What data do podcast apps use to help people find your show?

Never let an ad slot go empty, says Bryan Barletta in this week’s Sounds Profitable, with Podsights. But, he says, “a careful strategy of running the right ads at the right time needs to be in place so they benefit you, the advertisers, and your audience.”

Sep 5 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Exclusive: Do podcast apps use your podcast’s description to help people find new shows? Should you put your guest’s name in your episode title? Which apps search which bits of your RSS feed? Three weeks in the making, Mark Steadman from podcast studio Origin has catalogued what every big podcast app indexes, and how to help listeners find your podcast.

• The number of US Latino podcast listeners has soared. According to new data from Edison Research, the number of Latino listeners is up by 44% year-on-year; 36% of Latino adults are now listening every month. (Más información en español)

• Fiction podcasts are growing in Asia, with the launch of Fey Hollow: The Fairy Tale Murders. A new true crime thriller podcast from Singapore’s AXN, the podcast has a dual ending that allows listeners to choose how they want the show to finish - “making them the creator and the audience at the same time”, says the producer, KC Global Media. The show’s already hit #1 in the island state.

• Wondery+ is now on Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. Subscribers get ad-free listening, early access, and exclusive content for $4.99/month after a 7 day free trial.

• Apple has made some clarifications to new show submissions within Apple Podcasts Connect. By default, when you submit a new show it will appear in the API, so your show will appear in other podcast apps too: if you want to opt out, you’ll now be given a confirmation message to ensure you understand that the show will only be available on Apple Podcasts. We’ve updated our page showing where to add your podcast.

• In the UK, the BBC has launched a podcast accelerator programme called BBC Sounds Audio Lab. It will give six audio creatives the opportunity to turn their ideas into a series of podcasts for BBC Sounds, and will also include a number of free masterclasses.

• Audioboom has promoted two new senior team members: Thomas Mancusi is Chief Revenue Officer, and Erica Tong as Chief Operating Officer. Both have been with the company for five years.

  
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• Podcast host Whooshkaa claims it’s the first podcast host to recertify for the IAB Podcast Guidelines v2.1. (Julep Hosting from Germany was first to certify for this new standard).

• Parcast has released their 100th show for non-US markets. The first, in November 2019, was an adaptation of Cults for the German market, Sekten & Kulte - Im Namen des Bösen; the latest is Horoscope Today: Stars Edition for Australia and New Zealand.

• The trend for shorter content appears to have reached Amazon, which has launched Kindle Vella, a mobile-first serialized story experience.

  
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• Backtracks has released an integration with Google Data Studio, allowing publishers to build custom reports and dashboards.

• macOS11.5 has reached release candidate stage, which normally means this operating system will be released publicly soon - it contains some improvements to the Podcasts app, it seems.

• FastCompany publishes an article they first entitled “6 alternatives to Apple’s terrible podcast app”, telling a story about one devoted podcast listener who carries his old phone around just so he can keep using the old version of the Apple Podcasts app.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Sep 5 2023

• That fake Overcast app is still in the Google Play store. Marco Arment, the developer of the real Overcast (and owner of the trademark) describes Google Play as “a garbage fire of copyright and trademark infringement”.

• The NATPE ContentCast event focusing on The Business of Podcasting is today from 12pm ET. It’s free to watch; our Editor is moderating a panel just before the final session.

Tips and tricks

• Jeremy Enns joins Nick Schildberger and Nicole Goodman to talk about how to get more podcast listeners in this week’s Podcasting Essentials.

Podcast News

Dr Death premieres this Thursday on the US television service Peacock. Listeners to the podcast feed can hear a conversation between Dr. Randall Kirby and Christian Slater, the actor who plays him, starting today. Wondery+ subscribers, including on Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, get exclusive, ad-free access to season two about Dr. Fata plus ad-free access to season one and all bonus episodes.

Emprendedores con Luis von Ahn is a new original podcast from Adonde Media, the globally minded podcast production company that is also behind the hit Duolingo podcasts. The podcast is executive produced by Martina Castro, and 'features the stories of latinamerican entrepreneurs behing the social impact startups that are changing the world'. It’s hosted by Luis von Ahn, the CEO and cofounder of Duolingo.

The US network of daily, local podcasts, CityCast has announced eight new cities to add to Chicago IL and Denver CO. Upcoming cities are Boise ID, Houston TX, Las Vegas NV, Nashville TN, Oakland CA, Omaha NE, Pittsburgh PA and Salt Lake City UT. Their website has a mailing list to join so you know when your local city has launched.

Manatomy is a new podcast where celebrities talk openly and frankly about their bodies. It’s hosted by Danny Wallace and Phil Hilton, from Stitcher. Wallace: “Men just don’t talk about this to each other, they don’t have that chat. Manatomy hopes to change that”

The Rush looks at different ways that our brains get the biochemical rush we crave. It’s hosted by Josh Szeps, who gets force-fed fatty foods, falls off a tower, and gets tied up in rope.