Apple Podcasts reaches over 900,000 shows

• Apple Podcasts hit 900,000 podcasts yesterday, according to the My Podcast Reviews service by Daniel J. Lewis. 50,000 have been added in the last thirty days.

• Google Podcasts (beta) appears to have added auto-downloads for us. The setting appears when subscribing, or re-subscribing, to a new show.

• What is Apple building next in podcasting? Mark Asquith writes a long post with some thoughts about what they are - and aren’t - planning to do in the future: and suggests that they should work together with the industry to move forward.

• PRX has announced four new board members. One, Claudia Palmer, is COO for WGBH, a public broadcaster in Boston. Jon Abbott, WGBH’s President and CEO, has completed his eight-year tenure of service on the PRX board.

• In an earning summary, The New York Times says The Daily has achieved 1 billion downloads. Podcast revenues look to have increased by 26% to $71m, though this accounts line also includes revenue from the NYT’s branded content studio and from Wirecutter - it’s 13% of the company’s ad revenue.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 21 2023
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• ESPN accounts for 65% of all listening to digital sports audio in the US, according to Edison Research.

  
  Aug 21 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• In the US, ABC Audio has hired Lakeia Brown as Senior Producer, Race & Culture Audio Insights - “part of our commitment to journalism that is inclusive, diverse and relevant to multicultural audiences”. She joins from ABC News Research.

• iHeartMedia’s podcasts are going to be on telly: a division of NBCUniversal Content Studios, UCP has signed a “first-look” deal with iHeartMedia to have first rights at adapting iHeartRadio Original podcasts for tv. Only last week, iHeartMedia announced book adaptations from its podcasts.

  • iHeartMedia is asking the FCC for approval to waive a rule that prohibits foreign investors from owning more than a minority of the company.
  • Hillary Clinton is to start her own podcast, produced by iHeartMedia. (She credits Conan O’Brien for getting her interested in the medium).
  • In their earnings call, it was revealed that iHeartMedia’s digital revenue, which includes podcasting, was up 33.6% year-on-year; broadcast revenue fell by 1.4%. Bob Pittman claimed that the company will double their podcast revenues in 2020; and Rich Bressler said that a way to value podcast companies is “about $6 a download or thereabouts”. We’re millionaires!

• Spotify is to launch new podcasts in Australia. The leading podcaster in the country, the ABC, remains unavailable on the platform.

• Elsewhere today, Digiday looks at international markets for podcasting. A Forbes blogger writes about the impact of podcasting on the music industry. Dan Misener thinks that your podcast episode notes could probably be longer and more search-friendly

Podcast News

Today is the 500th episode of Gary Leland’s 4 Minute Crypto And Bitcoin Daily News. A Bitcoin conference, Bit Block Boom, will be held in Dallas TX, USA at the end of August. (Libsyn)

What matters most to everyday Americans? Into America is a new show about politics, policy, and the power both have over the lives of the American people. Hosted by Trymaine Lee with correspondents from across the country, it’s a new weekly podcast from NBC News and MSNBC. (ART19)

Also from NBC News, Byers Market, hosted by Dylan Byers, looks at the world of technology and media. The current episode features an interview with Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg. (ART19)

Are you in New York, New York?

We’re at the RAIN Podcast Business Summit next Wednesday, Mar 4 - in fact, our Editor’s the MC of the event; from 5.30pm on Wednesday night, we’ll be inside the Beer Authority, on 300 W 40th St, and will swap you a cheap laptop sticker for a pint of foaming beer.