BBC podcast ads would be “disastrous”

• Allowing the BBC to add advertisements on its podcasts in the UK would be “disastrous” for the industry, says an open letter from twenty companies, including podcast production firms. BBC podcasts are commercial-free in the UK; elsewhere, they are sold by Acast.

• In Australia, a proposed takeover of SCA by ARN has hit trouble, as partner Anchorage Capital got cold feet. ARN, which uses the iHeartPodcasts brand in Australia, has presented a new plan to the stock market.

• Just a week or so to go until The Podcast Show in London. Our Editor will be revealing some brand new data in his opening keynote on the first day - it turns out that the UK is leading the world in one podcast metric. PODNEWS10 will save on selected passes.

• Sport Social has signed Visit Barbados as a major brand partner.

• Inside Radio covers iHeart’s presentation at last week’s IAB Podcast Upfront, which focused on the diversity of content in the network. (Inside Radio is owned by iHeart).

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• Choosing the Best Fiction Podcast App: A Guide for New Listeners has just been published by Evo Terra’s The End. Apple Podcasts is the best app for fiction podcast listening, he suggests.

• Last week, we carried YouGov’s data about the number of regular podcast listeners in countries round the world. South Africa’s figures (68%!) raised some eyebrows - as we highlighted, YouGov only measured internet users there. How many people in South Africa are actually connected to the internet? Just 13%, says A4AI. So, in reality, 9% of South Africans are regular podcast listeners, not 68%. (Also, YouGov might like to know that Argentina is not in Europe.)

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• AntennaPod has completed code restructuring work to allow the app to grow faster. More than 200 people have worked on the app since its launch 13 years ago.

• If you’re building a Podcasting 2.0 app with support for live shows, this test RSS feed changes its value blocks every minute.

Tips and tricks - with Ausha 🚀

• Ausha suggests: Learn how to top podcast search rankings with Ausha’s guide.

• Ausha suggests: Find out how to rank #1 on Apple Podcasts with Ausha’s in-depth study.

• Lowerstreet posts Proven Podcast Growth Strategies: Insights from the Brand Podcast Summit

• We have the industry’s biggest jobs board; and here’s what to know if you’re applying for a new role.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: Earn & Invest’s Jordan Grumet says: “I am super happy with Airwave. My podcast went from barely supporting itself to making a healthy income every month. They continue to obtain top quality advertisers for my show while I sit back and do what I love to do… podcast."

Into The Podverse has our Editor, James Cridland, as a guest today - speaking about podcast conferences, video in podcasting, and other things. We’ve enjoyed Tony Doe’s LinkedIn promos.

New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce could be making its way to Amazon’s Wondery, according to reports in the media over the weekend.

The Daily T launches today from The Telegraph in the UK. Camilla Tominey and Kamal Ahmed will host the show, which will feature agenda-setting news, interviews, debate and discussion from The Telegraph’s newsroom and join its roster of award-winning news, investigation, interview and sports podcasts. The first episode is available this evening.

Blame it on the Fame: Milli Vanilli is new today from Wondery - looking at the German R&B act from the late 1980s and early 1990s, who - it turned out - never actually sung any of their songs. Blame It on the Fame is a story about the lie that shot to #1 and what it cost to tell the truth.