Veritone launches “Voice-as-a-Service” synthetic speech called MARVEL.ai — we unpack with president Ryan Steelberg

Veritone has launched a new service called MARVEL.ai, a synthetic voice product the company characterizes as a “Voice-as-a-Service” (VaaS) solution for media companies, brands, and celebrities. The product can mimic any person’s voice, given a sufficient sample, then make that synthetic voice say anything, read any script, or speak an entire audio program (such as podcasting) in another language using the original speaker’s voice. Veritone President  Ryan Steelberg agreed to a knowledge-gathering chat, which ended with a compelling use case for podcasting. Continue Reading

Sounder acquires Podnods for “next generation of audio technology”

Sounder, a podcast hosting platform with data intelligence and monetization features, reveals this morning that it has acquired Podnods, an AI-based recommendation platform for listeners with audience growth support for podcasters. The deal marries two companies which each brings advanced technology to the legacy industry functions of hosting, recommending, and monetizing. Continue Reading

“Dying for Sex” wins Ambies Podcast of the Year; 23 category awards bestowed; we count “top” networks

Dying for Sex won the Podcast of the Year award at the inaugural Ambies Awards, produced by The Podcast Academy. The Wondery-produced show posted its final episode 14 months ago, perhaps demonstrating how evergreen podcasts retain their currency. We analyze how many winners are from “top publishers.” Continue Reading

iHeartMedia partners with Catalina, stretching podcast attribution to offline physical shopping

On the day of its presentation at the IAB Podcast Upfront, iHeartMedia announces a partnership with Catalina, a shopper intelligence and real-time database company, to provide podcast advertising attribution related to offline shopping. The alliance and the information it delivers are targeted to CPG companies. Continue Reading

“Armchair Expert” with Dax Shepard goes Spotify-exclusive, with first-look development deal

Spotify is announcing today (independent of the IAB Podcast Upfront which runs this week) that Armchair Expert, the chatcast interview show hosted by actor Dax Shepard, is moving to the platform for exclusive distribution. At the same time there is a “first look” development deal which extends to Shepard’s Armchair Umbrella Network. Continue Reading