Is YouTube Music rolling out podcasts internationally?

• 9to5Google claims that YouTube Music is rolling out international support for 'podcasts’, with some users in Canada and Brazil seeing podcasts appear in the music app. Separately, comments appear to also be rolling out. We’ve asked Google for comment.

  • 'Podcasts’ here refers to shows uploaded directly to YouTube; it doesn’t yet support its trialed RSS ingestion.

• Buzzsprout’s AI service now automatically creates three tweets and writes a draft blog post for each new episode on the platform. Wondering what they look like? Here is the output from the Podnews Weekly Review this week, which is sponsored by Buzzsprout (and this week interviews Christopher Lydon and is co-hosted by Rob Greenlee).

• Wellness app Calm and Spotify announced a partnership. Spotify listeners can access a variety of Calm content in the Spotify app without a Calm Premium subscription. Calm Premium subscribers can link their Calm and Spotify accounts to unlock a wider selection of content in Spotify, powered by Spotify Open Access.

• A new set of inductees for The Podcast Hall of Fame will be announced at Podfest in Orlando, Jan 25-28 next year.

• In a blog post, Acast tells us What Marketers Can Learn from Multi-Hyphenates About Brand Storytelling in Podcasting

• Google Bard, the company’s answer to Chat GPT, is now available across Europe and in Brazil. It’s added voice responses, too.

Tips and tricks

• Our thoughts on how to get more listeners to your podcast - maintenant, en Français thanks to Podcast Magazine!
• Transistor shows us how to make podcast artwork with AI.

Podcast News - with the Radioinfo Asia Podcast Awards

Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast has renewed its partnership with improv comedy show The Commercial Break. The Commercial Break will leverage AdvertiseCast’s full-service advertising platform, including the incorporation of host-read ads, as well as other service offerings.

A podcast for people with a highly stigmatised mental health condition, Overcome Compulsive Hoarding with @ThatHoarder has achieved 100,000 downloads just a few weeks before releasing its 100th episode. The show began life as an anonymous audio diary, but has grown to interview therapists, academics and professional organisers. 2.5% of people are thought to have hoarding disorder.

After their hit podcast about Succession, Firecrotch & Normcore: THEY LIKE TO WATCH is new from Sara Barron and Geoff Lloyd. The comedian and radio presenter wife and husband duo tackle the biggest question of our age: “Are you watching anything good on TV at the moment?” Charlie Brooker is one of the guests on the first episode.

Padel tennis is one of the fastest-growing racquet sports in the world, combining tennis, squash and badminton - and The Joy of Padel is a new podcast from Minter Dial which promises exclusive anecdotes, valuable tips, and humorous moments shared by esteemed professional padel players, industry insiders, and passionate padel enthusiasts. It launched this week.