Plays on the web double as we work from home

Listens to podcasts on embedded web players have almost doubled in recent weeks, as more of us stay home and listen on different devices. So says Germany’s largest podcast host Podigee, which has posted its analysis on the effects of the coronavirus on podcast listening. Podcasts are clearly on the winning side, they say, pointing to an increase of 6% for downloads. (Here are some free embedded players for your website).

• Apple have published a curated list of coronavirus podcasts called COVID-19: Essential Listening. It’s available in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, with more countries to come.

• Want to help your favourite podcaster and help charity? Podchaser has launched Reviews4Good. Every new review on Podchaser will result in a 25 cent donation to Meals on Wheels America’s COVID-19 Response Fund - and if podcasts reply, they’ll double the donation. Get started by reviewing this one very positively indeed.

  
  Aug 22 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Acast doubled their revenue last year, with revenue growing to US$38m for 2019. They claim 1.9 billion listens in the year; and now have 179 employees.

• A new Australian Podcast Ranker has been released. Stuff You Should Know remains the #1 show, which is represented in Australia by ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia. The top 100 podcasts account for 19.1m downloads in total; it doesn’t include the ABC, the country’s largest podcaster.

  • The Australian Podcast Ranker also now includes an all-Australian Top 100 Podcasts list. From The Newsroom, published by Murdoch’s News Corp, is the top Aussie podcast. It’s noted by Joan Warner, the CEO of Commercial Radio Australia, as “a way to further highlight locally-created content and the increasing level of investment that local publishers are putting into local productions and content.”

• Clever marketing: Double Elvis, who produce Disgraceland and Citizen Critic among others, have made some podcast-themed Zoom backgrounds for those video calls from home.

  
  Aug 22 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Got ten minutes to spare for the folks at Podcast Movement? They have a survey as they 'work on something new’.

• Resonate Recordings have announced price reductions for their production services, though some services will take longer.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 22 2023

Podcast News

Marketing Jam, a popular Canadian podcast, is now streaming on Amazon Prime with a special video version in the US and the UK.