Harbinger renews with PodcastOne for 'high seven figure deal'

• Congratulations to podcast host Jordan Harbinger, who has renewed with PodcastOne for what is described as a “high seven-figure deal”. He will remain with the network for the forseeable future. Harbinger does almost 11m monthly downloads.

• Podcast hosting and monetisation platform Megaphone says it has “launched in Germany, Spain, France and Italy”.

  • We’re… not entirely sure what the company is announcing here. Megaphone tells us that the Spotify Audience Network is not launching there yet; and we’re told the platform will continue to be only available in English. It doesn’t appear to include any local support (support is “through email or chat”); and we can only find one Megaphone staff member in these countries on LinkedIn: that person is not a new hire. Further, Engle, a French podcast publisher, signed with Megaphone 16 months ago.
  
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• Podbean has announced a Corporate Podcast Summit, to be streamed on LinkedIn on Nov 9. It’s focused on branded and internal podcasts.

• The Paris Podcast Festival was last weekend. En français, here are reports from day 1, day 2, day 3, and day 4, including prize winners; and the not very official top five things there.

• Podcast hosting company RSS Podcasting has announced improved podcast analytics.

• StreamGuys has upgraded its multimedia player.

• Spotify appears to have a new(?) in-app feature recommending guest appearances of, in this case, UK comedian James Acaster. It popped up on the screen of Podnews reader James Potter, who wonders if this is humanly curated, or if they have been working on credits data.

• Apple announced new MacBook Pro laptops with a notched screen, because everyone wants a laptop with a notched screen. Logic Pro gets an upgrade for spatial audio support. There are new AirPods, which everyone will buy, and more colours for the HomePod mini, which nobody will. There’s also a new cheap 'voice plan’ for Apple Music, for people who like being misunderstood by Siri.

Thank you to RSS Podcasting, who has become our latest gold supporter (and our #1 supporter, too!) We’re grateful to you for supporting our independent journalism, and for your support elsewhere over the past year or so. (Here’s how you can be like them).

Moves and hires

• Scott Porretti has been promoted to President of Katz Digital Audio, and will be responsible for growing podcast and programmatic revenue. Katz is the largest media representation company in the US.

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• Melissa Harris-Perry has been named the Host and Managing Editor of The Takeaway from PRX and WNYC Studios.

Tips and tricks

• How podcasters can grow their show with cross-promos - writing for Podnews, Podcast Movement’s Jared Easley suggests that cross-promotions are a great way to help your podcast’s discoverability.

• Eric Nuzum shares five pieces of advice for those interested in podcasting, including: “don’t be boring”.

Podcast News - with AdLarge Media

Presented by AdLarge Media: Voices for Justice A true crime podcast hosted by Sarah Turney, the first season explored the story of Sarah’s sister, missing teen Alissa Turney, which led to the arrest of their father in 2020. Each week, Sarah covers more true crime stories, asking listeners to help find justice for these unfortunate victims.

Hello from The Magic Tavern has just launched season 4, titled “A New Age”. A massively popular comedy podcast, it’s good to see it back.

FYI is a brand new podcast from Broadsheet, Australia’s go-to culture guide. The 20 minute episodes start Nov 2.

The Search is a brand new podcast from Spanian, a rapper and counter-culture icon. It will document the next steps on his search for life’s truths. It’s produced by DM Podcasts and launches today.