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• First Look: Podtrac has expanded its service to list the top 100 podcasts in 30 different countries. Shows from Podtrac are automatically considered for the country-specific rankings, which are “made possible by Podtrac’s proprietary download measurement and estimation systems which include all podcasts in a region”. You’ll find the Top Podcasts By Country lists on the Podtrac website.
  • Top shows include The Rest Is Politics in the UK; All Ears English in Saudi Arabia; O Assunto in Brazil, and Conversations in Australia. The UK chart has three shows from the BBC in the top ten, and four from Goalhanger - Joe Rogan is the top US show at #10.
• Apple Podcasts has just crossed over 100,000,000 available podcast episodes, says the Podcast Industry Insights website. The site has also removed the paywall for historic graphs.
• What are typical Spotify traffic conversion rates? conversion.png">Here are Podnews’s - 4.4% of people who see Podnews’s podcast in Spotify clicked on it; 41.2% of those listened to at least 60 seconds. Is that good, or bad? Bad, it turns out: The Podcast Marketing Academy is aggregating podcaster-submitted Spotify discovery data to help all of us measure how our shows are doing - and help make them better. Want to share your data? There’s a link in the page.

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• Comedy podcast network Forever Dog has signed with Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) for sales representation.
• Expect the winners of The Signal Awards to be announced at 8am today ET.

Tips and tricks

• Podcasters are “more like rock bands than radio hosts”, suggests Courtney Carthy at Lenny. “Bands turn on multiple ways to earn money and independent podcasters can do the same to sustain their show.”

Podcast News

• The Bunny Trap launches today from British podcast producer Novel. Hosted by Ellie Flynn, an investigative journalist, the podcast is a compelling 10-part investigative series that follows a multi-year inquiry into troubling allegations within the glamour industry - delving into claims against Luis Gomez, a self-described “Playboy photographer” who is alleged to have exploited his position to abuse numerous models.
• The CBC has released the first episode of its new six-part investigation into a Canadian DNA lab, in Uncover: Bad Results. A prenatal paternity test confirms that John, 21, is about to be a father — and he quickly pivots from college student to family man. But eight months into the baby’s life, a second test reveals the unthinkable: he is not, in fact, the baby's biological father. Was John just unlucky?
• Deanna Chapman has launched her fifth podcast, The Podcast Life - which promises interviews with the smartest people in the industry to help you create the best podcast, and sharing lessons that she's learned along the way as both a podcast creator and an editor.
• Extrasensory is a new show from Apple, launching today - a mind-bending real-life story of reincarnation and a spooky tale of family secrets, starting with a milkman in 1950s England who makes a sensational prophecy that appears to come true. It's produced by Blanchard House.
• The Sweeper - A World Football Podcast is new today - a collaboration with football streaming platform FIFA+. Hosted by soccer aficionados Lee Wingate and Paul Watson, it explores the world of football across FIFA’s 211 member states and beyond. The pair round up the global football headlines fans won’t hear elsewhere with a touch of geography, politics, history, culture and food, plus a healthy dose of humour.
• To accompany the most English of Disney+ shows, Rivals: The Official Podcast features members of the cast and special guests in exclusive conversation with Pandora Sykes. We're promised a behind-the-scenes and binge-worthy experience for fans. It's produced by Listen, in partnership with Wondery.
• A new season of Dark Sanctum has been released - an award-winning, thrilling audio fright-fest from Mark Ramsey. The show features actors like Bethany Joy Lenz (One Tree Hill, Dexter), Clive Standen (Vikings, The Morning Show, Dr. Who), and Jeannie Tirado (The Last City, World of Warcraft); the new season is with Wondery+ (though the first episode is free).
• The Black Innovation Alliance podcast From Chains to Links returns for a new season, including an influential lineup of top Black entrepreneurs and thought leaders, to explore the intersection of culture, identity and business, as well as examine the systemic barriers faced by Black entrepreneurs. It's hosted by Dr Kelly Burton.

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