Spotify: video podcasts are catching on

• Spotify will announce today that the company now lists over 100,000 video podcasts on the platform: the most video shows are produced in the US, Brazil, Mexico, the UK and Germany. In the Philippines, video podcasts account for over half of all podcast consumption - and adding video gets you more listeners who stick around longer, the company says. Spotify doesn’t support open video RSS feeds though, and requires video uploads to be made via Spotify for Podcasters (though you no longer need to host your audio podcast with them). 100,000 shows represents less than 2% of Spotify’s total podcast catalogue.

  • Meanwhile, YouTube still has to launch their podcast offering outside the US (where they launched in April). The company hasn’t completed its RSS ingest trial, either, and consumption numbers are low. Meanwhile, YouTube is under fire for what some are calling “fraudulent conduct”, after Adalytics researchers suggest as much as 80% of YouTube’s video ads on third party sites are hidden and muted.
  • The Apple Podcasts app has supported video podcasts since 2005, but in a video today, Transistor’s Justin Jackson points out that it’s really hard to find them; and requires two different feeds.

• A new podcast app could strip out the ads from podcasts - and share the money with creators. Auddia is using AI to remove ads from AM/FM stations and could offer the same for podcasts too, it says.

• Two pieces of research about podcasts in Spain have been released.

  • 97% of listeners say their perception of a brand improves or remains positive when it is advertised in a podcast, according to a new Spanish listener survey by Acast. Acast saw 6mn monthly listens to hosted content in Spain in May.
  • A study by the Observatorio Nebrija del Español at Nebrija University in Madrid examined 263 original podcasts published last year by Amazon Music, Audible, Cuonda, iVoox, Podimo, Podium Podcast, Sonora and Spotify. The study discovered that 68% of original podcasts from these companies were only available with a paid subscription. Sonora led Spanish podcast production in 2022, with 84 original podcasts.

• In the UK, Persephonica has announced a new political podcast with George Osborne and Ed Balls. Osborne was the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the Treasury Secretary) for the UK; Balls was his opposition opponent. The podcast will start in Autumn, and comes as The Rest Is Politics (hosted by two opposing political figures) continues to ride high in the charts.

• Podcast Grader is a tool that analyses the audio quality of your show and uses AI to give more precise recommendations. It says the Podnews Daily podcast is perfect.

• The latest version of podcast app Pocket Casts for Android users adds a Wear OS app for watches. For Pocket Casts Plus subscribers, it allows full playback, including speed control, silence skipping and volume boost. A capable and fully-featured podcast app on your watch, we tested it while walking the dog: it works well.

• Need to book a podcast studio near you? There’s a (new) app for that, called Book Your Booth.

• Stand by for action! Anderson Entertainment, run by Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson’s son, is opening the first custom-built video podcast studio in Slough, England - working with Neal Veglio of Podknows Podcasting and Moxy Slough.

• The latest version of Hindenburg PRO now includes the option to export a transcript with speaker names. (Find it in the manuscript after right-clicking to export).

Tips and tricks

• The Podcast Host posts a guide to SEO for Podcasters - how to be discovered by your target audience.

Podcast News

My Time Capsule has hit episode 300. A gentle, humorous listen with British comic actor Mike Fenton-Stevens, the 300th edition was recorded in front of a live audience with comedian Dave Gorman.

New Podcast Trailers now has twice as many new trailers in it - perfect for discovering your next favourite listen. Keep it in your podcast app for when your listen queue is empty.

Popular Australian podcast Basically Besties has joined the Acast Creator Network. The show was launched nine months ago and has already hit 4mn downloads; it has also recently completed a nationwide tour. Hosted by mother-daughter duo Kat and Latisha Clark, it was created with production and talent partner Amplify.

RHLSTP with Richard Herring is to go on tour around the UK later this year. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. The show is normally recorded in the Leicester Square Theatre; Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast is an interview podcast in front of a live studio audience, including a book of emergency questions.

New from Serial Productions today, The Retrievals tells the story of one nurse and the voices of Yale Fertility Center patients to show what happens when one of the most established fertility clinics in the country is held accountable for failing to protect its patients.

Squint and you’ll see the Stitcher logo top-left in the thumbnail: Better Tomorrow with Hannah Brown is new from Stitcher Studios and Lagos Creative, and premieres Jul 19. The TV personality she seeks to answer life’s big questions: “Am I better today than I was yesterday? And how can I learn to be better tomorrow?”

You Feeling This is new this week from James Kim’s company, Overtones, and iHeart. It premiered at Tribeca Audio Festival earlier this month, and showcases ten intimate stories from a diverse group of Los Angeles-based creators. From Long Beach to the Hollywood Hills, each episode was recorded on location in the lively streets, homes and landmarks of the city.

Richard Wiseman’s On Your Mind returned for a new season this week. The show says it’s the ultimate guide to the human psyche that dives into how we think, feel and behave. Professor Richard Wiseman holds the UK’s only professorship in the public understanding of psychology.

Podcast promotion in the wild

A poster, somewhere in Los Angeles, for fiction podcast mixtape You Feeling This? - though it doesn’t communicate that it’s a podcast at all. It’s nice though, as are the dogs in this picture. Who’s a good dog?