Libsyn acquires production platform Auxbus

Our cover story: Kacie Willis, from You Heard Me Write, Spotify’s new podcast from their SoundUp program. See Podcast News, below.

• Libsyn has acquired podcast creation platform Auxbus. Launched in May 2019, Auxbus is a web-based podcast production platform “that lets you plan, record, and launch all in one place”. Ryan DuVal, Auxbus Chief Engineer, will “join Libsyn to lead its newly formed Creation product line”, says the press release. Terms weren’t disclosed; Auxbus was put up for sale in December 2019.

• Happy Africa Podcast Day! There’s a day of events at the Africa Podcast Festival website.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 31 2023

• PodLP, a podcast app for KaiOS users, has added push notifications in its latest update.

• NPR podcast listeners are getting more loyal - weekly users are up by 5% but downloads are up by 28% year-on-year, according to the NPR Podcast Report for Q4 2020.

• Hindenburg has announced their traditional World Radio Day sale prices - this Feb 13 there’s a 40% discount. Hindenburg Journalist Pro drops from $375 to US$225, as one example. Hindenburg has donated US$25,900 from previous sales to Cultural Survival, a charity that advances Indigenous Peoples’ rights and cultures.

• Castopod, free podcast host software, now supports the new 'person’ tag.

• In France, the ACPM podcast ranker for December 2020 says that Culture Générale from Choses à Savoir is the most popular podcast in the country, with 1.2m downloads in France. The company has 12 podcasts, which achieved 2.8m downloads overall. An incomplete ranker, it measures participating publishers only.

• Sounds Profitable’s next deepdive is on February 18th. Erik Barraud, SVP of Product at AdsWizz, will demo their planning and buying platform for advertisers, AudioMatic; he’ll be joined by Bryan Barletta, fully running through what the product actually is and how it’s used. It’s free to watch - register here.

Tips and tricks - with PODGO

• Podcasts are like pets: here’s five reasons why - must have been ruff writing this (The Podcast Host)
• We had 1,489 downloads yesterday of our podcast. Here’s how people listen: Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and Overcast are our top three podcast apps.

Podcast News - with CBC Podcasts

From CBC Podcasts: The Story Store - the one-stop story-shop, that takes orders from kids across Canada and turns their suggestions into hilarious, fun-filled adventures for kids, grandparents and everyone in between.

You Heard Me Write is a new Spotify podcast from their SoundUp program for under-represented voices. Hosted by Kacie Willis, on each episode writers, musicians, sound designers and dynamic thinkers will collaborate on a multimedia project, without knowing the identities of their counterparts - it debuts next Thursday.

Podland, the weekly podcast with James Cridland and Sam Sethi, has interviews with an author of a new book about Spotify; Wayne Parker from podcast location service Maps․fm, and news of a new Clubhouse-a-like.

Cry Like A Boy is the first original podcast from Euronews, available in both English and French. It explores how men are defying stereotypes and promoting gender equality; and takes you to five African nations to discover how local communities are working towards change.