Stitcher and Wondery expand into the UK; podcast targeted with one-star reviews

• Stitcher and Wondery have announced an expansion into the UK marketplace. They’ve hired Ruth Fitzsimons (ex Audioboom) as Managing Director of the joint venture, named Podfront UK. The company will “open a new path for podcasters to monetize their shows within the U.K. marketplace and will source high-quality podcasts and talent out of the U.K. for a growing international audience”.

  • Meanwhile, Acast has launched in Germany. The Managing Director is Stefan Zilch, formerly with Spotify. “In Europe, we’ve already paid out over 50 million Euros to podcasters and publishers since Acast began.”

• A true-crime podcast is being targeted with one-star ratings. The creator of Obscura has tweeted about his experience. After they initially said they wouldn’t remove them, Apple did eventually remove a hundred obviously fake ratings, but the harasser has responded with a further 150. On Reddit, commenters believe they know who is responsible: we have no evidence for the accusations, but have reached out for comment.

  
  Aug 15 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
  • We’re aware this isn’t the first podcast targeted in such a way, and would like to learn more - we’re at updates@podnews.net and we respect confidentiality.
  • You can purchase one star reviews from the same companies that let you buy your way up the Apple charts. We wonder why Apple still can’t fix this.

• In a slightly bizarre story, Canadian podcast Nighttime has had a trademark infringement claim from, it appears, one of the subjects of their podcast, who also claims he now owns it. Their Facebook post contains more details.

• Oozy promises a new way to listen to and discover podcasts - the app promises “a living playlist, curated and delivered to you throughout the week”.

• Kitelinks launches this week - a new simple way to link to your podcast, with full data and optimised device-aware links.

• An interesting idea for a podcast network: CDS Shortwave lets you “tune into” clips from different podcasts on its website, using a radio tuner. (Every time you visit you get new clips, incidentally).

• Advice: microphone technique for podcasters (Buzzsprout)

• Among the many companies at Podcast Movement 2019: Cleanfeed, a company that enables high quality sound from anywhere, just using a browser. The press release also mentions a new pricing plan for podcasting.

• If you’re running Zoom on your Mac, a vulnerability means you should update the software today (open Zoom and choose “Check for Updates” from the menu); unless you want people being able to dial in and watch you “working”.

• Nick Hilton would like some people to stop making podcasts. He argues that brands shouldn’t be making podcasts, and instead, should be partnering with independent podcasters who are already making them.

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Podcasts

The Jump is a new podcast with Shirley Manson (the lead singer of Garbage), interviewing musicians about “the moments in an artist’s career where they decide to take a leap into something new”. It’s part of a growing portfolio of podcasts from Mailchimp.

Jeff Gordon - A Colorful Career is a new podcast telling the story of one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. It’s the sixth original series from Motor Racing Network, the largest independent sports radio network in America, which is now in its 50th year of broadcasting. (Motor Racing Network / StreamGuys)

Giles Coren Has No Idea appears to be doing quite well in the podcast charts in the UK. It’s one of two new podcasts from The Times and The Sunday Times, launched recently with Wireless Studios, who we reported on in May 2018.