Supercast sees success in cross-platform paid podcast subscriptions

• Paid podcast subscriptions seem to be having a moment: Breaking Points, a podcast and YouTube show, has seen 10,000 paying subscribers in just two days using Supercast. The company tells Podnews that their top ten podcasters are earning more than $9 million in annual recurring revenue from paid subscribers on the platform; and that their growth rate is outperforming Substack’s early published milestones.

• RedCircle has landed $6m in funding. The company monetises podcasts, selling host-read ads or programmatic advertising, as well as a method of selling podcast subscriptions. The company says many of their podcasters are earning six figures annually.

• Callin, a social podcast app, has raised $12m in funding. It appears to be a Clubhouse-like service; Axios says it’s “a single software stack for recording, editing, transcription and distribution, plus an added twist of live audience participation”.

  
  Sep 6 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Spotify has a new podcast executive: Julie McNamara, a former executive vice president and head of programming at Paramount+, will become Spotify’s new head of U.S. studios and video operations.

• Twitter has confirmed that it is working on a tipping process using Bitcoin and the lightning network. This is of interest for podcasters because it uses the same technology as value4value listening, including 'boosts’. “If every Twitter user has a lightning wallet, the listener onboarding problem gets solved overnight,” said Podcast Index’s Dave Jones.

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• Now, the coffee you drink can help podcasting. Unf#cking The Republic has announced a partnership with Indigenous-owned Native Coffee Traders, located in New York on the Poospatuck Reservation, a new way to simultaneously support the show and the Indigenous community. You can buy the coffee on their website.

• In Canada, CBC has announced its Q3/21 podcast slate, including a trilogy exploring strands of radical extremism in North America.

• Blue Wire and WynnBET have announced a number of new podcasts. Blue Wire’s studios at the Wynn in Las Vegas are due to open next week.

• In France, SACEM and GESTE have reached agreement on music licensing for podcasts. Prices start at €0.125 per subscriber per month ($0.15), or 3% of revenue. SACEM covers authors, composers and publishers, like PRS for Music in the UK or APRA in Australia. This licence allows you to record someone singing a copyrighted song, but like a similar licence from APRA in Australia, does not cover you, as we understand it, for using any sound recordings.

• Cleanfeed has launched new studio tools for podcasters and broadcasters, including audio buttons to allow sound effects, intro music or jingles. Cleanfeed is used by companies for remote high-definition, live audio, in the browser.

• Sheqonomi is a new podcast app, running on iOS, Android and KaiOS - aiming to advance and uplift women. Founder Anu Bhardwaj, based in Bermuda, is also the founder of Women Investing in Women Digital and The State of Women Institute.

• Edison Research is planning a webinar examining US Latinos who don’t listen to podcasts.

  
  Sep 6 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• In Germany, Spotify is advertising a new campaign about how well Spotify works in the car. The company says in-car listening increased last year by 155%.

• Spotify has also reminded podcasters to correctly label your show as 'explicit’ if required.

• Didn’t get your entry in for the New Zealand Podcast Awards? The deadline has been extended to Sep 10.

Tips and tricks - with Podcast Movement

• From Pacific Content, Kristie Chan highlights her “intimidating” first day of audio engineering school, and focuses on how to make the industry more inclusive.

• The Verge detail how to get great audio for podcast interviews.

• Kate Erickson has written about her biggest takeaways from Podcast Movement 2021. She suggests preparation, discipline and flexibility to get the most out of these events.

Podcast News

I Hear Things, the weekly podcast from Tom Webster, focuses on iHeartRadio’s Sunday Night Podcasts, and whether podcasts on the radio is something that works.

Podland this week looks at how Google Podcasts is going, and includes a 'boostagram corner’. It’s hosted by Sam Sethi and James Cridland.

How Cool Is This?, a 5 minute podcast that talks about how cool your ideas are, just published its 100th episode. The hosts got a taste of their own medicine, inviting their girlfriends onto the show to discuss how cool “How Cool Is This?” is.

How To! has a new host: Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist and a New York Times bestselling author. Amanda has spent years studying human behavior, writing three investigative nonfiction books on the subject.

The mediaV Awards were presented in Köln in Germany. The winner of the “Best Podcast” award went to Technik aufs Ohr - Der Podcast für Ingenieur/innen und Technikfans, a podcast for audio engineers. (Thanks, Steffen!)

What if instead of being on the brink of disaster, we’re on the cusp of a better world? What Could Go Right? features Progress Network Founder Zachary Karabell and Executive Director Emma Varvaloucas and a diverse panel of experts to discuss the central issues of our era, including sustainability, polarization, work, and the economy, and make the case for a brighter future.

The Best Podcast Ever has launched in Australia, with journalists Kumi Taguchi and Michelle Stephenson, who - due to a lockdown in the country - have yet to actually meet each other. They’ll chat politics, social media, books and music.