0:00

Hello. And just before we start, I'm gonna sound a little bit different in this episode because I discovered that I had magically recorded myself using my inbuilt microphone on my MacBook Air. Brilliant. So you can imagine how rubbish that was. However, thanks to the tools at Adobe Podcast, I no longer sound like this. It's Friday the 17th of March, 2023, but now I sound like this. It's Friday, the 17th of March, 2023. The last word in podcasting news. This is the Pod News Weekly review with James Cridlin and Sam Sethy. I'm James Cridlin, the editor of Pod News. And I'm Courtney Kosack from the podcast, besties Newsletter, and now podcast. Yes, uh, Sam is away skiing Las Vegas last week. Kits Bull in Switzerland this week. It's, uh, it's a difficult life, isn't it, for some people in the chapters today. Apple and Spotify are both number one. It just depends what you look at. Uh, the winners of the ihearts Podcast Awards and who didn't win there or at the MBEs. And also, hello, I'm

Norma-Jean Belenky: 1:07

Norma Jean Baki. I'm the head of Events at Podbean, and later I'll talk about podcast movement evolutions. She will,

Jingle: 1:14

this podcast is sponsored and hosted by Bus Sprout. Last week, 4,205 people started a podcast with buzzsprout podcast hosting made easy with powerful tools and remarkable customer support. And now you can turn your listeners into supporters with Buzzsprout subscriptions from your daily newsletter, the Pod News Weekly review. So let's kick it off, James, with the iHeart Podcast Awards just announced. Yes. So who won what? What's going on? Well, uh, yes. Uh, so these were announced in New York. They were hosted by Accent and comedian Brian Baumgartner. Uh, who, uh, I, I, I, I, I don't know who he is, but then I don't know, I, I don't watch tv. I, I think he's, I, I think he's something to do with the office. Oh, oh yeah. Brian. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Brian . Uh, yes. So, um, uh, greatly, and, and the weird thing wa was by the way, with this, um, with this award ceremony. So I've just come back obviously from podcast movement and, um, there was the Andes in there and they were in the Barry Manilow Theater, or I believe it's really called the International Theater. It has the Copa Bar in anyway. Ooh. Um, and, uh, yeah. And, uh, that theater seats 1,900 people, and it was completely full. Uh, although they didn't open upstairs, the iHeart podcast awards were in front of two people. Literally two people in the audience. That was it. It was a virtual thing and there were just two people sitting there providing the laughs, which was, uh, a little bit weird. Interesting. Um, yeah, so I'm not quite sure what was going on there. But anyway, pod News is, uh, published, uh, a list of, uh, the winners, uh, which includes links, production companies, and podcast hosts. Um, e everybody assumes that the iHeart podcast awards will be all iHeart shows, but actually while Las Cultas, uh, won, have I pronounced that right? I think so., they won and they are an iHeart show, but actually they only won four out of the 28 awards that they gave away. And the weird thing though, that I did notice, and then I went back to the ambi and checked there. No, Spotify shows won any award in either the IHOP podcast awards or in the ames, which I thought was really strange. I'd not actually noticed that. Oh, so do they sponsor the Amies? Who sponsors? Is the Amies just an independent group? Yeah, the ames is just an independent group. Should be no reason why. And iHeart, you wouldn't have thought that they would, um, you know, that they, I mean, a, a Spotify show won an award last year in the iHeart podcast awards, so I wonder what's going on there., uh, do you have any fancy awards for the podcast that you do? I just have a super low rent, uh, LA Press Club Award., well, that's more than I have, but you know, what do you, do you apply the, no, I don't apply because I usually think, I don't know the case for the iHeart Awards or the amies, but I feel like with those things, usually the entry fees are so steep. So it's like, oh, you kind of have to feel like you're really gonna win to make the investment. But I was excited. I saw Jackie, Michelle Johnson won for Natch Butte and she had two of the most incredible episodes I've heard this past year about her having her baby pregnancy and childbirth. Hmm. And so I was very excited to see that. So legit in that sense, . And I think, you know, relatively legit. There was a few sort of strange things a couple of years ago with the IHOP podcast awards. Um, but, uh, in terms of, uh, this year, yeah, I think it was a good, uh, it was a good stuff. So many congratulations to everybody that was nominated. Yes, and indeed. Congrats that ended up winning. Okay, let's move on. Apple is number one, but Spotify is also number one. So, wait, I'm sorry, I'm confused. Who's number one? James? So, this was data that I was able to, uh, reveal last week at, uh, podcast Movement Evolutions. It's from Pod Track, and, um, yeah, I, I'm, I'm, I'm forever hearing the fact that, uh, apple is number one for podcasts, but also Spotify is number one for podcasts. I mean, we all know that IHA is number one for podcasts, really. Um, but Spotify, it turns out, and this is according to Data, the pod track have, um, have come out with, uh, over, um, 2 billion, uh, podcast downloads in January that they looked at. Uh, so that's a pretty good sample. Uh, and they ended up, uh, um, finding out that Spotify is number one for total people. So, um, more than a third of all Americans use Spotify to listen to podcast. Uh, apple reaches about a quarter of all Americans, about 25%. But when you have a look at downloads, it's weirdly and massively different. So instead of, um, just, uh, uh, 33% of downloads for Spotify, Spotify has 8% of downloads, and Apple has 70% of downloads, which is massive. Now there's probably something to do there with, um, Apple's auto downloading, but even apple's auto downloading wouldn't make that difference though. So I, I found that really interesting. I mean, are you, are you, are you, are you Spotify or Apple or, or do you have a real phone or, you know, how does all this work? I'm Spotify. I'm Spotify, but I do, like, I get auto downloads on my Apple podcasts that I never listen to. So I mean, maybe that could skew that heavy. And I listen to a lot of podcasts on Spotify. Like way more than, you know, whatever the data from your keynote shook out to be. The average per listener, um, for Spotify is three per month. While the average per listener for Apple Podcast can't quite remember the number, but it's something like 26 would be really good in, in a news podcast if actually had that number in front of me, . Um, but um, but yeah, so yeah, I mean a tremendous difference. Nine times the difference. And some of that is gonna be auto downloads, but not that much. I think we worked out that auto downloads that aren't listened to, uh, in Apple podcast is about 30%. Okay. So even if you were to take that bit out, uh, it's still a tremendous difference and I wonder whether that is because, um, do you ever use those, um, playlists that, um, uh, you know, the morning drive playlist that mixes. Music and um, and you know, news and podcasts and things because they apparently exist on Spotify. I can't imagine anything I would like to listen to less than nevertheless that exists . And maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe people are listening to something that they see called The Morning Drive and then all of a sudden they hear, uh, you know, the New York Times Daily or something, and Michael Barbaro telling you what else you need to know today. Um, and, and maybe it's that, but I don't know. It's really strange, um, differences there in terms of the, uh, data, but really good to see. Um, I think there were two podcast apps that have really grown over the last, um, over the last 18 months or so. Would you mind to take a guess what those podcast apps were? Ooh, I'm gonna go with Pockets. Uhhuh , and. I, I don't know., , I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what I mean. One of them was Google Podcasts, but, uh, whi which increased really well. Yeah. Which increased 19 times, I think, on one of the stats. But then on 19 times, nothing is still nothing. So, so, so there is always that, but Amazon Music has had a storming, uh, 18 months or so. Oh, I could see that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's the, um, they, they now offer free, um, ad free podcasts and all of that kind of stuff. And, uh, yeah, I think that they've, they've had a really good, a really good 18 months, so, um, yeah. So really nice to, uh, to, to, to end up, uh, seeing that. So, uh, yeah, uh, lots of numbers, uh, from pod track and, um, I had even more numbers. Yeah. I wanna know about your little fancy keynote. You gave the keynote, James, I saw you were in a suit. Yeah. You were looking sharp. Yeah. You were up there, you know, telling everybody about the numbers. So what was in it? Yeah, so this was the pod news report card. I, I should say, uh, this was my wedding suit. Um, uh, I got married in that, but it turns out that if you wear it on a stage somewhere and then it's a company expense. Oh. So, uh, ? Yes. So there we go. So, yes. Uh, so I was there, um, uh, at Podcast Movement Evolution. I was unveiling the pod news report card, which is essentially lots of podcast creators. We also got data from the listeners as well, but lots of podcast creators. Who were talking about, um, their particular and favorite, uh, podcast, um, apps and podcast platforms, why they like them, why they don't like them, uh, all that kind of stuff. And, uh, what we ended up, um, uh, discovering is that, uh, both Apple and Spotify have increased in the love that podcast creators have for them. Uh, although actually it turns out that, um, apple, you know, again, has had a pretty good, um, set of, of, uh, numbers with, um, their, uh, supports team doing particularly highly, uh, as well. Um, I, I guess the podcast that you do are in all of these, uh, all of these, uh, individual platforms. Yeah. Oh, of course. I try to, Everywhere, wherever you listen to podcasts. Yeah. Uh, I mean, wherever you listen to podcasts, um, or or, uh, as, as I've heard somebody saying, wherever you found this podcast, which I thought was an interesting, an interesting different way of . I like that one. Yeah. Interesting. Different way of putting it. Um, but, uh, yeah, you know, the, it, it was, it was, uh, it was interesting, uh, uh, hearing that and actually podcast movement, uh, evolutions was a great sort of, uh, event as well. Lots of people there. Um, uh, a bit weird in Vegas. Um, not such a fan of Vegas. To be on this. You don't like Vegas? No. Why? Well, I mean, it's nice for the first 24 hours, isn't it? And then after that you just go, I just wanna go home. I just wanna see someone with a supermarket. And you know, . But you weren't there that long, were you? I was there for a week. What, three days? Oh, there for week. Week. Yeah. That's a little long. Yeah, it is a little long. Um, great hookers though, right? James? No, I'm just kidding.. I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't. And, and, and by the, I should point out that sort of thing is illegal in, in Vegas. Oh, under Nevada law, under Clark County law. That's why you were so pissed. You were like, I'm outta here. I've been deceived . I've read the reviews and it's all false . Um, yes. No. So you, you are, you are a fan of Vegas that I Yeah, no, I, I think it's great to just, you know, it's close to LA so six hours as a quick little getaway, nice little sinful getaway, everything. It's so concentrated. Quick little getaway. Six hours . Well, yeah. Uh, yeah. I, I, I, I guess the only time I've been to Vegas really has been when I've been going there for some, Industry conference. And so maybe I have a slightly different view on the Matt F but, but that's the deal. It's like those conferences are so painful. You might as well, well actually, podcast movement is a very pleasant conference. I'm speaking for conferences in general.. Yes, yes. Now I, I, um, I used to stay at the Riviera Hotel. In the Riviera Hotel was just opposite the Las Vegas Convention Center. It was one of the, you know, the OG hotels. Um, it was, it was a bit of a dump to be honest. But, uh, there was a benefit to it in that it, it had a bar, uh, in the basement. Okay. And the bar was an English pub.. And so you would go in there and it would have, you know, red phone boxes and pictures of Big Ben and, and all this stuff,. And it was just right at home. Yeah. It was quite nice. Really. So, yeah. And they've, they've upgraded that entire hotel now by turning it into a car park. Oh. Which I think, uh, gorgeous. I think whole thing, whole thing knocked down. Um, uh, we were staying at the, uh, at the Westgate where Elvis used to sing , so, yeah. Um, which was, uh, uh, super good. So, wait, I didn't go though. No. And I felt, I got, I had a little bit of fomo, I have to admit. Mm-hmm., can you just gimme the main crack. What, what happened? Well, uh, I didn't see any of that, uh, I'll tell you. Um, but, uh, in the Irish Crack., but in terms of, I mean, you know, it was, uh, the, the ambi were great to go to, um, you know, a packed house. Um, and, uh, you know, and everybody, there was a sizable number of people who turned up for the MBEs and Ben turned around and went home, which I thought was interesting. but podcast movement, devolution, um, yeah, lots of people there. Um, uh, you know, uh, I think what, what I'm, I I've been grappling with particularly since it was in Vegas this year, oh, was what podcast movement is all about. Um, uh, podcast movement evolutions specifically because podcast movement is obviously everything, podcast movement, evolutions is supposed to be very much more. Um, uh, conference and to a great extent it was. Um, but what we didn't necessarily see is, I mean, you, you know, there, there, there were beginner sessions there as well and there were other sort of things. So it was a bit, sort of weird from that point of view, but great to be back, great to see so many friends and, um, yeah, and just lots of, um, lots of folk patting themselves on the back for actually seeing themselves in the flesh for the first time in, um, you know, in six months. Not that sort of in the flesh, you understand, or at least if it was, you know, very sexual event, this podcast movement. But, uh, I dunno, I dunno where I'm going with this. Uh, let's stop that and say, um, yes, you weren't there, but, uh, Norma Jean Belenky from Podbean was, so I asked her what she thought of the event. Podcast

Norma-Jean Belenky: 14:44

movement is amazing because it's a really. You know, an amalgamation of everybody in the industry. It's kind of the, the convention, you know, where everybody gathers. And this was actually my first evolutions. I'd only been to the large one in the summer, um, last year in Dallas, which is, you know, wild. And it's, it's just a zoo to be honest. And this one was really more industry, you know, it was a lot of, a lot of people coming in from la obviously we had people from all over the world, which was incredible. Um, and people were talking about several, there were several kind of, I guess, buzz in the air kind of things that people were talking about. Obviously ads, everyone's talking about ads these days. We love talking about ads and Podbean, . Um, and then also I think there was a, there was a really big push to make sure that everybody's voices are heard. You know, there were a lot of sessions where people talked about how to market your podcast, how to sell your podcast. Danielle Disser Corbett did a fantastic session. I hosted a panel on how podcasting amplifies the voices of women and marginalized creators. Um, and actually one of my panelists won an ambi, Anna Deshawn. I got very lucky. I picked, I picked a winner, literally . So that was very good. Um, and it was a lot of, you know, it was a lot of tech, a lot of people talking about different solutions within podcasting. On the hosting side, you know, things are pretty settled. But now I find in this kind of next wave of podcast service provider companies, were getting ai, were getting a lot of social network apps and a lot of, uh, features that really help podcasters with creating captions or writing their show notes or the things that, you know, can kind of drag you down and create

Jingle: 16:21

pod fade. Yeah, there was a lot of talk about AI wasn't there at the event. Um, yeah. And also an awful lot of talk about YouTube. You know, I mean, I, I hosted a panel all about, uh, podcast, uh, you know, video podcasts. Um, I think the panel was called Defining a Podcast. What happens when listeners turn into viewers? And so of course I asked everybody what, what a podcast was and where the listeners had turned interviewers and the, um, the overwhelming answer was no. No, they haven't. Not yet. Anyway. Yeah, . Um, but there was, but there was an awful lot of, uh, talk of you two, wasn't there? Absolutely.

Norma-Jean Belenky: 16:55

And we all see that around the corner. It's just on the horizon, you know, that, that video component, especially YouTube. I think, um, last year Edison spoke about how, I think it's the number one, um, way that people find podcasts digitally versus like word of mouth or in person. But the number one digital, uh, place that people find podcasts is YouTube over other directories. So I think we all see this change coming. It's kind of a rising tide in terms of video, and there are ways to work with it. There's definitely a pressure there. Don't feel like you have to succumb to it, but it, it, I mean, it's, it's gonna happen. Yeah. Yeah,

Jingle: 17:30

yeah. No, absolutely. And, and I think, you know, it, it, it. Everybody understands how YouTube works. Everybody understands how monetization works on that platform. Um, not everybody understands quite what YouTube are going to do, and obviously it's US only and you and I aren't based in the US so therefore, you know, we we're not necessarily going to see it instantly. But, you know, really exciting. And I, I think, you know, one of the things I covered in the Pont News report card was just how fired. Podcast creators already are for YouTube, even though they haven't actually launched yet.

Norma-Jean Belenky: 18:02

Yeah, absolutely. And I think the video component also adds a really fun element for podcasters, right? You, you feel like you're in the room with them. And you know, traditionally with podcasting, it's been an audio only medium. And so you have that intimacy, right? You're listening on the same device as you're, as you call your mom, right? Or as you talk to your kids. But video, it's more like you get to see the people and you really get to fill out the, the picture. So, , if you're not filling it out yourself or you know, you wanna have that visual component, it's a great option. And I think you're right, James, we're all wondering what YouTube's gonna do, right?, it's kinda like, it's kinda the elephant in the room, right? Everyone's talking about video. You know, we know that it's on the rise. We know YouTube is a huge home for podcasts, and at the same time we're waiting for them to make an announcement to to, to present strategy and to see how they're gonna move

Jingle: 18:50

forward. Yeah, indeed. No, it's gonna be really interesting, uh, to see what happens there. How important are events like, uh, podcast movement evolutions to you? I think I was, uh, chatting to somebody else from a large, uh, podcast host, and they were saying that, um, it used to be the place where you would pick up new business. Now it's a place where you're not necessarily picking up new business, but what you are doing is you are, um, furthering the relationships that you currently have with your, with your, uh, clients. And I think that that's an interesting view of how these sorts of large events have actually changed.

Norma-Jean Belenky: 19:23

I would say for Podbean it's both. So we definitely interact with our podcasters at live events. And of course, you know, if you're listening, if you ever come and see a Podbean booth, come say, hi, we have our podcasters join Podbean for the first time, sign up for their account at the booth. We have other podcasters that are hosted with Podbean. Pull up their accounts if they have any questions. You know, we really want people to feel, not that it's a tech support booth, but if you do have a question, all of our team is there to make sure that it's answered and that you, you have the, the resources and support that you need. I think additionally, in terms of that relational component at Pod Beam, we always have new products, right? We're a really, we're a really like cutting edge company in that way.. So for us, it's something we're like, yes, we have over 600,000 podcasts hosted with podin. But then additionally, right, we just launched our v i p program. We, last year we launched our network plan. We have programmatic now. So for us, it, it's really both, you know, it's, it's an opportunity to network within the industry, bring in new podcasters onto the platform, and strengthen those relationships with our current podcasters. Whether, if they have a question, if they just wanna meet us, or to introduce them to a new program or product within the platform that's the right fit for them. And you remind

Jingle: 20:36

me that Yes, you did. You launched, um, a new v I p uh, program. Uh, last week. What is the v i P program in a nutshell? Yeah,

Norma-Jean Belenky: 20:43

absolutely. So the v i P program is for podcasters or networks that have a minimum of 10,000 downloads across one or all their shows. And we offer free hosting, we'll sell your ads. That's pretty much what it is. So, um, it really allows podcasters to focus on what they love about podcasting, which is creating content. And then we're able to, you know, utilize our network, our ads marketplace, our entire advertising department, pod ads, our dynamic insertion platform, you know, all the solutions we have at pod mean, we're able to take that over for podcasters so that they don't have to run the day-to-day of their ads. Cuz I think a lot of podcasters are really intimidated by that. And, you know, once you've put in the work and you have a minimum of amount of downloads that we can monetize pretty easily, we wanna do that work for you, make it easier, um, so that you can go back to doing what

Jingle: 21:30

you love. Sounds good. What did you think of Las Vegas? W was it your first time in Canby, in your first time in Vegas?? Norma-Jean Belenky: No, no. It was not my first time in Las Vegas. I do not. Not your first rodeo? No. I think everybody had, this is gonna sound, you know, it's not podcasting related, but we all had this kind of weird sinus cold, you know, ? Yes. From the, it was very dry and very cold. So like a high desert weather and they still smoke there. Oh. They still smoking doors

Norma-Jean Belenky: 21:53

inside. And so we were walking through like a smoke filled casino. Someone walked by me and I, I, I don't remember who it was, but I remember overhearing somebody say, even my bones are dry. Like, that was the kind of, yes, that was the catchphrase of Las Vegas. It was really something, wasn't it? And also, I, I do feel like. Maybe it was something where, you know, a lot of people came in and out, maybe not for the entire time of the conference. So if it were somewhere that were a little bit less like a, a, a conference town or a, or, you know, a playground kind of town, or if it were in LA I think it would probably have had a different feeling.

Jingle: 22:29

Yeah, no, absolutely. It was certainly in LA for the last couple of years, and we'll be in LA next year, which, uh, is really good. We're back at the, um, j uh, where, where are we? We are back at the Marriott Live, I think. JW Marriott. Yeah. JW Marriott. Yes, that's exactly right.

Norma-Jean Belenky: 22:47

Absolutely. Great hotel. And there's a really fun diner just across the street called The Pantry. So for anybody out there? Oh,

Jingle: 22:53

it's a fun one. I'm, I, I clearly missed out on this last year. That was the first year that I met, uh, Sam. Uh, we've been podcasting for, Uh, 12 months and, uh, yeah. And it was the first time I actually met him in the flesh. Um, there's not much flesh, I'll tell you. Oh,

Norma-Jean Belenky: 23:06

isn't that the best? I think that's also, well, I think that's also one of the great things about conferences and in-person podcasting events is that, you know, you have these relationships that are virtual or digital and to connect with people In real life, I, you know, you're able to kind of put a face to the name, but you also get a lot. You get a lot more done, you know, and you kind of see what else is possible. So I think it really does lend itself to more creativity, more collaboration, and especially for businesses within the podcasting industry. More business.

Jingle: 23:35

And finally, you run a bunch of events, uh, as well at Podbean, don't you? I do. I'm

Norma-Jean Belenky: 23:39

the head of events, virtual events here at Podbean. So I do a couple of things. I produce and host our in-house podcast, podcasting smarter. Um, so have a listen to that. And then we have about three virtual events every month cuz we have so many products at Podbean. Hmm. We talk a lot about monetization and we really want podcasters to understand how it works. It's not intimidating. We break it down for you. So we have a lot of events focused on that. A lot of community. Events that are virtual. We had an event for Black History Month. We have an event coming up for chronic kidney disease in March. We have some incredible guests from the Mayo Clinic, from the Pharmacy Podcast Network, some top nephrologists. It's, it's really incredible. Um, so really, you know, how podcasting is utilized in different ways, for instance, in the, in the, the medical field. And then we also have an enterprise platform. So for anybody who has a corporate day job and wants to take their love of podcasting to their work, we have an entire platform that top Fortune 100, fortune 500 companies use for encrypted and secure podcasting. So we do a lot of value-based content and a lot of really fun events for our corporate clients

Jingle: 24:42

as well. Yeah, and of course you, you have your own podcast app as well, which is, uh, pretty good. If you listen to this very podcast on that app, then you see all of the transcripts and everything else appearing, which is, uh, really, really smart. So, uh, yeah, there's a lot of sort of hidden things a around, uh, The pod being company, which is, uh, you know, always interesting to, uh, to, uh, find out about. I think.

Norma-Jean Belenky: 25:03

Absolutely. We definitely have so many products. It's really a fun team to be part of. We're always evolving and we really care about our podcasting community. You know, we're always podcaster first. How can we make their lives easier, and what solutions and products can we come out with that are gonna be fun and of value and just en enhance the experience for our podcasters.

Jingle: 25:24

So how do people get in

Norma-Jean Belenky: 25:25

touch with you? Oh gosh. Well, you can find me on LinkedIn, of course. And, um, our email for podcasting Smarter is podcasting smarter podbean.com. So if you have any questions there or any episodes for the show, you wanna pitch us, we always love to highlight our podcasters here at Podbean and we talk about our new features. We have industry experts. It's a really fun show. Thank

Jingle: 25:44

you so much for your, uh, time. I appreciate it.

Norma-Jean Belenky: 25:46

Absolutely. Thank you so much, James.

Jingle: 25:48

So thank you Norma Jean Belinky from Podbean. Now, Sam never likes talking about Spotify, but let's talk about Spotify since he's not here for a second, because they lost another exclusive show they have. Aw, they've lost another Aus show. Where's he gone? Um, . Uh, no, he is not like that. Uh, Esther Parels, where should we begin? Uh, has ended, oh, I saw this on Spotify. Yeah, it became a Spotify original, um, produced by Gimlet back in 2019. It was actually previous to that, it was on Audible. Um, and I think Eric Newsom, uh, was, uh, one of the people that, uh, worked on that show. Anyway, it's found a new home at Vox Media. Um, and I think interestingly as well, they are basically turning it from being a series based show or a season based show., uh, into something which is always there. Um, so every single week, uh, always on from, uh, well, the press release said summer, but I'm in Australia at the moment where it is summer, so, um, , so, uh, I, I wrote it up as quarter three. Uh, so one more exclusive podcast that Spotify have lost. Do you think the Spotify are basically getting rid of many of their exclusives? They're clearly not gonna get rid of Joe Rogan, but, um, do, do you think that exclusives are still planned for them? I think they're over it. Um, honestly, and I think for Esther, this is very on brand for her to not be monogamous, with her, with her producing partner. Um, yeah. But yeah, it doesn't seem like Spotify's very committed to their exclusive slate. And didn't everyone just leave Spotify? Well, uh, Spotify has seen a, uh, 6%, um, a 6% redundancy rate. I think so, yeah. Um, although VGs Media has seen. A 7%, one. So, you know, Vox Media cut a lot of people, um, then got new funding, so I'm a bit confused as to what's going on there, but it seemed like it was the higher up at Spotify that like were probably kind of in charge of these shows. Yeah, exactly right. There were, there were some, uh, uh, beer, very big, uh, higher up, including of course Dawn Ostroff, um, who was the big cheese, so to speak. And, uh, yes. And she, uh, ended up leaving earlier on in the, in the year. So perhaps that's got something to do with, um, uh, some of this, or perhaps it's just a change of plan that actually they're gonna keep, um, uh, Rogan for obvious reasons. Um, he, his face turned up in the, uh, promo for Spotify that they showed last week, um, for, you know, when they announced Spotify for podcasters and various other things. So he's clearly still part of the gang, but not quite sure who else. Is going to be so, uh, I think call her daddy is the other really big one, isn't it as well? Oh yeah. Yeah. They probably don't wanna get rid of that one. Yeah. So, uh, would, would you do an exclusive show? I mean, obviously if Spotify came with lots of money, I'm, I'm sure that you'd say Yes. Thank you very much. Has anyone more? Maybe if, if I already had a big audience, but I do really think it limits your reach and that is a problem, right? If you're in growth mode. Yeah. Uh, I, I think Bre Brown said something like when she went, um, exclusive onto, uh, Spotify, um, then the number of books that she sold went down. Which you can kind of understand, can't you? Because you know less Yeah. You know, fewer people hearing, hearing her show, therefore fewer people that might go out and buy the books. Although, yeah. You know, I dunno, I worked on a Spotify show and um, , the downloads were pretty disappointing, so, oh. I think maybe they don't always perform that well. Yeah, yeah. It must be really hard to basically, cuz cuz what you're basically saying is, um, I mean, you know, looking back at the data that I was showing earlier, only 9% of all downloads are, are on Spotify. So what you're basically saying is you're saying, um, by making an exclusive show, then actually you lose potentially 90% of, of all of your Yeah. Podcast downloads, which, Possibly not such a good plan. Yeah. Uh, let's move on. Let's, uh, take a quick look at, uh, people News. He was only there for 90 days, but Rob Greenley has left Podbean. He's starting his own podcast, network consultancy, business Spoken Life Media. Had a good chat with him, a podcast movement, uh, and he says he needs to be seen as unbiased in his view on distribution and monetization tools. He, of course, used to work for Lipson, and before that he used to work for Podcast One and, uh, sprier. Um, and I do hear that Buzz Sprout are considering giving him a one day contract just so that you can say that he's worked for Buzz Sprout as well., which I think is pretty funny. Uh, Devin Taylor has been made senior editor of the Daley from the New York Times. She joins from Gimlet, Adam Sachs, who joins Sirius xm, um, uh, a while back after they bought Team Coco. He's now, uh, se seemingly the boss of everything, senior Vice president of entertainment, comedy and podcasts programming for Sirius xm. And what's interesting is that that means the podcasting will be in the same. As entertainment and comedy programming on the satellite radio. Uh, so that's interesting to end up seeing. And Brendan Monohan talking of, um, people who have left Spotify. Brendan Monohan left, uh, Spotify's Megaphone, uh, a year ago. He was, uh, c e o and he is now c e o of a car repair company moving on . Um, which is , which is, which is an interesting, no, maybe it's, I I don't, I don't have enough information. big. Yeah, maybe it is. I'm sure. I'm sure it is. Uh, if you are looking for a job, POD News has podcasting jobs across the industry and across the world. They're free to post as well with a just take. Two minutes to add a new role at pod news.net/jobs. The tech stuff. Tech stuff on the pod news weekly review. Yes. It's the stuff you'll find every Monday in the pod news newsletter. Here's where we do the all of the tech talk. Well, what have you got first in this list? Okay. Podcast app. Podcast has upgraded its experience for Apple CarPlay. Yes. Uh, do you use, uh, pod uh, podcasts in the car? Um, No, frankly, but pretty much every time I'm, all the time I'm not in cars. I listen to podcasts.. Right. Okay.. Well, that's, well, that's acceptable then. Why, why is that then? Is it is, is it, uh, it's jam out time. You just, I need to rock out. Well, well, I'm driving. Yep. So you really like, you know, uh, 1 0 1 0.9 the bear or something like that. Um, 92.3. It's, uh, hip hop and r and b. I wake up with big boy in the morning on real 92 3 gas station. It's all heat LA's home for hip hop Real. And 92 3. It's everybody's home radio station in la. They're like the other guys. They don't matter. I think they say that on every station.. Isn't that what they say? Oh, on every station they're like, oh yeah. Quite possibly. Nobody, whatever.. Yeah, yeah. Tune us in and rip the knob off, which I, I believe the phrase back in the 1980s. Yeah. I'm not sure they end up doing that, but yeah. Podcast is actually on a roll. Um, is, is both doing, um, uh, a better experience at Apple CarPlay. Um, it's also going to be supporting transcripts, uh, and Jason chapters, which is, uh, really good. So Jason chapters obviously a nicer way of doing chapters, but transcripts, so you can actually, um, see close captions and uh, search for the bit you want. So that's all pretty good. And according to nine to five, Google Podcast is also developing a Wear OS app for smartwatches. I am one of the only people in the world with a, uh, wear os watch. Uh, one of the Google watches. Um, so I'm delighted that for the five people like me, uh, we'll be able to listen to podcasts or on watches. On, on your wrist. On your wrist. Just as tiny speakers. Yeah. What is going on? You could, you could do that. You could do that with Apple too. Maybe with EarPods. It makes sense. Yeah. But otherwise that's nonsense. Yeah, I think it is. It is nonsense. Um, the watch that I have now is the first watch that I've got with a speaker on it. Uh, and so I can actually, you know, ask it what the weather's going to be like. And, and the watch tells me, you just look like a total idiot, idiot. Do we ? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Even, even more of a total idiot. So someone has proposed a new tag in the podcast name space called Accepts Guests. Now I'm an idiot. James, explain this to me like I'm five. All right, well, so the podcast namespace, uh, let's, let's rewind. So, podcasts use rss, uh, RSS is lovely. Um, uh, when we started using rss, which was invented by Dave Weiner and Adam Curry, um, back in, uh, 2004, well, actually slightly earlier, but let's not, uh, , let's not, uh, uh, uh, cut hairs. That was all fine. And then Apple added a few additional things, and then no one did anything for RSS at all. So that meant that if you wanted to add new features, anything like that, then you basically couldn't. Um, but what, um, uh, what's been worked on now is, um, a thing called a podcast namespace, which basically extends RSS and makes you able to add additional features. One of those additional features might be transcripts. One of those additional features might be, you know, closed captions for your podcast app. Um, one of them might be who's on this particular show, for example, or some form of payment, which we might get back to later. Um, and, but this is a, a thing that you put in your, uh, RSS feed and you basically say whether or not your show accepts guests or not. Cuz I dunno about you. I've had so many emails from people saying, we really want to be a guest on your show. And I'm there going, uh, pod News Daily is a. Um, it's a three minute show and no, um, stay open minded. James, you don't know well, maybe, maybe, but it would be a very, very quick guest, uh, thing.. Yes. So, uh, yes. So, uh, someone, uh, has proposed a new tag called Accept Guests, which, um, essentially allows, uh, anybody to know whether or not you actually accept guests, which is the, which is the plan there, is this an open source thing? This podcast namespace? Yep. And then so people just contribute to it. Yep. So if people contribute to it, you may have already guessed that I, I may have contributed, uh, that, oh, , I didn't guess Again, total idiot So there you guess. There you go. Um, but yeah, so it, it is, it's completely open. There are loads of really nice ideas and, um, uh, whether or not this is a nice idea, I don't know, but, you know, it's always worth giving a proposal and seeing whether people like it. Um, but, uh, yes. So, um, a new tag in the podcast namespace. If, if you listening have any idea as to whether or not that's a good thing, then head on to the podcast, uh, 2.0. Uh, GitHub. Uh, it's actually the podcast Index GitHub for other confusing reasons, uh, and, uh, have you'll say. So. Powered by chat, G p t Podcast Mania lets you type in a few words to create a full podcast using ai. So we asked if for a full episode, you can hear the results in the latest episode of the Pod News Extra podcast. And did we break it, James ? Well, yeah, I think we might have broken it. So I did a quick thing all about, um, uh, I did a quick, uh, test, which you'll find in the pod News Extra podcast, which is, uh, basically asking chant G B T. To produce a podcast all about Apple Podcast's, upcoming Android app, which of course they're going to be doing cuz they're not stupid. Um, and it was a really good sort of, you know, three minute podcast, which was, uh, basically, um, uh, all about that. And here's a clip. There have been rumors and speculations for years that Apple is working on an Android version of their podcast app. So that's nice, isn't it? But what I also did is I thought, well, I I, I should make a podcast, which is about you. So I went to, uh, podcast Mania , I'm honored, uh, and, um, gave it a go. But unfortunately they're not doing any of the, um, text to speech at the moment because it costs them too much. Oh. Which is no good But I've got the text. Um, and I like, uh, so it, it, uh, it, it calls you a prominent figure in the world of comedy and entertainment. I like, I like the indelible mark. On the entertainment industry, which I feel like I definitely made on this episode alone, I've made enough off-color jokes to warrant that back claim. No, I was, I was trying to work out, you know, isn't indelible Mark A. Good thing or Right, right thing. Is it the same as, is it the same as an indelible stain? I don't know, but um, is all of this right? No. A producer on the hit TV show doll face. Is that right? No, I did write on an Amazon animated show that won an Emmy called Danger and Eggs Not Mentioned in this Okay. It says, I am currently co-hosting private parts unknown. Not true , because I asked you earlier whether or not you'd won any awards. You didn't mention an Emmy? Um, well, I didn't personally when the Emmy, but the show did. Oh, okay. And then it got canceled after one season, and then I Oh, well, yeah. Okay. Desperately. Move to co to podcasting, And you've written for Running Stone Vanity Fair in the Hollywood proportion, is that right? No, I have written for the Washington Post, the LA Times, and Cosmopolitan. I was featured in Vanity Fair one time. No, that was Variety. Okay. And that is totally in inaccurate sentence, . Wow. Where's it, where has, has it got all of this stuff from? Um, and it also says, in addition to her work in the entertainment industry, company is an, uh, outspoken advocate for social justice and a, and equality. Do you like social justice and equality or, oh, or if they got that wrong too. No, I do like social justice inequality, but I would ha I have to say, you know, why I think they added that line is because I, on Twitter, offered to DM people. Topless photos of me if they would donate to Black Lives Matter . So I really don't think that is the kind of social justice figure that they're thinking.. Wowsers. Good Lord.. Um, yes. Uh, well, have you used AI for anything and has it actually been any better? So, yeah, I have tested this out, kind of be begrudgingly for my podcast as well. Um, I had to do Earnest Hemingway for my writing podcast called The Bleeders. It was okay. I was underwhelmed, but it had a few, you know, short sentences. Uhhuh , like, I don't know. It was, it was fine. And then I had to do Joe Rogan for podcast Bestie, and it was a little broy again, underwhelming. And then it wouldn't do anything for private parts of known because the robots are prudes. What's up with that? Yeah, this is your, this is your, uh, smutty podcast, isn't it? Yes. So it's a podcast that I seem to remember I had to write about in POD news, but obviously I, I'd like everybody that works in boring corporate environments to, uh, get the newsletter. And so therefore I couldn't actually write anything about what the podcast was about, which was very strange. But there we are. This is all right. What, what's that? What's that podcast about? Private parts, unknown. Yeah. Love and sexuality around the world. So I've been to, uh, Tokyo, uh, Helsinki, Mexico City, and, um, interviewing locals, getting them to, you know, tell me about the customs and the gender norms and everything that's happening there. It's really fun. And then when I'm back in la, you know, I talk about all sorts of stuff, abortion and ChAARI, and.. Mm. Non-monogamy and everything in between. Japan's weird, isn't it? Well, what a weird place. In a good way. In a good way. In a really good way.. Okay. Go, go find that episode. Uh, excellent. Well, so wait, can you explain something to me, James, because I have been, obviously we're in the tech segment right now and I've been listening to your show a a lot today in preparation for this And I am like really excited about V to V. Yeah. From, from, from you. Mm-hmm.. So can you tell me about it? And, and I'm not a techie, like, am I gonna know how to set this up and is it worth it if I don't have a bunch of people trying to give me SATs all the time?, will they wanna give me SATs or not? I don't know. Will they want to give you SATs or not? Well, I, I'm, I mean, I think, I think it's, it, it's start to firstly go into Booster Graham Corner and then we can. Uh, and then we can see how many people have given us sat and then we'll work out how that works, uh, for you. So let's do Boosto Graham Corner now. Boosto Graham. Okay. Booster Graham Corner, corner, corner on the Pod News Weekly review. Yes, it's our favorite time of the week, while it's my favorite time of the week. Uh, it's Boosto Graham Corner. And, uh, yes, we've got a number of different boosts, uh, this week. Um, uh, what's the, uh, the, the, the first one here, Dave Jones? Uh, more than 5,000, uh, SATs. 5,150. I'm not quite sure what that number means, but anyway, from, uh, customatic. Great show live from the stage. Jens how he's talking about me and Sam last week. Mm-hmm., uh, now you've proved you can do it. You have to do it every week. Ah, ah, well we will see, um, a hundred times from part B. Um, uh, there are a couple more that we've got, uh, uh, sent as well, haven't we? Yes. 2,222 stats from Mere Mortals podcast sent through some pod fans feedback for Sam. Oh, awesome. To have another app on the scene. Uh, uh, uh, a 2222 SAT is, uh, row of Ducks. Oh, yeah. They all mean something, right? Yeah. They all mean something. Yeah. See if you can guess what the, what the last one is. We made it through World War ii. I, I have no idea. It's . You. You could, you, you are, you are absolutely right. It's from Brian of London., uh, and it's an Israel boost. It's 1948 cuz that's where Brian is and that's when Israel is, I actually was shockingly close on that. Um, and Brian is boosting for Jordan's Infectious Love Jordan, of course, uh, on the, uh, show last week. So yes, this is, um, part of, uh, value for value and value for value is a, um, very excellent thing. Um, it's very much part of this new, uh, movement called Podcasting 2.0. There's a really good website which is out there, which is Value four value, and then that's a number four in the middle because you know, obviously value four value.info. Uh, and I'll give you a ton of information about how this stuff works. But basically, uh, if you like this podcast, then you can either reward us with time, with talent or treasure if you want to, uh, spend time with us. Uh, listening to these shows, the, that's valuable, uh, of itself. Uh, talent, of course is if you want to do something for this show, maybe you want to do, um, uh, artwork, which I know that, uh, Adam Curry does for no agenda and all that kind of stuff. And treasure is, of course, uh, sending some, uh, money back. And all of this, um, SAS stuff is, is all money really. Uh, now if I was planning ahead, what I would've done is I would've gone into, um, the system and actually found out how much this podcast has made over the last month. That would be helpful, wouldn't it? what's a ballpark? Do you know? Yeah, well, I can, I can actually tell you the exact number. Um, for the last, uh, 30 days, we've made $53. That's 53, uh, proper American dollars, not the Australian ones that we have down here. Awesome. Um, so, you know,$53 is pretty good. We were able actually to, uh, spend quite a lot of money in terms of beer for our listeners, uh, in Vegas, uh, last week. So that was really good. That was a really excellent thing. Now you were asking how you would, uh, do. Probably the easiest thing is to, um, go and download, um, an app called Fountain., which is, um, an app that you can, uh, play around with. Um, it allows you to send boosts, it allows you to receive some, but more importantly allows you to claim your podcasts on there so you can actually claim your podcasts on there. It will then, um, uh, make everything work across all of the different podcast apps. Ooh. Uh, and you can start accepting, uh, boosts and things if you ask for them. But if, if, if you don't ask for them, then nobody sends you any. So, um, that's part of the plan here. I'm excited to ask. I gotta do an episode about it and then I can ask for stats Yeah, exactly. Well, you should absolutely do an episode of the, of podcast besties. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Plus these comments. Plus these comments. Exactly. Um, and the really, and the really smart thing about all of the comments is that even if people are sending you really nasty, negative comments, they're still paying to send them. Oh, I love that. Uh, . So it's a, so it's a good thing.. But yes, I would probably start with the Fountain app. Uh, I am a, uh, an advisor for them, but, uh, it's, they've made it really easy and simple. Uh, and there's also, uh, other ways, uh, other ways into that, uh, uh, as well. But, uh, definitely worthwhile giving that a go? Yeah, I gotta check it out. Now let's have a quick look at, uh, upcoming events. Uh, it's, it seems, uh, ridiculous after just coming back from, uh, Vegas, uh, to be talking about more events, but there are more events and there's, uh, another event that I'm going to in a week, uh, radio Days Europe in Prague, which has a podcast, Simon, on Sunday, the 26th of March. There's also a podcast design workshop from Cze Radio there as well. Um, a few things going on on the 22nd of April, the Black Effect Podcast Festival, which is happening in Atlanta in Georgia from iHeart and the Birmingham Podcast Festival, which is happening in Birmingham in England's, not the other Birmingham, um, there because there's no other Birmingham obviously. Uh, Birmingham Podcast Festival dot cut uk. Um, uh, that's uh, happening on the 22nd of April as. Uh, the publisher podcast awards, uh, is happening on the 26th of April in London. Uh, tickets are now on sale. I believe that, uh, Sam has, uh, snagged a free ticket and that's why we mention it., uh, fair enough. Uh, and the New Zealand, uh, podcast Summit, uh, which is in Auckland, um, in early May. And I will be at the podcast show 2023 in London, uh, which is taking place, um, on the 23rd to the 25th of, uh, may. Very much looking forward to that cause obviously, I'm, I'm back Helen, man. I, uh, you know, cockles and pears, apples and pears, isn't it? Cockles And, yes. Anyway, however, however, a word I've, I've been in Australia for way too long. Uh, may have some fish and chips while I'm there as well. Uh, I th which I think would be a good, a good thing. But, uh, yeah, that's a great, that's a great show and it's really nice to be. In a really big bustling podcast show, um, that is in a different country because you get just such a different vibe, um, of all of that sort of thing. I heard you had an amazing restaurant experience, Italian restaurant experience. In Vegas with the, you did an amazing impression of it. Oh yeah. Yeah. I an American waiter. I was only mildly offended.. Yes. Sam looked at me with horror. Well, while, while, while I was attempting that, uh, New York Cat Italian , and he said, no, no, no. Oh my God. Can I also say my, one of my other favorite moments listening to your podcast was when you , uh, Sam was explaining something and he was saying, you know, I could, if Bruno Mars did it, I could see, I could see myself liking it. And you said, Bruno Mars, you repeated it like Bruno Mars. So incredulous. I could not stop laughing.. Oh dear. Yes. Well, there's a, there's, there's the thing. It was good fun doing it live last week actually. It was good fun doing it, you know, in front of an audience. And, uh, what what's slightly weird about the recording is that you don't hear any of the audience, so you don't hear any of the audience laughing or, or any of that, or just as if we're in a large empty room, uh, which is, uh, very, uh, very weird, uh, talking about. Um, no, it sounds great. You guys did great. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Um, talking about, uh, uh, events. Don't forget ours, of course, POD News Live, which is happening Sulfur in Manchester on the 13th of June. Lots of people will be there at the Larry Center. And, uh, we're very much looking forward, um, to being, uh, out there in, uh, sunny Manchester. You can get tickets now@podnews.net. Live. And as I mentioned earlier on, if you do get value from what we do, the pod News weekly review is separate from Pod News. Sam and I share everything, uh, from it, and we really appreciate your support so we can continue making this show. You can become a power supporter if you like, at weekly dot pod news.net, something that Buzz Barrett does. You can subscribe in Apple Podcasts and give Tim Apple 30% of your money@uhapple.co slash pod news. Uh, or you can support us with stats by hitting the boost button in your podcast app. And if you don't have a podcast app with a boost button, then pod news.net/new podcast apps will help you find a new app. Now, um, what's happening for you this week? Uh, Courtney, are there anything exciting? Not really exciting. It's been raining nonstop in LA but I published a new podcast Bestie about how to throw a PR party for your podcast and. Obviously, I'm still promoting your episode a ton, James. Yeah. I got so many comments Uhoh about that. Charming James Cridland, Uhoh. I was like, ladies, just, you can, you can get away with anything with this accent. Tell me. I know you really can, you can get away with absolutely anything. Um, so how to throw a PR party for your, for your podcast. That sounds interesting. Um, are, are there, um, does it involve Yes. Uh, whining and dining? The, uh, the editors of the Yeah. Uh, Tusa Rubenstein, former 17 editor was at this party, uh, lots of influencers in New York and Isabella DeStefano breaks down how she threw the party. It was a very expensive party, but, you know, she made a lot of good guest contacts. And check it out. Check it out on podcast bestie. That sounds like a, that sounds like an, an ad, an excellent plan. You'll No, sounds like an excellent pat. You'll, you'll, you'll find that podcast wherever you get this podcast. Probably normally how these things work, and, uh, and who else have you got coming up for that then? Um, I've been recording so many, uh, guests. I have, uh, I don't even wanna, I don't even wanna spill yet. I'm not ready to, to share everyone, but some heavy hitters, you know, if I started with James, you know, it's gonna be good. Yeah. I, I, I wish I, I, I'm, I'm now wondering if you're sincere or not, but, uh, , I'm totally sincere. Okay. Enough about me, James. So, what ha, what else happened for you this week? Well, uh, yes. Uh, this week has been partially, um, uh, in planes, obviously on the way back from la, but, um, or rather Las Vegas first. Um, uh, I got eight hours layover in la but as you so rightly say, it was raining and, um, and it was cold and I was tired. Yeah. And I thought, right, either I can go to, you know, and haven't looked around Venice Beach or somewhere where I haven't been, or Santa Monica where I have, and it's all right and everything. Um, so either I can do that and get cold, and get wet and get miserable, or I can just stay in the airport and stay in the lounge and drink and drink other people's, um, uh, soda. So that's what I ended up doing. Have a shoddy plate of fish and chips. Yeah, and no, no, they don't. So fosters, they don't even do, they don't do fish and chips and fosters is a joke that we Australians, uh, play on the rest of the world. Oh, okay. Uh, so, so thankfully, so thankfully that, and also the Qantas lounge in la I mean, I know that this is a small thing, but they don't actually do Australian beer in there, which is very annoying. So, So you get to choose from Sam Adams and Sierra Nova. And, um, what'd you pick? I think I chose the Sierra Nova, actually, which is a pretty good, a pretty good drop. Okay. So, uh, that's, that's it for this week. You can give us feedback at weekly@podnews.net or send us a boosto gram. I love those boosto grams. Or if your podcast app doesn't support boosts, then grab a new app from pod news.net/new podcast apps. Yes, our music is from Studio Dragonfly. Our voiceover is Sheila D, and we are hosted and sponsored by Buzz Prouds podcast. Hosting Made easy. Thank you so much. Thank you. It's been a pleasure. A silly pleasure. Get updated every day. Subscribe to our newsletter@podnews.net. Tell your friends and grow the show. And support us and support us. The POD News weekly review will return next week. Keep listening. Oh my God. I hope you can use this Booster Graham Booster Graham Corner, corner corner on the Pod News Weekly review. Get updated every day. Subscribe to our newsletter@podnews.net. Tell your friends and grow the show. And support us and support us. The POD News weekly review will return next week. Keep listening.