Apple acquires Pop Up Archive, amassing an ever-greater podcast empire

Apple has acquired Pop Up Archive, the online platform of building tools to transcribe, organize, and search audio files. This acquisition includes podcast search engine Audiosear.ch, which shuttered late last month. Apple’s only comment on the development is its stock statement: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.” Continue Reading

Edison Research and Knight Foundation survey podcasting’s super listeners

Edison Research and the Knight Foundation collaborated for a study investigating the podcast audience, with interviews of nearly 29,000 podcast listeners. All of the participants are age 18 or older and listen to at least one audio podcast from NPR, WNYC, American Public Media, WBUR, PRX, or Gimlet Media. A comparison of these results with the more general habits detailed in The Infinite Dial surveys show some marked distinctions between casual and serious podcast listeners. Continue Reading