Ep.31 - Castjacking with Mathew Passy

Tim and Kyle talk with Mathew Passy from The Podcast Consultant about castjacking and how you can protect your show from RSS feed pirates.

Episode at a Glance:

• Tim and Kyle welcome Mathew Passy to the show
• Mathew drops knowledge on Tim and Kyle the whole show
• We go into the details surrounding podcast feed hijacking (i.e. castjacking)
• Tim talks about how his new podcast feed for Create Art Podcast on Google Podcasts was castjacked by an Indian company called "HubHopper"
• Get a bunch of podcasters together and we start to talk about all sorts of podcasting issues... like Apple Podcasts
• Mathew gives us his Podcast Migration Strategy 101 and debunks the myth that podcasts don't leave their media host (spoiler alert - they do!)
• Mathew answers the $10,000 question: Does IAB certification matter when picking a podcast media hosting company?
• PSA: Be a good steward of your own show! Check your feeds... and Now You Know!

About our guest -- Mathew Passy

Mathew Passy is a veteran podcaster and producer who as The Podcast Consultant helps brands, PR firms, small businesses and even individuals to use podcasts to connect with their target audience. Mathew also hosts and produces several active shows to include Podcast Me Anything and CausePods. Recently, Mathew founded Towncast, a platform aimed at creating a single location for local media and will be a featured speaker at this year's Podfest Multimedia Expo in Orlando, Florida in March 2020.

What did we learn?

• You need to check your podcast feeds at least once a quarter
• The only way to protect yourself from castjackers is to know when it's happened to you
• Your podcast media host might not be much help if it happens to you
• Not all castjacking events are malicious but all cases do impact your statistics
• Castjacking is yet another area of podcasting where even lawyers are not sure what to do just yet

Additional Reading

• February 13, 2020 - HubHopper republishing hijacked RSS feeds: their response
• 12 Feburary 2020 - Chartable gets certified; another company hijacks podcast feeds
• April 26, 2019 - What's a proxy server? And why was Luminary using one?
• Apr 25, 2019 - Podcast startup Luminary’s launch week keeps getting worse: Podcasters pulled shows after the app obscured listener data
• June 30, 2018 - Does Castbox Understand Podcasting? #211
• September 30, 2018 - Popular podcast app Castbox altered RSS feeds and is still removing links
• December 05, 2005 - Podcast Hijacking (or Podjacking)

Patreon Celebration:

A big Thank You to your Patreon Subscribers:

• Cliff from Glockaholics Anonymous (Coming Soon)
• Mathew from The Podcast Consultant (New)

Thank you! And if you would like to help out the show, please become an awesome subscriber like Cliff and Mathew!

Industry Predictions:

• Read our growing list of podcast industry predictions for 2020!

Podwrecked is an extension of:

• Gagglepod - It is Time You Were Heard!
• Virginia Podcasters Association (VAPODA) Monthly Meetup for learning how to podcast and network with other podcasters!

Audience Challenge:

• TODO: Way-Back Music
• TODO: Prediction Music

Visit the Podwrecked Lighthouse:

• Email Us: podwrecked AT GMAIL DOT com
• All our Show Notes: podwrecked.com
• All our Episodes: podwrecked.libsyn.com

Podwrecked is a Gagglepod production. Learn more at gagglepod.com.