Apple - what they should do next

• Our Editor, James Cridland, has written an opinion article called Podcasts - what Apple should do next: three simple steps to stop the decline of Apple Podcasts and help podcasters.

• The Google Podcasts Creator Program has just opened its second round of applications. It “seeks to increase the diversity of voices in the industry globally and lower barriers to podcasting.”

• How you can make the most of podcast advertising, by Suchandrika Chakrabarti, was part of a Future of Advertising supplement in The Times last week, and has now been published online. All the contributors to this article are excellent, especially the second one quoted.

• Podcasts are great for people who have difficulties seeing properly. But making sure that your podcast website is accessible is important too, says Robert W Kingett. (It’s also a legal requirement in many countries).

  
  Aug 11 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• In a statement, Libsyn says its podcasting revenue grew by 30%, and in total the company earned double the amount of revenue year on year: earning over US $22m. The company has $11m in the bank. Congratulations to them. (Cough)

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 11 2023

• We note that podcasts on iHeartRadio have been marked up using OpenGraph as videos, and appear within a Google video search.

• Indian newspaper The Hindu covers the power of podcasts. “In countries similar to India, where people are still not very comfortable showing their face, this medium fits in perfectly.”

• Another day, another music streaming company is moving into podcasting. Anghami, a music streaming service for the Middle East and North Africa, has just added over 250 shows to its service.

• Rejoice! We have another Netflix for podcasts - an app called Brew is looking at a $5/month subscription. “Brew pays its creators based on their number of unique listens”. They’ve raised a total of $400,000 in a funding round.

• Sean Clements would like you to clear your throat.

Podcasts

From the Bleacher Report, Football Ranks is a podcast about soccer that focuses on ranking all that’s important in football and life. It launched in January.

Cadence13 has launched ProfessionalAF, a podcast with Diana Kander that will help listeners develop the essential habits that will empower them to navigate any situation with confidence and success.

Podnews is also available as a daily news briefing on Amazon Alexa and on Google Home. Find us wherever you control what news briefings you want to listen to - ours is usually less than 2 minutes long.