Comprehensive coverage of the podcasting industry and its business ecosystem.
Spotify’s recent quarterly investor call was entirely a Q&A affair. Accordingly, the call provided a rich record of responses from CEO Daniel Ek and CFO Barry McCarthy about podcasting. Continue Reading
Host-read sponsor endorsements are common in podcasting, which owes its success in large part to leveraging the relationship between hosts and listeners. In this guest column, Steve Goldstein takes a fascinating trip through the history of live reads, including pioneer Paul Harvey who created the original playbook. Continue Reading
The drumbeat of Luminary exits reportedly continued over the weekend. Nick Quah, Hot Pod creator and author, cites unnamed sources reporting that podcast app and sales company Stitcher and PRX have joined the exodus. Podnews reports that iHeartRadio is also out. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s International Radio Trends is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: Global closes its acquisition of three outdoor advertising companies. Pirate DAB has arrived. Much more. Continue Reading
Australian podcast company Whooshkaa starts the week with a new tech development that enables its hosted podcasts to become Alexa skills. That means that the podcast can be played through an Alexa device by invoking the show name rather than accessing TuneIn, which is Alexa’s standard podcast platform. Continue Reading
Venture investors Justine and Olivia Moore analyze how venture funding and exit money are balanced between tech companies and content companies in podcasting. Tech gets most of the startup funding money, while content gets most of the exit (acquisition) money. Graphics spell it out. Continue Reading
The great Luminary rollout continues. Today’s ruffle is less about publishers withdrawing from the platform, and more about technical issues. Twitter arguments in progress. And Luminary suggests that hyperlinks in show descriptions are security risks. Continue Reading
Steve Pratt of Pacific Content examines assumptions and realities of blog publishing frequency. Is daily the best setup for success? Is weekly optimal? Not necessarily in either case. Continue Reading
The Webby Awards were released this week, and the focus here is the Podcasts category. Scripps and Wondery each won a handful. Continue Reading
In what is shaping up as a daily Luminary update, today we report more podcasts which have withdrawn permission to be included in the Luminary listening app. We learn from Podnews that Barstool Sports, a top U.S. publisher according to Podtrac’s monthly ranker, has pulled its 26 shows from Luminary. Endeavor Audio, creator of Blackout and The Bellas, is also out. Continue Reading
In a tech + tech deal, podcast platform Acast has acquired podcast hosting company Pippa. Acast’s offering and marketplace are dramatically expanded. Pippa said the acquisition is important and necessary. Continue Reading
Podcasting company Cadence13 has launched a new division focused on original content. C13Originals will create new story-centered shows at an in-house production studio. Chief Content Officer Chris Corcoran will head the new unit. Zak Levitt will be in charge of production and storytelling in his role as executive vice president of production. Continue Reading