YouTube numbers “not doing so well”

• Podcasting on YouTube is a flop so far, reports Ashley Carman in her newsletter, examining audience numbers for shows from NPR and Slate.

  • Want some more numbers? The Podnews Daily podcast did 70,427 downloads in April on podcast platforms; and got 653 views on YouTube (an additional 0.9%). More than Spotify, though - it might be the biggest podcast platform by reach, but we had just 492 “starts” according to the Spotify for Podcasters dashboard.

• Podtrac unveiled April 2023's rankers. Vox Media debuted at #10 in the publishers list with 6mn US listeners. The Daily is #1 podcast.

  • Podtrac measured 7.6% of new podcast episodes in April (around 130,000). Prefix analytics trackers, like Podtrac, were on 16% of all podcast episodes.

• Data: Daily podcast listeners pay more attention to podcast ads versus ads on other platforms, says new data from customer experience platform DISQO.

• Sony Music Entertainment has made layoffs in its narrative podcast team, podcast marketing and sales.

• The Dubai PodFest is returning on May 16.

• Almost Friday Media has added The Red Flags Podcast to its slate. The show was with Blue Wire. The network “boasts 13+ million followers, six podcasts, and a sports bar in Nashville”.

• Supermix is a new “AI scaling platform” for podcast creators.

• Staffan Rosell, the CEO of PodX Group, is interviewed in this week’s Podcast Business Journal. Their plans are not to turn podcasts into TV: “We say to all the companies that we meet that it’s audio first, it’s podcast first. If you’re successful and you have something fantastic that someone wants to make television or film out of, that’s great, but that’s a bonus. Podcast companies think that everything will become television and film. That will be, I think, the exception rather than the rule.” Subscribe free here for the full interview.

Moves and hires

• Miranda Kennedy has joined Vox as Executive Producer of Today, Explained. She was Supervising Senior Editor at NPR for Up First and Morning Edition.

• And best of luck to Charlie Windsor, who gets a new job tomorrow in Westminster Abbey in London.

Tips and tricks - with Podnews Live - where podcasting connects

• Yes, you can just chuck an audio-only podcast on YouTube, and they’re getting decent numbers, says Josh Taylor. We wrote this before we saw Ashley Carman’s piece (above). Still, there’s two sides of every story!

Podcast News

The Podnews Weekly Review this week talks to Nick Hilton about host-read ads - and what are Acast doing joining the Podcast Standards Project? We speak to Chris Quamme Rhoden. Also, all the good news you need for your weekend.

On this week’s Money Talks from The Economist, hosts Tom Lee-Devlin and Mike Bird ask what the future holds for the business of podcasts. Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano tells them that companies have realised they can be much leaner. And Nick Hilton, a podcast production company founder, explains why he thinks 2022 is the year when podcasting died.

Night Raid is new from LAist 89.3, eOne, Crime Story Media and Acast - telling the story of a chaotic 2014 SWAT raid on a home in San Gabriel that resulted in the death of Pomona Police Officer Shaun Diamond and the incarceration of David Martinez. The show is broadcast tomorrow at 2pm in the city, and available as a podcast after a repeat broadcast at 7pm on Sunday.

Baggage Drop has just… dropped. It’s a new show from Wondermind, aimed at listeners who are interested in learning more about mental health and how it affects our daily lives. Hosted by a rotating cast of mental health practitioners, it publishes three times a week.

Stripped Media’s Tea With Twiggy is now with Auddy for her new season. “Dame Twiggy”, as she’s affectionately known, was a model in the swinging sixties and is an actress and a British icon. Her podcast sees her in conversation with many of her showbiz friends.

The Podcast Accelerator has returned after a haitus. In the first episode, host Mark Asquith (who also runs podcast host Captivate) takes some time talking about why he took a break.