Spotify announces new podcast charts

• Spotify is rolling out new podcast charts: “Top Podcasts” and “Top Episodes”. The company has also added a US-only podcast charts website.

  • Top Podcasts and Top Episodes are worked out differently; we’ve added their definitions to our comprehensive understanding podcasting stats page, along with details of how the Apple Podcasts charts are worked out.

• In a surprise, Feedburner, which some podcasters use to manage their RSS feed, is to be transitioned to new infrastructure later this year, Google has announced.

  • 51,348 podcasts in Apple Podcasts (and 51,983 podcasts overall) use Feedburner.

• Audioboom is in profit for the first time. The company has announced their Q1/21 trading update. Quarterly revenue is up 49% year-on-year. They report they’re selling at $40.55 eCPM.

• Amazon Podcasts launched yesterday in Italy, supported by some exclusive podcasts from Wondery: Dr Death and Bunga Bunga have been translated to Italian.

• An announcement about Amazon’s new headphones also promotes a new feature for Alexa coming soon: “you’ll soon be able to listen to podcasts you follow on Amazon Music by just saying: Alexa, play my followed podcasts.”

  • Interesting that they call it “Amazon Music” - the third brand for podcasts on the platform?

• Backup My Podcast is a new service that keeps your podcast safe. Even if you’re de-platformed or your podcast host disappears overnight, it’ll keep your audio safe, they say.

• In France, podcast host Ausha has conducted research on how podcasters promote their show. 47% use social media; 14% use newsletters. Instagram is the most popular social media platform to promote new shows.

• From Women of Color Podcasters and the Asian American Podcasters Association, Podthon '21 is to go ahead in July. They’re asking for speaker submissions.

• Music podcast company Osiris Media has announced its slate for 2021.

• Elaine Graham-Quirke has been appointed as NOVA Entertainment’s Head of Digital Audio, Commercial Sydney.

• Gabe Bender, the product lead of Google Podcasts, left Google yesterday. He’s off to work at Stripe.

• The Onion reports: Obama Tweets About Podcast Again After Noticing Latest Episode Only Got 11 Streams. It’s a satirical website.

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