Chartable switches off: what you have to do today

• Chartable is switched off today. Among the many things the company offered was analytics - which it achieved with a “prefix”, looking like chtbl.com or chrt.fm in your RSS feed’s “enclosure” section, which counted your total downloads. You must remove this Chartable prefix today if you have one, otherwise your podcast may not play at all in the future. SmartLinks and SmartFeeds will also no longer work.

  • As of Saturday evening, the Chartable prefix was still in 21,585 shows (not including those in Megaphone). We know many have now been removed automatically by podcast companies. If you’re unsure, contact your host’s support team and ask.
  • Users of Spotify’s Megaphone need do nothing. Make sure the Megaphone integration in Chartable is set up in order to access the Chartable platform starting tomorrow. Here’s more information.
  • Don’t panic. Prefixes won’t stop working immediately, we understand. But they will stop working at some point in the future. It’s important to remove them today.

• The closure of Chartable will have a big impact on download numbers. Changing an audio URL in your RSS feed, as you’ll do when removing Chartable prefixes, causes every Spotify listener’s app to automatically redownload every episode that may have been recently played, or that has been downloaded for future playback. Spotify is built to immediately replace audio if it changes (even in a listener’s cache), since record companies required that functionality for legal reasons. So, if you see bazillions of downloads for some reason, this will be why.

• Ausha has launched Ausha Charts, a chart tracking service that also covers sub-categories and all countries for Apple and Spotify. The tool is currently a chart (and category) browser, and doesn’t let you search your show. (That’s coming).

• Podfollow has launched Podfollow Charts, a chart tracking service. The service is free, and allows podcasters to search for their show to see its Apple and Spotify chart positions, and of their competitors. It launches with five English-speaking countries.

• Apple Podcasts has unveiled new features in iOS 18.2 which is out today. The app now gives categories within your library, as well as more personalised recommendations. The company says that “Podcast creators should make sure their primary category is accurate to ensure their show is correctly surfaced across show and category recommendations.”

• Libsyn and Sounds Profitable unveiled the 2024 True Crime Podcast Listener Landscape report. True Crime is #1 with women in the US, with 37% of female podcast consumers listening in the past month, the data says.

• Daily Wire has just received IAB v2.2 certification for “download” and “listener”. They’re currently hosted with Simplecast, which is only at v2.1.

• Video creators can now launch promotional campaigns on Spotify for video content, using Spotify’s self-serve advertising platform, Spotify Ads Manager. Spotify has upgraded its podcast streams objective tool to cover video (it’s lost the “podcast” name). Podcasters using it have seen increases in listeners of 13%, the company says.

• Audioboom issued a trading update. It now expects an increased adjusted EBITDA profit of at least US$3.1mn. (It also says the iOS 17 update last year cost the company $15mn).

• The sixth annual Podcast Editing Industry Survey will be revealed in a livestream today at 3pm ET. Mark Deal and Steve Stewart, who run the Podcast Editor Academy, will share what Podcast Editors charge for editing audio, what editing software is used most, and what impacts their effective rate.

• Podtube is an interesting new service that lets you subscribe to your favourite YouTube channel in a podcast app. We wish them good luck with their presumed forthcoming legal battle.

• The podcast middle class will continue to shrink, suggests Alex Sujong Laughlin, slightly depressingly, in Nieman Lab. “The Rogans and Coopers of the world will float in their opulent pools while the rest of us fight for greedy sips of what’s left.”

Continue getting the data you need with CoHost

Paid content

With today marking the official closure of Chartable, CoHost is offering their Lite and Plus plans at 50-60% off for 12 months to support podcasters looking to maintain data and insights about their listeners.

With features like:

• Tracking Links: Measure click-to-downloads to know which marketing channels are driving listeners and which aren’t.
• Advanced Audience Demographics: Gather in-depth insights about your audience including age, income, hobbies, social media habits, interests, and more.

Podcasters can continue getting the data they need for as low as $5 per month without switching hosting providers. Learn more here and explore CoHost plans.

People News

• Martijn Gerrits has been hired as Sales Director for Acast in the Netherlands. Gerrits is Acast’s first hire in the region. He joins from Spotify, Azerion, Mediahuis NL and Dentsu.

• AMA has a new CEO, Paul Kelly. He was AMA’s CRO, and joined in 2021. He succeeds Steve Dunlop, who founded the company nine years ago. “After thoughtful consideration, Steve has decided to step down as CEO”, said the chairman, Kip Meek. Dunlop describes the nine years as “being a blast” on his own LinkedIn, though isn’t quoted in the release.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• Want to use commercial music in your podcast, like AC/DC, Wham or Taylor Swift? Here’s how many seconds you’re allowed.

Podcast News - with Becoming You

Goalhanger’s The Rest Is History gets a profile in the Wall Street Journal. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook are described as “irreverent historians”; the show is in the top ten charts in many countries.

Persephonica’s Miss Me? is to have a live show in March. It’s the first for the Sheffield-based podcast producer. The show is hosted by Lily Allen and Miquita Oliver, and is made for the BBC.

Sherlock Holmes Short Stories launches today from Noiser - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most celebrated Holmes mysteries – read in their original, masterful form by Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey and W1A). Expect iconic stories like The Adventure of the Speckled Band’, ‘The Red-Headed League’, and ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’.

New from Wondery today to open RSS is Hollywood & Crime - looking at the greed, lies and betrayals that led to the murder of variety show producer Roy Radin. The show has been available in Wondery+ for the past month, but gets its debut on other podcast apps today.