Today global podcast platform Acast makes public Acast+, a suite of tools giving podcasts ways of offering subscriptions to their shows as aternatives (or additions) to ad-funded shows. With Acast+, podcasters can offer ad-free streams, exclusive content, early access and much more to paying subscribers. Continue Reading
NPR announces the finalists in the netwrok’s most recent Student Podcast Challenge, targeted to college students for the first time. Fascinatingly, the contest intersected the Covid pandemic, a collision might have given students more time to focus on audio projects, and definitely influenced the content. Click through for links to each submission for listening. Continue Reading
Entercom, the second largest radio holding company in the U.S., a major podcast producer and audio streamer, has rebranded the entire organization as Audacy. Podcast subsidiaries Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios remain unchanged. Click through for lots of images of redesigned websites and the (former) RADIO.COM listening app. Continue Reading
New podcasts of note.
The Rock Podcast (PodcastOne)
Crushed(Religion of Sports / PRX)
No Kidding? Me Too! (KMG Utopia Studios)
As online gaming grows to huge proportions, ad tech company Audiomob has launched audio ads for mobile games, and a demand-side platform (DSP) for setting up campaigns. Related to the entwining of gaming and audio, Pandora builds a collection of videogaming playlists. Continue Reading
As with other sports, media rights in Major League Baseball are tightly controlled and splintered among many options, some free and some dependent on subscription. Now MLB is loosening its grip on streaming audio baseball games. But not entirely. Continue Reading
Podcast ad-rep company True Native Media has hired three new account executives, doubling the firm’s staff, Founder/CEO Heather Osgood announced. “Today is a huge milestone,” she said, noting that the expansion is happening merely six months after founding the company, and without external funding. Continue Reading
You know an app is buzzworthy when research organizations study it. So it is with Clubhouse, the iOS-only, Android-excluding social audio app that has quickly gained high awareness. Toronto-based Signal Hill Insights partnered with social media researcher Digital Hug in a two-phase study of usage of, and sentiment for, Clubhouse. Continue Reading
Triton Digital has expanded its well-known and often consulted Streaming Metrics rankers, adding a Netherlands-specific product. The new addition is launched with reports for January and February. The new Netherlands product is more complicated than the familiar U.S. reports. Continue Reading
Deezer’s push into high-rez audio streaming takes an additional step now, as the company announces an expansion of the HiFi listening plan to families. Five additional accounts can be added to an existing HiFi subscription for five dollars. Continue Reading
Samsung has launched a podcast listening component to some of its phones, appropriately called Samsung Podcasts. The company says it’s for “users who want easier access to their favorite podcasts.” The feature is limited to certain Galaxy phones. Continue Reading