This is sponsored by Understood, from CBC. From CBC, Understood goes deep on the current events, people, and cultural moments shaping society. Seasons span four episodes, hosted by journalists with an existing expertise on the story. Now accepting pitches.

Visit https://podnews.net/update/licensync-payment-demands for all the links, and to get our newsletter.

• Exclusive: A company in Italy is sending invoices for more than $7,300 to multiple podcast directories and apps for listing six Italian podcasts. In a special report today, Podnews examines what Licensync is doing - and suggests that this is another reason why podcasting could benefit from a trade association to help protect our industry.
• A BBC World Service investigation has suggested that one of the world’s biggest podcasts, Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, has been accused of spreading fringe theories and harmful health information - including that cancer can be treated by following a keto diet, rather than proven treatments; and that gluten intake causes autism. The company that makes the show, Flight Studio, suggests it’s merely “freedom of expression”.
• Podcasthon is less than a hundred days away, in March next year. Doug Downs shares a little more about what the charity event is about, and how your podcast can take part.

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.

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• CoHost has published 28 expert podcast predictions for 2025. The rise of video, always-on podcasts and narrative formats are highlighted.
• Podcasting Made Simple - Live is a virtual event taking place on Jan 9 (11.30am-4pm ET), “focused on helping podcast guests and hosts improve their craft”. Tickets are $97; but here’s a secret link for free access from Podnews.
• Hosting service PodToo has announced a partnership with Ratuken Kobo, enabling PodToo’s audiobook publishers to offer their audiobooks directly to Kobo Books. The company has also launched SecureRSS, a method of securely selling audiobooks through RSS feeds.
• On LinkedIn, Jay Clouse publishes an impressive graph showing growth of a show on YouTube. He also links to advice and a $199 course to learn to do the same.

The Tech Stuff

• Is there a technically simple way to show comments for podcast episodes in a podcast app? The podcast:socialInteract tag should allow comments for podcast episodes across a wide variety of apps, but has never achieved the kind of take-up that has been desired. Is there a simpler way to achieve this? (With entirely standards-compliant RSS?)
• Worth taking a look at PodToo’s release about SecureRSS. The technology is described as “a new way to deliver content securely via RSS while protecting the content owners”.
• The Podcasting 2.0 podcast was the last for the year. Among other things, it talks about a “PWA”s and Apple Podcasts.

Tips and tricks

• Audio editor Hindenburg has published the Hindenburg Calendar, a daily set of hints and tips about audio storytelling. There are some great tips in here; it’s being updated daily.
  • We don’t get any money from it, but you can grab a three month trial of Hindenburg Pro 2 and a discount, just for being a Podnews reader.

Podcast News

• From CBC, Understood is an anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about - from crypto, to the Prime Minister of India, to Céline Dion. CBC is currently accepting pitches for the show.
• A new podcast aimed at demystifying healthcare, Wealth of Health, has been launched. Co-hosted by Ahmed Elbarkouki and Dr Paul Jenkins, the podcast aims to address common health concerns, provide accurate information on prevention and treatment options, and challenge misinformation. It's from Echelon Health.
• The Podnews Weekly Review this week talked with Shira Atkins of Wonder Media Network about their acquisition by Acast; Rob Greenlee about the Podcast Hall of Fame; and Daniel J Lewis about Podgagement.

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