Annual re-certification now required by IAB

• The IAB Tech Lab is now requiring annual re-certification from podcast companies. In a note that has appeared sometime over the past month on the IAB’s website, the IAB says it “is updating its compliance program to require annual recertification”.

  • Pricing is $35,000 for IAB members; membership is a minimum of $10,000 on top. The IAB’s PR company reached out after publication to say: "45K is not the correct charge for re-certification - this price was taken from an old FAQ page published in 2020 and the price was only for initial certification. In fact, IAB Tech Lab has lowered pricing to the following tiers to make certification more accessible to the wide Podcast measurement community. The updated pricing is: Member: $12,500 (new) / $​6,250​ (renew); Non-Member: $17,500 (new) /$8,750 (renew)
  • Open, transparent alternatives for download measurements proposed by others have included ODL from Podsights and OP3; alternatively, RAD from NPR and the podcast:events tag could measure plays, rather than downloads. Here’s much more on podcast stats.

• Kenyan podcasting studio and incubator SemaBOX has been critical of the size of Spotify’s $100,000 African Podcast Fund. “Frankly speaking they can give 10 times the amount they are offering”, said CEO Dan Aceda in The Star.

• Podtrac is to launch an attribution product. “Podtrac Attribution” promises “independent, accurate assessment of your podcast ad performance, in a new dashboard you’ll want to use” - you can apply for the beta today.

• Buzzsprout has won the internet with this helpful video about the secret to a great interview. For some reason not adequately explained, it’s recorded in a style from the 1990s; or perhaps that’s what Florida is still like.

• The UK’s Crowd Network has launched a new Crowd Sports division, with a dedicated Apple channel.

• Libsyn had a small problem with scheduled episode publishing yesterday. It was fixed in just over an hour, and was the first issue with the platform since July.

• Riverside is working on a report about video and its relationship with podcasts. They’ve built a survey to gather insights: it’ll take you six minutes, and it’s over here.

• Listening is a new app to let you “listen to any web page in your podcast player”.

• Podcast Guide is a new community podcast directory, made to be “episode-first”, allowing users to find new podcasts based on the content of their episodes. It also includes ratings and comments.

• UK MP Matt Hancock is apparently hoping to launch his own podcast after he leaves the current series of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. Hancock, who is not a celebrity, is a working member of Parliament for West Suffolk, although his whip has been suspended: a phrase that probably doesn’t mean what you think it means.

Moves and hires

• Agnes Kozera has left Podcorn, the company she co-founded, according to her LinkedIn. The company was acquired by Entercom, now Audacy, in Mar 2021.

Podcast News - with CBC Podcasts

From CBC Podcasts #13 is: The Kill List When human rights activist Karima Baloch is found drowned off the shores of Toronto, an investigation into her mysterious death leads all the way back to Pakistan, the country she had recently fled. This is the story a powerful state doesn’t want you to know.

In In The Scenes - Behind Plain Sight from Radiotopia, former Behind Plain Sight co-stars Ian and Mike rewatch each episode of the hit 2002 - 2007 TV show, sharing behind the scenes stories and secrets and talk about what’s going on in their lives now. If you’ve never heard of Behind Plain Sight, there’s a good reason for that: the show has never existed. It’s a new podcast from Ian Chillag and Mike Danforth.

This Job is History is new from Wondery and actor and comedian Chris Parnell, taking a look at jobs that no longer exist - funeral clowns, VHS clerks, and milkmen (something which will come as a wake-up call for the many milkmen in England).

Here If You Need is Mamamia’s first step into sport, and is hosted by Cate Campbell, a four-time Oympian, and sports journalist Hayley Willis. It’s a new show that covers all things women’s sport, and lands today thanks to series launch partner, Golf Australia.

Come As You Are is new from Pushkin. Based on her NYT best-selling book of the same name, it’s hosted by Emily Nagoski. The podcast will bring new dimensions to Emily’s distinct tone on female sexual wellbeing and her life’s work of helping people live with confidence and joy inside their bodies; it launches next week.

Podcast ads in the wild

Corny sends us this image from “North Hollywood” - it’s here, on 2100 Magnolia Blvd (across the road from a mural depicting Julius Pringles and Humperdink Duck, or Rich Uncle Pennybags if you move closer.) It’s promoting The Better Banking Podcast, a show from the Gain Federal Credit Union (which is just down the street).