Apple Podcasts to add “enhance” mode for podcasts

• The next version of Apple Podcasts will include “enhance dialog”, Apple announced at WWDC. But how does it sound, and what does it do? Here’s a little demo using the Podnews Daily podcast, which has music underneath it. Unlike other apps with similar features, this feature essentially removes all background noise (even music), as well as normalise voices with different volumes. The public beta is now available for you to try it out for yourself.

  • The public beta also includes a new feature for Apple Music: “automix” tries to make songs flow together a little better, like radio stations do. Our Editor has published some examples of the mixes on his personal blog - most are nice, some are horrid.

• Acast released its Q2/25 financials (the full PDF is here). Sales grew by 27% to 606.7 SEK ($63.6mn); and for the first time, the US is now Acast’s largest market, with sales growing 70% in the region. However, the number of listens decreased further to 1,102mn, and the company’s operating loss has doubled to 66.3 SEK ($7mn), though part of this are one-off costs related to the change of CEO: the figures are the first under new CEO Greg Glenday. The company employs 445 people.

  • Emily Villatte, the CFO and Deputy CEO, resigned two weeks after Glenday’s appointment; she’ll move to global games company Stillfront early next year.

• New keynote sessions have been announced for Podcast Movement Dallas - the award-winning Tom Webster; the excellent Aussie podcasters Toni & Ryan; and a keynote about podcast growth from Goalhanger executives.

  • Podnews readers get discounts on selected passes

• The nominees for the British Podcast Awards were announced. The winners will be announced on Oct 2.

Tips and tricks - with Podcast Movement

• Headliner take us through how, and why, to transcribe a podcast.

Podcast News

Back in February, we covered that Heavyweight was to return with Pushkin Industries. We now have a launch date - it’ll return on Sep 18, and episodes include… a man who lies his way into the director’s chair of a big-budget film; a 102-year-old woman who falls in love again with a man she knew as a young girl; and a 14-year-old boy who commits an armed bank robbery.

Go Doxx Yourself is new this week - the stories behind cyber nightmares and tips on how to overcome them. Produced by award-winning podcast editor Daniel J. McLaughlin, the show launched with a chat with Kirsty Paterson, the Scottish actress who become a meme overnight after being photographed as 'the Sad Oompa Loompa’ at the infamous Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow last year. The 31-year-old discusses how the intense scrutiny and trolling pushed her mental health to the brink before she reclaimed the narrative. Hosted by Dr Rebecca Whittington, it’s from Reach.

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