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• Day passes for The Podcast Show 2025, in London, are now available. This time round, the show will include an “Independent Podcasters Hub”, connecting independent podcast creators with a range of talks and networking moments; and two new stages - The Content Creator Stage, focusing on multi-format content creation, and The Open Forum Stage, dedicated to open debate and discussions around the hottest topics in podcasting. The event is on May 21-22.
  • Use code PODNEWS10 to save on tickets. Podnews is a media partner; our London-born Editor is on the advisory board.
• Reflecting that “this was a tough year in media”, former Cumulus Podcast Network SVP John Wordock is offering an hour of free consulting to those who have lost their jobs this year.
• UK production company Listen has been nominated for a UK television award. The Broadcast Awards are held in early February; the company made The Traitors Uncloaked, a “visualised podcast” broadcast on BBC television. (That’s coming back in early January).

Getting less than 1,000 downloads per episode? — Download your FREE Podcast Growth Scorecard! This tool helps you focus your podcast marketing so that you can spend your time on the marketing activities that have the most impact on podcast growth.

Need short-form content? — I'm Kristen (a real person), who can highlight the best moments from your podcast.

• Magellan AI has confirmed that it has earnt IAB Tech Lab certification for podcast measurement.
• Looks like Spotify’s recent big launches have had an effect - the number of new episodes hosted on Spotify for Creators increased last month to 23.7%. It was on 30% this time last year, though.
• 🚨 4.66% of podcast episodes in November still use Chartable as a prefix. remove-prefix.png">None of those podcasts will be listenable-to from Dec 12 when that service goes away. You’re advised to remove the tracking code.
• Elsie Escobar has launched Podcast Kaigi - an “invitation to step back, reflect, and realign your podcasting journey”.
• Further reading:
  • “For many creators, the maths just don’t math” - Jim Salveson writes Spotify's move to video: For creators, it doesn't add up... Yet!
  • Earbuds focus on podcasts from Europe.

Thank you to Chris Peterson and to Jeremy Enns who have both joined us as our latest personal supporters. Podnews wants to ensure everyone gets access to news and information about podcasting, so we don’t have paywalls, special meetings or secret Slack chats - instead, our supporters help everyone in the industry. You can become one here. Thank you!

The Tech Stuff

• The Podcasting 2.0 podcast this week goes into more detail about what they call the “walletpocalypse” - changes needed to future-proof streaming payments in podcasting apps. Oscar Merry from Fountain explains some of the reasons for the changes, and shared some demo code.
• The demo code is here, on a website called podpay.org. There’s a live demo, some examples, and some library code. Interestingly, the changes also open up the opportunity of cross-app comments (which have long been a desired feature of new podcast apps).
• Meanwhile, if you have one, old Alby wallets will disappear by Jan 4. You can transfer your sats to services like Strike or others.
• More podcasts are powered by Amazon Cloudfront than ever before. 57.3% of all November’s episodes used the content delivery network, says Livewire. (Including ours!)

Tips and tricks

• “If you’re not videoing your podcast, you’re at a huge disadvantage” says Steven Bartlett in our sister publication, the Podnews Business Journal. He also shares some of his reasons for success.
• Wonder how to use a teleprompter - and how to sound more natural reading a script? MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian has some tips.

Podcast News

• Would you go on a reality show if you didn’t know what it was about? Even if they promised you the adventure of a lifetime? In 2005, 12 people did just that. They answered an ad that read “Thrill Seekers wanted” and began auditioning for a show unlike any other in British television history. From CBC, Split Screen: Thrill Seekers exposes how a TV show left contestants struggling to trust what’s actually real.
• Tiny Matters has joined Multitude - the show that's into genes, microbes, and other tiny things that have a big impact on our world. Join scientists Sam Jones and Deboki Chakravarti as they take apart complex and contentious topics in science and rebuild your understanding.
• A spanish-language podcast newsletter has launched a companion podcast. Puerto Rico's Tropical Podcasting has launched Qué Está Pasando en el Podcasting which will cover the latest news, tips, and strategies in the podcasting industry.

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