Apple Podcasts improved on Android

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• Apple Podcasts can now be installed as an Android app, after the company made some unannounced changes to its website. While the app isn’t available in the Google Play store, it can now be installed to work identically to an app on Android phones - appearing in your app drawer, with the opportunity to buy premium subscriptions, and full localisation in different languages. Here’s how to install it.
  • This is a helpful way for Android users to access premium subscriptions and help support their favourite shows.
• Riverside has raised $30mn in a new funding round. It previously raised $35mn in 2022, $9.5mn in 2021, and $2.5mn in 2020. The company has around 165 employees, and aims to be profitable in the next two years.
  • Riverside launched a multitrack editing tool last week, which works for both audio and video productions.
• You can now include a timestamp when sharing a podcast from YouTube Music. You’ve been able to do this from YouTube (main) for some time; Spotify and Apple Podcasts also have this functionality.

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Independent Podcasters who need marketing support! — AIR's New Voices AMPLIFY marketing program is for independent creators who have an existing podcast and are ready to take it to the next level. Deadline to APPLY: 11:59pm ET Friday, December 13

• Magellan AI is now tracking how brands are using programmatic and run-of-network podcast ads. The new functionality also gives example campaign creatives.
• PodcastOne has launched PodcastOne Pro, a podcast production service. Pricing includes promotion across PodcastOne shows.
• Why did Marco Arment remove the little green “support this podcast” buttons from Overcast? In the Accidental Tech Podcast in a chapter called “features we’d add but for Apple”, he shares the reasons why: a) very few people used it; b) because he was worried Apple would reject the app from the app store. He suggests that he’s dropped other ideas for helping podcasters earn revenue because he was concerned that Apple wouldn’t approve them. “The real harm that’s done is in all those ideas out there that people talk themselves out of even trying,” he adds.
• Chartable has emailed users to remind them to remove the Chartable prefix before Dec 12 (Thursday). SmartLinks will stop working too. (If you’re with Spotify’s Megaphone, you’re unaffected). We’ve a list of alternatives.
• Audio equipment company RØDE has announced the Wireless GO (Gen 3), a new version of the wireless microphone system.
• In the UK, the finalists for the Political Podcast Awards 2025 were announced. Of the 29 finalists, ten are with Acast.
• In Australia, ARN’s iHeart is to sell advertising within BBC podcasts. 900,000 Australians (4% of all adults) listen to BBC content every month.
• Developer podcast network Changelog has announced it is stopping production of four of its shows, to focus on its main podcast, which it is to make a video-first show. It is also to launch an index of developer podcasts.
• What can marketers do to improve podcast advertising? That’s the subject of new data from Veritonic, released today. 27% believe that ads should be more seamlessly integrated into shows.

Thank you to Don MacKinnon from Hark, who becomes our latest personal supporter. Hark is a “new way to explore with your ears”, offering curated podcast mixtapes to help you discover everything out there. Our personal supporters pay for access for everyone - here’s where to become one.

Tips and tricks

• The Dec 6 episode of Buzzcast, Buzzsprout’s podcast, promises 25+ Creative Podcast Marketing Ideas That Will Grow Your Audience.

Podcast News

• Deloitte's podcast The Green Room was handed over last month to a group of high school students from Grey Coat Hospital School in London, above, who pitched, planned and produced their own episode - which was even hosted by one of them. The show (which was out Nov 5) focused on role models: how they influence us, change as we grow older, and their importance overall, and includes an interview with Eilish McColgan, Team GB Olympian and long distance runner.
• In Dave Winer's Scripting News podcast, he complains about the name 'Podcasting 2.0'. “They should change the name. They should come up with a more humble name. ... In case you were wondering why I will not support that name or work with them until they change it, I just won't.”
• Comedy show Chosen Family is the first podcast recommended in Tink Media's Audio Delicacies... a "delicious selection of podcast treats from 2024". The list contains seven different sections, including comedy, investigative, and "out of the box".

Live Podcast Event Of The Week

• Kathy Burke’s Where There's A Will, There's A Wake held a sell-out live show at the Prince Edward Theatre in London on Sunday night (capacity 1,700), with special guest Tom Davis. The Sony Music Entertainment show had a surprise for everyone, though: long-time listener and fan, Richard, flew over from Northern Ireland with his boyfriend of 35 years, Brendan... and a plan he’d hatched with Kathy before the show. Following a Q&A, the evening ended with one final question for Brendan from Kathy: “After all this f** time, will you marry him?” (Pics: Abbi Draper)

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