Podcast listeners love AI

• Podcast listeners are comfortable with AI tools being used in podcasting, says a new study from Acast. Uses of AI most welcomed by listeners include sound enhancements, translated captions and AI-generated transcripts: the study claims that 79% of podcast listeners want transcripts for searching, and 78% want closed-captions.

  • Acast already produces transcripts for its conversational targeting product. It could include those transcripts in its podcast feeds using the podcast:transcript tag - which could also enable closed captions in supported players.
  • This story is read by AI in our daily podcast.

• Thought the days of exclusive shows were over? If they are, nobody’s yet told Audible, who have just announced a sci-fi comedy original called Third Eye, starring Neil Gaiman, Wil Wheaton and many others. It’s out in October.

• Buzzsprout has posted its platform stats for June. Apple Podcasts downloads are up nearly 2% month-on-month.

• The core audience for podcasts are men aged 25-34, says Edison Research; they spend 16% of their total audio time with the medium. However, podcasting does worst with men ages 55-64 - who spend four times less time.

• The Paris Podcast Festival’s competition is looking for entries - you have until July 17th to enter your podcast. There are seven categories.

• The Canada Podcast Ranker for May was released at the end of last week by Triton Digital. For sales networks, Amazon’s Wondery Network overtook CBC/Radio-Canada to reach second place, behind the SiriusXM Podcast Network. It lists participating publishers only.

• In South Korea, CBS - the Christian Broadcasting System - has signed with Triton Digital for podcast distribution, monetisation and analytics.

• In May 2018, Apple Podcasts requested that all podcast feeds should be secure, and that in future a secure feed would be required for analytics and to submit new podcasts. It’s still not a requirement - but as of today, data from the Podcast Index suggests just 3.8% of the 4.1mn shows available are not served using a secure feed. In 2018, that figure was 83%! (Here’s why a secure feed is important.)

On Bluesky Social? Us too. We’re @podnews.net. Or, on Mastodon - just search for @updates@podnews.net to find us there. We’re also on the blue bird site, when it works.

Podcast News

Happy Independence Day! America: A History Podcast has been 250 years in the making, according to producer and host Liam Heffernan. Made with the University of East Anglia’s American Studies faculty, the show looks at a different question about US history, culture or politics every week: like “what is the Constitution” or “what makes the Super Bowl so super?”

From Ireland, Real Lives Untold is a brand-new true crime and human interest podcast that “aims to create a space for people from all walks of life to tell their stories, raise awareness on a variety of topics and help others in similar situations”. It started in May, and has now signed with the Acast Creator Network.

Counsel Cast features the podcast lawyer Gordon Firemark in a new episode this week. He talks copyright, trademarks, release agreements and how to disclose podcast ads on your show.\

Reaching your Goals is celebrating more than 100,000 downloads since launching in January this year. Each Tuesday, Johanna Herbst features exciting interviews with business leaders, academics, coaches, or entrepreneurs who share untold glimpses into their professional and personal lives, and offer listeners practical advice and tools for reaching their own goals.

Getty Art + Ideas has launched Art & Poetry, a three-part miniseries hosted by Getty Research Institute associate curator Dr. LeRonn P. Brooks. Discussions include the urgency for artists and poets to respond to our contemporary crises; the importance of invisibility in African American cultural production across the centuries; and how daily record keeping can be a radical act.

Travelling at the end of a long weekend? Need some inspo? New Podcast Trailers is there for you.

Podcast promotion in the wild

Evo Terra was out getting takeout tacos (“at one of the eight Mexican food places within walking distance of my house”) when he happened upon this guy. The QR code takes you to the Trejo and Peeps Podcast - which, disappointingly, has podfaded. Was that Trejo? Or was that Peeps? And were they lost?