The two things that make podcasts unique

• Podcasts are a unique form of media because people use them both to learn and to be entertained, according to The Canadian Podcast Listener 2020, which has released a sneak preview of some of its findings. The research says that the attentive, lean-in audience for podcasts is great for advertisers.

  
  Aug 28 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• City Cast has been announced - a new US network of daily, local podcasts, “launching this winter in a handful of cities”. Its CEO is David Plotz, the former Editor-in-Chief of Slate magazine. They’re hiring.

• Podcast Movement Virtual starts today - with a set of keynotes. Our Editor, James Cridland, is moderating a session about emerging podcast markets later today - join him with guests from Asia, Africa and Europe. Yes, there’s still time to register. (Hint: look in the classifieds)

• Podcast app Entale has unveiled a revamp of their “industry-leading podcast AI technology”, which adds automated interaction to podcast listening. The app automatically links any podcast mention to people, places, films and more.

• Vurbl, a new “audio and podcasting platform”, has announced pre-seed funding. In closed beta, it offers creators their own “audio station”.

• Buzzsprout is the first podcast host to support the new <podcast:locked> RSS element, designed to help with the podcast piracy problem. “Buzzsprout now fully support this element on both sides. You can toggle the locked status of your podcast on/off and Buzzsprout will not import a locked podcast.”

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 28 2023
  • We notice that Anchor have now removed our purposefully-pirated podcast. No word on whether they’ll support this new tag as yet, though.

• Acast is powering a set of new, paid podcasts from ThePioneer, a German journalism platform. The launch is powered by Acast Access, a product Acast first launched in May last year.

• Stitcher is now officially owned by SiriusXM, after the purchase completed yesterday. As part of that, Stitcher’s podcasts are now on Pandora.

• In news that readers of Sounds Profitable, our ad-tech newsletter, will enjoy: IAB Europe launched a (display) ad-tracking consent framework a few years ago. According to the Belgian data protection regulator, it’s, um, illegal under the GDPR, Europe’s privacy law. The IAB has released a statement respectfully disagreeing with the finding.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 28 2023

• iJustine, a YouTuber, is now a podcaster. Looks like she was sent lots of stuff from RØDE.

• Apple is still trying to hire an Apple Podcasts Manager for France; this position, first marketed in August, has just popped up again in a job alert email. Pourquoi personne ne veut travailler pour La Grosse Pomme?

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 28 2023

Tips and tricks - with True Crime Reporter from PAR

• Robert Riggs spills the beans about how he makes his podcast True Crime Reporter. His technique involves a red grease pencil.
• Here are four embedded players for your website. One’s proven to give you more subscriptions.

Podcast News

Radio Point’s political podcast Election Profit Makers is trying to get no listeners at all. So far, the podcast has raised more than $20,000 for voting-rights organisations - the donations get a person of your choice officially banned from listening to the show. "I guess our goal is to lose all of our listeners,” says co-host Jon Kimball. “I’m confident we can do it.”
Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead, a Spotify exclusive, launched today. Here’s a quote: “We can’t get to courage without rumbling with vulnerability. And that is at the heart of daring leadership. This deeply human truth. That’s rarely acknowledged, especially at work. Courage and fear are not mutually exclusive. Most of us feel brave and afraid all day long at the exact same time.”