Australia: new podcast research and a podcast ranker

• Commercial Radio Australia has unveiled the Australian Podcast Ranker, a look at “Australia’s top 100 downloaded podcasts”, accounting for 10m downloads in September. The ranker uses IAB v2 measurement, and consists of consumption by Australian consumers only. The ABC is to join in the next few months: and “all podcast producers with Australian and international content are invited to participate.” Podcast One’s Hamish & Andy is the #1 podcast according to the ranker.

  • Editorial opinion: I was worried that this service would be protectionist and proprietary: but it isn’t. The service seems open to all, the technology operated by Triton Digital to IAB standards. Participants get a dashboard with full analytics, too. While the initial list is necessarily made up of the largest publishers, it does seem genuinely open if you hit the technical criteria: though you need to have access to logfiles. You’ll remember the Open Downloads initiative which offers portability of logfiles? Suddenly, that seems rather more important. I intend to investigate if I can get Podnews listed in the ranker (though hitting the top 100 might be hard!)

• Podcasting in Australia is now more popular than people’s owned music, according to new figures unveiled earlier today. Total “share of audio” for podcasting has risen to 7.3% - encouraging, too, that Australians are spending 7 minutes more with audio every day #radioalive2019

  
  Aug 17 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Also speaking at the Radio Alive conference was Hedley Thomas, host of The Teacher’s Pet. He said it was incredibly stressful, and that when he’d launched episode one, he only had outlines for three episodes. (The podcast is currently geoblocked in Australia, due to a pending court case).

• ARN has become exclusive Australian sales representative for iHeartPodcast Network. ARN, an Australian broadcaster, has the rights to the iHeart name and app in the country.

“We work with Apple very closely, and they produce a number of downloads for us that we wouldn’t get on our own” - Grant Blackley, Podcast One Australia

• Guardian Australia has launched a “thrice-weekly” podcast. Launching on Monday, Full Story is hosted by Laura Murphy-Oates, a Walkley award winner.

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“One of the attractions of podcasts is that it’s an addressable, measureable media. It’s also much less cluttered. Consumer behaviour is also really intimate: you’ve chosen to engage, and that’s really powerful. But I don’t think clients know what creative to use yet.” - Mark Lollback, Group M

That’s quite enough Australian stories

• SquadCast have announced their advisory board; however the apparent lack of diversity of the company’s team and advisers attracted criticism on social media. Asked for a statement by Podnews, Rockwell Felder, the company’s co-founder, said:

  We apologize for the lack of diverse representation in our advisory board. It is embarrassing to have fallen short we will make up the difference. We are grateful for the opportunity to help podcasters collaborate in 85+ countries across many backgrounds and identities. It is paramount that our team represent that community to achieve our mission to empower and encourage creatives to engage in meaningful conversations without barriers. Thank you to the community for holding us to a higher standard and for ensuring that all voices are being heard.

• In the UK, AudioUK are running a free event on October 25th on how Brexit will impact your audio business. Open to everyone, they say.

• TargetSpot is to launch a podcast hosting platform, which allows publishers to “publishers to create, store and distribute their podcasts for streaming or download, as well as seamlessly monetize their audience”. The company sells audio ads and owns WinAmp and ShoutCast.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 17 2023

• The South Side Podfest has been announced in Chicago IL, USA: four nights, free, of podcasts of many varieties, starting November 6th.

• WarnerMedia Podcast Network and The Roost made a joint announcement at the recent IAB Podcast Upfront in New York NY, USA this week, unveiling a set of new podcasts: a true crime from HLN, Down the Hill: the Delphi Murders; Ledlow and Parker, an NBA baseball show, and The Plot Thickens, a movie podcast slated to start in 2020. The Roost also announced three new scripted titles. The company also announced the WarnerMedia Data Cloud, which provides audience information including age, education, income and more.

301 Redirects - we think podcast hosts shouldn’t hold your podcast captive, and that you should be free to move elsewhere if your podcast host lets you down. We’re writing a story about 301 redirects: if you’ve had to plead with a support desk for one, or had a bad experience from a podcast host you’ve tried to leave, please get in touch: editor@podnews.net will find us.

Podcasts

The Trainee Sexologist is an original podcast from MediaWorks Radio in New Zealand, following Morgan Penn, a woman who left a sensible career in radio sales to become a sex therapist. Aimed at the female podcast audience, it’s sponsored by a local adult store. (Omny Studio)

Are you a mess? Do you like jokes? Are you like, literally, everyone else in the world and love music? Then you’ll love Barely Composed, we’re told: During each episode, Stacey Hardke, Dahlya Glick, and Gabi Van Horn chat with fellow comedians and musicians and attempt to create a brand new musical-comedy hit within sixty minutes. (Camp Fire Media / Anchor)