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• Above: Spotted at the Greater Toronto Area podcaster meetup last week, John and Jennifer from the Canadian Podcast Awards, and Arys Déjan, host of The Who & How Club. They’re preparing for PodCamp Toronto next month.
• There will be a federal election this year in Australia, and the current Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has chosen his first long-form interview to be on independent podcast News Club from The Squiz.
• The US certainly seems to be locked-on to shows from the Locked On Podcast Network. The company claims 358 million listens and views in 2024; an increase of 20% year-on-year. Podnews understands that the company’s Locked On College Sports channels grew by over 50% on the year; and projected total listens and views in 2025 should be over 400 million.

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• Amplitude Media Partners (AMP) has signed to be the exclusive sales partner for podcasts represented by The Podglomerate.
• APVA, the Association of African Podcasters and Voice Artists, has published its 2024 Report. The data shows how many people the organisation has reached, including its community events in Abuja, Lagos and Zambia.
  • It’s Africa Podcast Day on Feb 12.
• In New Zealand, NZME has signed an audio partnership with BBC Studios, and will act as exclusive sales representation for BBC Studios podcasts. (It’s likely to mean that the BBC will appear in the New Zealand Podcast Ranker, which NZME already dominates.)

Tips and tricks

• Wondering about using those AI-powered podcast description tools, that are offered by Buzzsprout, Blubrry, Ausha and others? It turns out that AI produces better SEO content, according to scientific research.

Podcast News

• With Airwave: The Box of Oddities’s John Elliott says: “Since we have joined forces with Airwave media we’ve been impressed not only by their genuine concern for our continued success but the level of communication we receive." The show delves into the strange and mysterious aspects of our world.
• Sitcom podcast Supermarket has achieved 100,000 global downloads, according to podcast network 911 Podcasts. The show, which features a down-on-his-luck sitcom superstar forced to go back to work at a supermarket in his home town, got featured on national TV.
• There's a whole world of wine out there, and After Wine School focuses each episode on a specific wine region and its history, a tasting, and answering your questions about wine, too. It's hosted by Keith Wallace, founder of the Wine School of Philadelphia, and Alana Zerbes, a seasoned wine educator, and launches today.
• Our New South returns for a new season today, highlighting the stories, communities and challenges shaping America’s South, diving into censorship and healthcare, tourism and religion, struggles for rights and resources, and the global reverberations of New South culture.

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