Pocket Casts launch podcasts on your wrist

• Pocket Casts formally announced its Wear OS app for smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy watch range and the Google Pixel Watch. Now widely available for Pocket Casts Plus subscribers, it allows full playback, including speed control, silence skipping and volume boost: and (once you’ve downloaded a show) lets you leave your phone at home.

• The new Canadian bill C-18, which forces Google and Facebook to pay to link to Canadian news sources, could be bad news for Canadian news podcasts, says Kattie Laur. Facebook and Google have stopped linking to news content, or threatened to - but could that include news podcasts?

• Podcast advertising is going great, suggests Rephonic - it’s increasing as a percentage of total audio ad revenue, as well as in comparison to other types of online advertising.

• Some advertisers are asking for “baked-in” advertising rather than dynamic audio insertion. Flightpath’s Sean Howard says that this cheats you out of podcast revenue.

• Podcast host Blubrry has launched its Podcast Statistics service as an app-like experience on mobile. The service, known technically as a PWA, looks and behaves just like an app on your mobile phone (iOS or Android).

• Podcast host Libsyn has published its latest platform stats. Spotify is showing a record number of downloads on the platform. (In March, Spotify released “Auto Play for Podcasts”, which plays other relevant episodes after one finishes; and its new scrollable interface for podcasts)

• Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast has signed new comedy podcast Knock 'Em Dead.

Moves and hires

• Rachel Ghiazza has been appointed Chief Content Officer at Audible. She has been Content EVP since Jun 2020, and joined the company from Spotify in Apr 2019.

• Former Spotify director of global podcast sales David Cohn has joined Cumulus Media’s Westwood One as senior vice president of sales & digital partnerships.

Tips and tricks

• Episode art is coming to Apple Podcasts in the next few months. You’re suggested to work on them now, so your podcast looks amazing when the new iOS 17 is released.

• SEO is a thing for podcasting, too. RedCircle writes about tips to grow your podcast.

Podcast News - with the Radioinfo Asia Podcast Awards

The Liquid Courage Podcast returns for a fourth season today - Toronto-based actor, writer and podcaster Amanda Pereira interviews some of the creative people she admires, accompanied by their favourite drink. The show won the Canadian Podcast Award for Outstanding Debut of a Series.

Savvy Ventures, a new podcast and radio show hosted by Merilee Kern, has launched. It is an offshoot from the Savvy Ventures TV show that’s aired on Bloomberg and FOX Business TV in the US, and also with elements from the Savvy Living TV show that airs on major markets and networks. It promises “discussions about lifestyle issues, business leadership and success; entrepreneurship, technology and innovation; travel and leisure, shopping and everything in between”.

In Canada, Myles Sexton - a TV personality, style expert, and advocate for gender identity, sexuality and mental health, has joined the Acast Creator Network with Our Private Bits, presented with their fiancé, Tyler Austin. They will both share candid reflections on the obstacles they’ve faced and the invaluable lessons they’ve learned along the way.

What are prisons like, really? Evolving Prisons speaks with prison system executives, governors, prison officers, ex-prisoners and their families to show the human behind the uniform and the crime. It’s hosted by Kaigan Carrie.

Drapetomaniax: Unshackled History is new this week from Sony Music Entertainment and Pharrell William’s production company OTHERTone. From Michael Harriot, Drapetomaniax will uncover the untold stories of Black Americans in history with an unapologetically Black perspective.

True crime podcast GUILT investigates some of New Zealand’s most enduring unsolved cases. The new season of the podcast uncovers never heard before developments in an active case that could change the course of justice. The focus of this new season, a historic double-homicide in the Coromandel, is this week making headlines once again.

Babylab is back for a second season, looking at how babies think. The podcast is made with the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development at Western Sydney University and produced by LiSTNR. It’s hosted by kids entertainer Emma Watkins.