Google switches podcasts to pirate copies

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In Sounds Profitable with Podsights this week, Fatima Zaidi from Quill Podcasting writes about how to measure the return on investment of a branded podcast. Do Bryan Barletta a favour: he needs just 19 new subscribers to hit 4,000. Subscribe here.

Google is randomly switching podcasts in its app to point to pirated copies with ads. Jason Calcanis noticed his podcast, All-In ▸, mysteriously had ads in it; Google’s Danny Sullivan replied: “we appear to have mistakenly pointed to a duplicate version of the podcast”: a pirated copy held on Spreaker, according to Nathan Gathright. “There are loads of benefits from our constantly checking for new RSS feeds and trying to make our own determination about which feed to use for a given show algorithmically, but we’ve also seen instances where we get it wrong,” a Google spokesperson told us in July last year. Podnews offers a Google Podcasts RSS helper so you can check what RSS feed Google has for your podcast; we would also suggest you claim your podcast and then set the preferred feed. Pirated podcasts have been an issue for a while; if you’ve been affected, here’s how to report a pirated podcast.
We’ve been there too. In spite of following Google’s recommendations, our own Podland News ▸ was switched in December from podcast host Buzzsprout to point to (confusingly) a 301 redirect on Captivate, its former host - without our consent. That lost our stats for a little bit; and would normally take two weeks to correct. Similarly, in October, a test podcast feed in Google Podcasts was switched erroneously to a similar URL; again, losing stats (and again, pointing to a 301 redirect).
Buzzsprout’s data suggests that the Google Podcasts app is losing market share, from 2.6% to 2.3% in the past year. Podnews can also reveal that Google Podcasts lost another member of staff in mid January.

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There is no change in the top ten podcast hosts by episode share, but the market is getting more competitive - data for January shows 21 hosts have more than 1% share; that was 19 in December.
Libsyn’s AdvertiseCast reports a significant rise in podcast ad rates in their marketplace for January. Average CPM is now $25.39, up 6.1% from $23.91 last month, and up 12.8% year-on-year.
Unsurprisingly, Spotify and Joe Rogan lead Podnews’s news ranker for January. We achieved a 37% gender split, up one point from December.
Buzzsprout’s global stats for January, calculated to the IAB standard, show the company hit 100 million monthly downloads for the first time. Apple Podcasts continues to increase, with a reported 37.2% share of all downloads; Spotify decreased to 28%. (Their stats don’t include AppleCoreMedia plays).
Comedian and radio host Rickey Smiley has signed with Urban One and Reach Media to launch a podcast network.
How well is that audio working for you? Veritonic has announced an API for audio scoring, including recall, engagement, and intent for every asset in your library.
How many new TV shows were there in 2021? Research suggests 3,373 new shows commissioned by the top ten global TV companies.
A website using Google Fonts has been fined for breaking GDPR privacy rules, since it leaked the visitor’s IP address to Google without their permission. Of the top ten podcast hosts websites, Anchor, Buzzsprout, Spreaker, Libsyn, Podbean, Omny Studio and Captivate are all using Google Fonts in this way. This website lets you self-host Google Fonts. Podnews phased out use of Google Fonts for privacy reasons more than two years ago.

Thank you to Steve Stewart, who becomes our latest personal supporter. Steve Stewart Podcast Productions has been involved in podcasting since 2016, and runs a Podcast Editor’s Facebook group.

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Graham Nash has removed his music from Spotify. “There is a difference between being open to varying viewpoints on a matter and knowingly spreading false information which some 270 medical professionals have derided as not only false but dangerous.”
Four-time Grammy winning soul singer India.Arie has criticised Spotify. “I believe in freedom of speech. However, I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons other than his Covid interviews… For me it’s also his language around race.”
When publishing a show to Spotify, you are now reminded to read the platform rules; though not to explicitly agree to them. Megaphone also promotes the same rules in its dashboard. The rules link here (and, of course, we’ll monitor them for changes).

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Eight tips for running a successful podcast community on Facebook is from our newest personal supporter, Steve Stewart. He suggests asking qualifying questions, creating a content schedule, and not promoting yourself.

Podcast News - with Quill

Quill is an award-winning podcast agency specializing in corporate audio production that drives results. Listen to some of our top-ranking branded shows from clients such as Expedia, PwC, Amdocs, TD, and more.

Produced by Quill: The Great Indoors ▸ How has technology changed around the world? Join Matt Roberts from Amdocs as he discusses how human technological adoption habits are evolving as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and how we’re rediscovering the magic of technology as a necessary result of being indoors.

The sound of your own name is quite a personal thing. In today’s Twenty Thousand Hertz ▸, Dallas Taylor meets Dallas Taylor, Dallas Taylor, Dallas Taylor, Dallas Taylor and Dallas Taylor. One Dallas Taylor is a former lead singer of a heavy metal band; but not Dallas Taylor, who makes podcasts about sound.

Hot Chicken and Cage-Free Conversation ▸ is new from comedian Byron Kennedy. Never knowing what direction that conversation might take or how badly that “hot chicken” might burn, we’re promised that we’re in for an entertaining ride. - read more

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