The story narrated by Franck Ferrand, a famous radio announcer in France, but the scenario is quite different from regular radio shows. We give the story from 8 different point of views: one episode for each character. All episodes are available for binge listening, and it’s the first product of its kind in France.

• South African radio station Jacaranda FM has launched JacPod, a podcast network. Kevin Fine, the station GM, says “It’s a central hub of specially curated podcasts, in English and Afrikaans, for a diverse audience. We’ve launched with 6 channels and will regularly be adding new ones.”

• Nigeria: Bella Naija lists ten podcasts from the country that are “giving us life”.

• A Forbes blogger writes an article entitled 5 Ways to Grow Your Side Podcast Into A Six-Figure Business. Podcaster Michael Sacca apparently earns $10,000 a month doing podcasts.

• A correction from yesterday: Libsyn’s Rob Walch gave some interesting stats about average downloads, but your Editor has cloth ears and got the numbers wrong. Thanks to Justin from Transistor, here’s a transcript:

“If your episodes are getting over 848 downloads per episode, after 30 days you are better than half the shows. If they are getting more than 1200 downloads per episode, you are better than 80% of the shows out there. More than 3200 you are better than 90% of the shows. More than 7800 better than 95. More than 19,000 better than 98 percent; more than 33,000 you’re better than 99% of the shows. All of those numbers are from April and they were pretty much identical to March.” - The Feed from Libsyn

• One of our silver supporters is now called Messy, rather than Messy Bun. They’re a deliberately simple podcast host.

• Winnow is a podcast directory “for the best podcasts created by women and non-binary people”, created by Amber Parkin. It’s free to be listed if you’re eligible.

• “Democracy in Color” Podcast from Lantigua Williams and Co. Is Essential Listening During Primary Season, it’s claimed in a press release

• In The Word from Mouth this week: the need for podcasting to grow and experiment, sharing what we learn, pushing the envelope, changing the way we deliver and seeing what works and what doesn’t, where can we go, and what can we do. Plus, an interview with Rich Casanova of Pro Business Channel studios in Atlanta with a new show.