Google Podcasts closes, and joins the graveyard

• Google Podcasts, which closed on April 2 in the US, was scheduled to finally close globally yesterday. Founder Zack Reneau-Wedeen left in Sept 2021, and the app has had no feature updates since. Google Podcasts started making its way to the Google Graveyard in Jan 2023, when Google Podcasts was removed from Google Search. The third attempt at a podcast player from Google, it was almost six years old.

  • Creators: now’s the time to check if you’re still linking to Google Podcasts from your website, and remove those links. You’ve until the end of July 30 to get your podcast stats from Google Podcasts Manager. That website will also help submit your RSS feeds to YouTube, if you’ve not done that yet.
  • Listeners: At the time of writing, Google hasn’t updated its help pages - those make it appear that the app is still available, and it’s (astonishingly) still available to install on Android. But, YouTube Music is the company’s preferred successor - it does play RSS feeds, if you use our tool. We have recommendations for replacement apps.

• In early March, Ashley Carman reported that Call Her Daddy was looking for a new buyer, away from Spotify, seeking a nine-figure deal. This weekend, Semafor reported that Spotify’s not selling ads “beyond this year” for the show; SiriusXM appears one of the potential suitors, but they want “significant minimum download requirements”.

• Spotify, which recently increased its US price from $10.99 to $11.99, has launched a new $10.99 “basic” plan - without the audiobooks. It’s only available as a downgrade (via the website). Podcasts are unaffected.

• German airline Lufthansa has added an expanded choice of podcasts to its inflight entertainment.

• MrBallen has announced a live tour, kicking off in Dallas in September.

• Sports podcasts offer “untapped opportunities” for brands, according to the UK’s Global.

• The German podcast ranker from MA Podcast was published for May 2024. True-crime show Mordlust is #1, with 5.4mn downloads in May. (That’s about 1mn downloads per episode; there are around 132mn German speakers).

Moves and hires

• Jess Mott has joined AdLarge Media, as Director of National Digital Partnerships.

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• The Stitcher app closed on Aug 29 last year. Nobody appears to have told its RSS feed checker, though, which is still checking our RSS feed every hour, lonely, on a little server all by itself, that nobody cares for any more…

• OP3 is now measuring over 17 million downloads a month. The free, open podcast analytics service takes just minutes to get set up.

• We’re hearing intriguing discussion of a “Podcasting 2.0” event - either virtual or, perhaps, even in a physical one, designed to help podcasters get up to speed on some of the new features. We hope to carry news when we have it.

• One thing we forgot to mention last week in our saving bandwidth special was the if-modified-since header. For podcast RSS feeds, it should be relatively trivial to use this; we’re capturing details this week on who isn’t, yet, using it (and requesting RSS feeds in full every time).

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• Podcastpage posts How to Avoid Podcast Burnout

• The Podcast Index’s Dave Jones has important information about chickens.

Podcast News

The SF in SF Podcast - science fiction in San Francisco - has recorded its last show from the American Bookbinding Museum. Rusty Hodge says the show is moving to North Beach - which should come with some improvements to the sound - the current space is “cement walls, cement ceilings, cement floors”.

In Bubble Trouble this week, Will Page and Richard Kramer speak with Benedict Evans, a newsletter author who has 175,000 readers. (There’s a target!)

Offering a refreshing take on love and relationships, and the humorous mishaps of modern dating across different age groups, Dating at Her Age is new from KSL NewsRadio. The show “entertain, enlighten, and reminds us all that love knows no expiration date.”

New today, The Whole Damn Pie is hosted by Amalia Martino, founder and president of The Vida Agency, who embarks on a quest to explore what it truly means to achieve fulfillment across all aspects of life. Tune in to redefine fulfillment and start working towards securing your own whole damn pie.

The Money Trench is launched today, calling itself “the music industry podcast” with journalist and host Mark Sutherland and exec producer Mike Walsh. As a podcast promising to provide "comprehensive weekly analysis of the latest music industry news and views”, it’s sponsored by PPL, the UK record industry’s collection agency and licensing organisation.

The Golden Girls Deep Dive Podcast is a brand new rewatch podcast, created and hosted by Patrick Hinds, co-creator and co-host of the hit podcast “True Crime Obsessed,” and two-time Tony Award®-nominee Jennifer Simard. It’s new today from Audacy Podcasts.

There’s a growing trend of opting to buy and run existing businesses. So, how can aspiring leaders embark on this journey of entrepreneurship through acquisition? Think Big, Buy Small is new today from Harvard Business School, exploring this new trend in business leadership. It’s an expansion of a course and a best-selling book.