Comprehensive coverage of the podcasting industry and its business ecosystem.
South Africa-based podcast and audio company iono.fm has received a new influx of seed funding. The company secured $175,000 (2.5 million rand) in a round led by Clifftop Colony. The financing will support strengthening domestic operations and investing in streaming services. Continue Reading
TuneIn has added offline listening and downloading for its podcasts. These features were included in the latest update to the service. Listeners can store podcasts on their mobile devices for access at any time, even when they don’t have an online connection. Continue Reading
Low barrier to entry — that is one of the appeals of podcasting, driving an explosion of content at the amateur, semi-pro, professional, and stardom levels. But there is a knowledge gap, and we are seeing it filled by educational initiatives that explain podcasting conceptually, as well as the technology and distribution. Continue Reading
Talk radio startup Otto Radio has inked a deal with ride-share app Uber. Similarly to the transportation app’s deal with Pandora, Otto Radio users can connect their profiles with Uber. Continue Reading
PRX, a leader in the creation, marketing, and distribution of on-demand audio, has launched Project Catapult, a training program for selected radio stations. The project will select five stations from a pool of applicants to attend a 20-week “boot camp.” At the end, each station will have created a 20-week show series. Continue Reading
Podtrac has updated its monthly ranking of podcast publishers for October. The list tracks the top publishers from Podtrac’s client roster. The order of the rankings remained unchanged, aside from WBUR and TWiT swapping ninth and tenth. Continue Reading
The Download on Podcasting project, a collaboration of DMR/Interactive and Texas A&M University, has released two reports, one of which positions the podcast business as poised to reach $100-million dollars in revenue Continue Reading
Imagine a grocery store which puts out a free coffee bar for customers. Now image the grocery store accusing customers of shoplifting for using the coffee bar. That’s the perception of a Cease & Desist letter reportedly sent by the Canadian Broadcasting Coporation (CBC) to podcast apps, ordering them to stop distributing CBC podcasts. Pundit opinion is frowning, but the CBC is legally sound. Continue Reading
Today brings an announcement from iHeartRadio that it has hired ex-TheBlaze, ex-TuneIn exec Chris Peterson as Senior Vice President of Podcasting. the announcement was made via an internal company memo. Peterson will oversee iHeartRadio’s overall podcast strategy and grow its profile in the podcast community. Continue Reading
NPR has hired a new general manager of podcasting. Neal Carruth is stepping into the role, shifting to the new position after service as the supervising senior editor for NPR’s business desk. Carruth has spent 17 years with the broadcaster, and will start the new job after Thanksgiving. Continue Reading
Spreaker’s CMS (content management system) has exited its beta stage and is now available for all the company’s podcast hosts. The features in this new tool include embedded player customization and multiple file management. Continue Reading
In an interesting development, Australian company Omny Studio has launched the Omny Discovery Feed, a personalized stream of podcast content that the company is comparing to Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist. Continue Reading