Spoken Word audio is now more popular than ever

• Spoken Word audio is now more popular than ever. Data from NPR and Edison Research suggests that both audience size and listening time are the highest they’ve ever been for spoken word content.

• Exclusive: On Android and the web, the YouTube Music app is rolling out support for adding a podcast using an RSS URL. This lets you listen to any RSS-based podcast within the YouTube Music app; it works as passthrough direct to the podcast host. So, even if your favourite podcast isn’t on YouTube… you can still listen, on YouTube Music. (The app is pre-installed on most new Android phones).

  • To find the option, go to your YouTube Music library (hit the library tab, then ensure “Library” is selected at the top) -> tap the “podcasts” button at the top of the page -> you should see a button marked “+ Add Podcast” bottom-right. You’ll need the RSS feed URL to add a show - our podcast directory links to them for every podcast out there.
  • We’ve worked out that the user-agent for the YouTube Music app starts: com.google.android.apps.youtube.music/

• Podtrac released its top rankers for October. reVolver Podcasts were new in the publisher list at #19: president Jack Hobbs tells us it’s the first Latino platform to make the Podtrac listings. It measures participating publishers only.

• There’s just one week left to submit your podcast in The Ambies.

• In the UK and Ireland, The Athletic has signed a deal with Global for podcast ad sales.

• iHeartMedia released its Q3/23 financial results. Podcast revenue was $102.7mn, up 12.5% year-on-year. Total revenue is down 3.6%; podcasting represents 10.7% of the company’s revenue.

• Audacy released its Q3/23 financial results. Digital revenue, including podcasting, was $64.7mn, up 3.3% year-on-year. Total revenue is down 9.4%.

• Low-latency recording tool Cleanfeed’s new markers are now supported by Adobe Audition and Reaper.

• BBC Sounds has enabled multi-room playback for Alexa-enabled smart speakers.

• Spotify has a redesigned TV app on smart TVs.

• Creators using Buzzsprout, including the Podnews Weekly Review, saw delays in stats from last week following an outage at Cloudflare. The company says all stats are now updated; and listeners were not affected.

• Business Insider covers the story of Brian Luebben, who started the Action Academy podcast in October 2021, and was earning “up to $19,000 a month” from affiliate revenue (based on only 5,000 downloads), allowing him to quit his job. Coincidentally, his podcast explains how to quit your job and do work you love; and also coincidentally you’ll have to pay to read the story.

People News

Ryan Hatoum is now Global Thought Leadership Communications for Dolby. He was Comms Lead at Acast for more than three years.

Podcast News - with Airwave

From Airwave: Calm History lets you relax or fall asleep with fascinating stories and trivia from history, all narrated in a calm voice. Perfect for distracting your stressful thoughts at bedtime or anytime. “I never thought that learning about Easter Island, Joan of Arc, and the Titanic could be so calming.”

The brands launching podcasts aren’t just financial companies and lawyers. In The P***hub Podcast with Asa Akira, Asa is joined by Alexzandra Kekesi to discuss important issues facing the adult industry, like censorship, shadowbanning, and financial discrimination. Talking of censorship, we can’t mention the full name of the show in our newsletter because email spam filters are watching.

PRIDE Daily tells us it is “the world’s only daily LGBTQ+ news podcast”. It’s a two minute update of the day’s top three queer stories, often delivered with an arched eyebrow and maybe even a pursed lip.

Spotify’s new podcast What Now? with Trevor Noah has launched. Trevor is joined by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in episode one; a video version is exclusive to Spotify, while the audio is available everywhere.