Captivate upgrades to 2.0

• Podcast host Captivate has unveiled what it calls Captivate 2.0: a refresh of the user interface, a new trackable short-links tool, an “omni-search” service for quick navigation, and a simpler global one-click distribution service for podcast directories. Mark Asquith, pictured above, told Podnews: “We always wanted to make the real potential of podcasting more accessible to everyday podcasters, and we think the new features and the flexibility that these upgrades offer for the future are a game-changer.” Podnews’s Editor is an advisor to the company.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Sep 4 2023

• Do you use your podcast download figures to report ad impressions to your advertisers? If you’re using DAI, those numbers aren’t going to be the same, Bryan Barletta says in this week’s Sounds Profitable with Claritas.

• Adam Bowie, Business Development Manager at the BBC World Service, has published a transcript of his talk made at Podcast Day 24 - the top 10 podcast trends in 10 minutes. It’s excellent. Also, read a writeup of the full 24 hours at RedTech, which includes a picture of Podnews’s Editor in a suit.

• What does next generation podcasting look like? Jemily Rime, a PhD Student in the Department of Music at the University of York, is doing some research with XR Stories and BBC R&D: if you’re a podcast creator interested in new technologies, she would like to hear from you.

• Listen, a UK audio producer, has announced a strategic partnership with Platform, a creative content group. Platform works with high-profile talent; Listen produces radio and audio shows across UK media.

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• While we don’t get it for podcasts, you might be interested in this explainer about Spatial Audio for music by Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.

• A female carpenter in Canada, who called out sexist language in the The Construction Life podcast, was threatened with a $15m defamation lawsuit by the male hosts for doing so. After publicity, they quickly changed their mind.

• Edison Research has announced the Smart Audio Report Australia 2021 will be webcast on June 23 at 11am AEST (see pod․events for your time), to look at where and how Australians are currently using smart speakers and voice assistants.

• Entale’s Wil Harris has stepped down as CEO: co-founder Hannah Blake is now CEO, and Claire Roberts is to become Chief Product Officer. Harris will continue to be on the Board. The company has also announced a beta version of a new podcast discovery tool, and was shortlisted in the CogX Awards.

  
  Sep 4 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• We covered Libsyn’s additional equity financing yesterday; it looks like Hudson Executive Capital invested $9m.

  
  Sep 4 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Ben Thompson from Stratechery has released Passport, a suite of tools to allow creators to produce a podcast, newsletter, website (and SMS messages), as a paid or free service. It also integrates directly with Spotify.

• LiSTNR, from Australian broadcaster SCA, claims 2.7 million listeners to its premium original podcasts, and an 18% increase year-on-year. The LiSTNR brand was launched in February, combining their radio apps with the former PodcastOne podcast platform.

• In Singapore, Apple Media Product’s production support team is looking for an Escalation Engineer for troubleshooting, tracking and resolving issues. This Engineer will play a technical troubleshooting role for customer and partner issues in products including Apple Podcasts.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Sep 4 2023

• The Apple Podcasts charts appeared to have frozen for a few days earlier this week. It’s working as normal now. See above.

• The Podnews RSS feed now supports the podcast:alternateEnclosure: we offer an AAC, MP3 and low-bitrate Opus variant for you. (The AAC is marked as default; the normal enclosure for most audiences is mp3).

Hints and tips

• The pandemic gave us an amazing thing to promote our podcast - the QR code.

Podcast News - with HubSpot Podcast Network

From the HubSpot Podcast Network: Growth isn’t a bad thing, but too much growth means challenges for your operations and your Business Infrastructure. You’ll hear solutions and real life stories to help.

The Frenemies podcast, part of The H3 Podcast, has ended after a big argument on their show (although it’s done similar before).

Bose and Spotify have launched a Music + Talk show called A life in tracks, featuring interviews with notable Black stars including Russell Wilson, Allyson Felix, Rotimi and more to learn about the music that shapes their lives in celebration of Black Music Month in June.