Podnews Daily - podcast industry and podcasting news

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Podnews Daily - podcast industry and podcasting news episodes

August 24Turned off: YouTube suddenly pulls podcast
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Top 10 parenting podcast The Parent Tap has been suddenly pulled from YouTube - apparently by an automated tool. With no strikes or warnings, the show was permanently pulled on August 14th, accusing the channel of trying to circumvent a ban: a ban that the channel owner says simply didn't happen. An attempt to appeal the closure was knocked back almost instantly by YouTube, using an automated template. Ryan McDonough, the channel's owner, has opened a petition; and told Podnews: "I poured my heart and soul into building this channel from scratch. In 4 short months, I went from zero to 2.3k subscribers and over 50,000 views with a 150 video catalog. Having all of that wiped out overnight by an automated system is a gut-punch that keeps punching. The fact that I can't reach a human and have literally no idea how this happened is completely beyond comprehension." His show continues on open RSS.
Fictional TV shows like Only Murders In The Building are giving an image of podcasting that is "at best, a crude simplification, and at worst, a fantasy flatly incompatible with the physics of sound", says a new academic study conducted by Spanish researchers. Writing for Podnews today, one of the authors, Maria Fitó Carreras, says don't believe everything you see on television - and, for the value of the craft, don't let others either.
Bloomberg is suggesting that YouTube is not happy about creators who are also posting videos on Netflix. YouTube is apparently less likely to promote these shows, will exclude creators from major brand campaign revenue, and may offer "millions of dollars" to retain first-view exclusivity. Tubefilter reports on Bloomberg's paid story; YouTube is said to be reluctant to pay for content, and doesn't want to appear to show favouritism to some creators over others.
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7 min
August 21Good news - the power is with us in podcasting
Sponsored by Magellan AI. Smarter signals, smarter podcast decisions. See how in Beyond the Buy, from Magellan AI and True Native Media. Download the guide
The power is in our hands, says Losh Moodaley in an eagerly-anticipated new article for Podnews. Power might be being consolidated by the platforms that control distribution - and it's especially the case for podcasting's middle-class - but the good news is that there are ways to gain economic leverage and own many parts of the relationships needed for podcasting, she says.
It's nice to read good news at the end of this week. So let's have some more.
Good news for video podcasters from Apple Podcasts: they shared early results from three shows that have begun distributing video via HLS on the platform. TED's How to Be a Better Human (Acast) saw its unique audience on Apple Podcasts grow 93%, and new follows on Apple Podcasts have increased 113%. Toni and Ryan (Acast) saw unique audience grow by nearly 40%, and new follows are up 68%. And The MeatEater Podcast (Omny Studio) saw new follows up 151%, while "32% of non-follows who watched the video went on to follow the show within a week".
Great news for Audacy, which has announced a strategic partnership with The MeidasTouch Network, including one of the biggest podcasts in the US. The shows will join Audacy on Sep 1: Audacy becomes exclusive audio partner for sales and distribution. Audacy has also signed Dumb Blonde, partnering with creator and #1 New York Times bestselling author Alisa “Bunnie Xo” DeFord - another top 50 podcast.
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6 min
August 20Who’s flying this thing: publishers, or ad-tech?
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"Should a publisher’s commercial decisions be honored by the technology they pay for?" Flightpath is shipping a tool today called Automation Playbooks, a new tool to combat what it calls unreliable ad delivery from podcast ad-tech partners. The tool logs in regularly to check all campaigns against delivery, and to make changes to live orders. The release quotes one frustrated Head of Revenue at a podcast network: "Being asked to re-flight thousands of orders by hand is not a viable solution to a problem we did not create."
Flightpath has also published an open letter from its co-founders. Titled "We are not going to sit this one out", the piece highlights recent changes by one "major technology platform", which has "turned a major upgrade of their systems into a five alarm fire for their publishers." Some, the company says, are at risk of losing as much as 50% of revenue on currently running orders, and the post promises that Flightpath will speak up and lend full support to affected publishers.
You can contact Flightpath directly; but to maintain confidentiality, you can also share your story and experiences through us: [email protected]. We would suggest that the industry isn't well served by sitting on our hands and trying not to rock the boat. If we're being given a rough sea, then it's all hands on deck.
YouTube has added more explanation about the change to "views" and "engaged views". An "auto-play" on the homepage (when you hover over a video) will now be counted as a view if it starts playing - and an "engaged view" if it keeps playing "for some amount of seconds". (For us to note - there's no audio playing when this happens. It it works with your eyes closed...)
Additionally, YouTube's Rene Ritchie adds: "I've heard some people say it previously took 30 seconds for a view to be counted. And that's simply not the case. YouTube doesn't specify exactly how many seconds, because it can vary across surfaces. YouTube also doesn't want anyone focusing on gaming the metric: just making the most satisfying experience possible for viewers." YouTube were a participant in the AMP Accords, which "with no dissenting votes" defined a play as "30 seconds of content played". So... wtf?
"The previous definition of a view will now be called an 'engaged view'", says YouTube in its announcement. But even for long-form videos, these numbers are actually not the same. You can compare both the existing "views" and "engaged views" numbers in YouTube Studio - and when we did that for our tiny YouTube channel, the numbers were different. Michael Paretsky from Podstock analyzed 300,000 YouTube podcast episodes to discover that "engaged views" is 7% lower than the existing "view" count; and for some shows, there was much more of a significant difference. "For some shows, this change will be a rounding error. For others, it could be a major commercial event," he said.
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7 min
August 19Publishers “should ignore” new YouTube view numbers
Sponsored by Magellan AI. Rhapsody Voices uses Magellan AI to help land 30%+ of every show's sponsors. Read their story
Yesterday's announcement from YouTube of a new way to calculate "views" should be ignored by all publishers, says Zachary Boone from YMH Studios. The company will only report on "Engaged Views", the original view metric from YouTube, which is widely believed to have a 30-second minimum. Boone says the change "opens the door for unsavory actors to misrepresent their numbers," and calls for other publishers and networks to commit to the same.
Spotify Creative Lab has shown an example of how they helped UK television channel ITV promote a new spy thriller. The company worked with Goalhanger, with host-read content and a special episode of The Rest is Classified. As a well-produced sizzle reel, this is hard to beat - nice work.
It appears that Spotify added a support page about the "skip ahead" button on Tues Aug 4, added shortly after Podnews exclusively revealed the unannounced feature. It's in the style of a Q&A, and remains remarkably coy about where they are testing it ("select markets"). It clarifies that no, you cannot opt out of your show having a "skip ahead" button, and also confirms that Spotify-sold ads are not exempt. New (to us): the page suggests that it works in both audio and video.
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6 min
August 18YouTube changes how “views” are calculated
Sponsored by Magellan AI. With Magellan AI, Rhapsody Voices sold 80%+ of its ad inventory on two shows in back-to-back quarters. See how they did it
A week after YouTube altered the numbers you need before you start making money, YouTube's visible definition of a "play" (or "view") is also to change. From August 24, a public view will be counted "the moment a video begins to play from the very first frame".
Creators still have access to "engaged views", which YouTube publicly says is "how many times viewers stayed to watch past the first frame and initial seconds". This is the previous definition of a play/view, believed by many to be at least 30 seconds (though YouTube doesn't publicly say). If that's true, the "engaged view" roughly aligns to the AMP Accords definition of a play.
So, what is a podcast play? We've written up a full article, with our own stats, to explain and compare the different platforms. Most - but not all - give a roughly consistent number.
What will be the effect of YouTube's new "view" metric? The public numbers will be significantly bigger, we'd guess - but also, significantly less meaningful, since a play for one second will still count. However, the more comparable "engaged views" metric will, as far as we can see, become entirely private to the creator: it won't be seen on public pages, and it will not be available through the YouTube Public Data API. It remains accessible in YouTube Studio, and through the Analytics and Reporting APIs, for creators; but third-party rankers or data companies will no longer have access, unless they're specifically given that.
After we published a video of a podcast ad that was unskippable in Spotify yesterday, Spotify contacted us to say: "Spotify does not make podcast ads unskippable. A bug caused the 15-second skip to not be visible in the example, and it was fixed. The 15-second skip works for both Free and Premium users. Skip Ahead is a separate feature we are testing with a subset of Premium subscribers." They've not commented on what their terms for creators could allow them to do.
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5 min
August 17Spotify: unskippable ads for them, skipped ads for us?
Sponsored by Magellan AI. Q2's podcast ad spend numbers are in. Get Magellan AI's Benchmark Report. Download now
Exclusive: A few weeks ago, Podnews broke the story that Spotify is testing a "Skip ahead" ad-skipping tool for some customers. Perhaps making the most of its dominant market position, today we note that Spotify is selling its own unskippable podcast ads; and we discover that its terms and conditions gives Spotify the legal right to automatically skip everyone else's.
The Ambies are open for entry from today. There are two new categories - best music and episode of the year - and there will be two listener's choice awards, for Best Podcast Host and Podcast of the Year. You get a discount if you're a member of The Podcast Academy.
The New York Times focused on Inception Point AI in a front-page article in its Arts section about AI influencers. However this publicity comes at an odd time: because it appears that Inception Point AI has been rebranded as Liquify AI, "the company behind Liquid Studios". The company's new website suggests that the Quiet Please Podcast network "was never the destination", just "proof that content infrastructure works at this scale". They're now offering the same technology to other companies.
Technology like yesterday's episode of Jay Shetty's Biography Flash podcast - which still says it's published by Inception Point AI - gives an AI-generated error in the episode audio: "I did not find a clearly verified major personal life announcement from the past few days, and I did not see a confirmed high impact scandal or break in his public image in the material reviewed ... nothing in the gathered reporting rises above ordinary promotional noise or can be treated as confirmed biographical news."
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6 min
August 14Podcast causes diplomatic incident
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An appearance on a comedy podcast by the Australian Prime Minister has resulted in an international diplomatic incident. In July, Anthony Albanese was criticised for responding to a game of "shag, marry, date" with the answer "Kylie Minogue, all of the above", and was forced to apologise. Now, political opponents, aided by the Murdoch press, have complained about a gesture Albanese made when he was describing two melons he was gifted by Japan's (female) prime minister; a former Japanese ambassador has described it as "casually mocking" the gift. It's headline news in Australia. The show, launched by NOVA Podcasts in May, is called Bush Deep, which apparently wasn't enough of a red flag to Albanese's media team.
The Basis DSP, an ad buying platform, has announced a partnership with Barometer to offer brand-suitability scores on an episode-by-episode basis. The company claims that this is "podcast advertising catching up with the controls advertisers expect from more mature programmatic channels". Barometer announced episode-level context in March with AdsWizz, and with Acast in January.
Sony has highlighted how Jampot Productions have been using Sony cameras to make their video podcasts. The company is based in London, and was founded by Jamie Laing.
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4 min
August 13Podcast Movement NYC reveals first set of speakers
Sponsored by Magellan AI. Direct Results found 30-second ads drove more purchases than 60s, then shifted their whole mix. See what the data showed
Podcast Movement has revealed featured speakers for the event in NYC in September. Among the speakers are Greg Glenday, the CEO of Acast, beehiiv's Ainsley Rossitto, and our Editor, James Cridland. Sounds Profitable's Tom Webster will also be unveiling new research. Tickets are available now.
Alex Cooper's Unwell network has received a strategic investment from WTSL, an investment firm. The investment figure isn't known; but according to The Hollywood Reporter, values Unwell at $500mn. (As context, the entirety of iHeartMedia is currently valued at $450mn).
Another set of podcasts have signed with Disney+ - this time, it's from the UK, as The Overlap signed a landmark sponsorship and distribution deal with Disney+ for its Stick to Football show, and a new show focusing on Manchester United. The shows will remain available on YouTube, though Disney+ will also get access to additional special episodes of Stick to Football.
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5 min
August 12Acast acquires Backyard Ventures
Sponsored by Magellan AI. Find out where Q2 podcast ad dollars went, live with Magellan AI on August 20. Sign up for the webinar
Podcast marketplace Acast has acquired Backyard Ventures, a US-based podcast network, for US $20mn. Backyard Ventures is home to podcasts like Piers Morgan's Uncensored, Ryan Holiday's The Daily Stoic, and audiences of more than 230 million. The team from Backyard Ventures will stay with the business; the brand will be retired as the company is integrated into Acast. Backyard shows are currently hosted and monetised by ART19 and Megaphone.
The Podcast Consultant has acquired B2B podcasting service Rise25. Rise25 co-founder Dr Jeremy Weisz becomes The Podcast Consultant's Director of Client Success. No terms were given.
Spotify has announced its first EQUAL Ambassador for podcasts, Morgan Absher, to help amplify and celebrate women podcast creators. Podnews covered the story last week; our sister publication Podcast Business Journal has a full interview.
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Ask a Marketer: How Advertisers Read the Research — John Right Side Up and Sounds Profitable as they walk through the latest podcast research to show you how real marketers think about consumer data. Turn numbers into insights and insights into action!
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Image: Joe Cook
4 min
August 11Locked out: YouTube changes qualification for ad revenue
Sponsored by Magellan AI. What shifted in podcast ad spend last quarter? Magellan AI's Q2 Benchmark Report breaks it down. Download the report
It's going to be much harder to get money from YouTube. In "the first significant change since 2018", YouTube has made it twice as hard to get into the YouTube Partner Program, which pays creators based on consumption on the platform. New creators applying for the program will need 8,000 qualified watch hours (in the last year), or 20 million qualified Shorts views (in the last 90 days) - both double the amount that was required previously.
Greg Glenday, CEO of Acast, has given a statement to The Hollywood Reporter about Spotify's "skip-ahead" ad-skipping button. "We do have some creators on the Acast platform who are not happy about this and we will support them completely as they evaluate any recourse. Acast is working privately with Spotify to understand if we could have collaborated more on the rollout or positioning," he said. Acast didn't give us a statement when we asked last week.
Many stories are now appearing about Spotify's ad-skipping button: but some stories suggest that it doesn't skip ads sold by Spotify. This isn't true - our story specifically included a video with an ad on a Bill Simmons show being skipped by the tool, and Podnews understands that the feature is not targeted at competitors' ads.
Podcast ad revenue is up +23% year-on-year, says Magellan AI's Q2/26 Podcast Advertising Quarterly Benchmark Report. The average ad load increased again, though - the average podcast is 8.75% ads (up from 8.25% last quarter). That's an average of 5 and a half minutes an hour.
There's a free webinar going through the data on Aug 20.
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Gold supporters: Buzzsprout, Mowpod, Beehiiv, The $100 MBA, Podbean, The Podglomerate, Cloud10, Libsyn, Cohost, RedCircle, The Content Creator's Accountant, Scicomm Media, Simplecast, Sounds Profitable, PAVE Studios, audioBoom, Audiohook, Podscribe, Magid, Jar Podcast Solutions, Awesound, Podpage websites, We Edit Podcasts, Acast
Silver supporters: Audacia Audio, Gamut Podcast Network, Bumper, Sounds Debatable, True Native Media, Magellan AI, Nomono, Tink Media, SoundStack, The Podcast Haven, Jonekiri, Blubrry, Ausha, Hypecast, Locked On Podcast Network, Compliance Podcast Network, Voxtopica, Truefans, POW PR, Podium , Podcast Movement, iono.fm, PodAnalyst, Castbox, Frequency, Red Seat Ventures, Podium, Companion Arts, ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Aust, Health Podcast Network, Rhapsody Voices, Sonic Influencer Marketing, Headliner, Double Elvis Productions, Lemonada Media, CreatorX, Transistor, Diversion Podcasts, Jam Street Media, Rephonic, Content10x, Podcast Partnership, Cleanfeed, Lower Street, Podigy, Revolver Podcasts, School of Podcasting, Adopter Media, Signal Hill Insights
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Image: John Cardamone
5 min

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