Medium buys into audio, Vox Media gets criminal

• Medium is getting into audio, acquiring audio-based learning platform Knowable. Warren Shaeffer, co-founder of Knowable, will join Medium as the Vice President of Audio. (Evan Williams, Medium’s CEO, was co-founder of Odeo, an early podcast company.)

• Vox Media has acquired Criminal Productions. Founded by former public radio journalists Phoebe Judge and Lauren Spohrer, Criminal Productions is responsible for Criminal, This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. The shows were with PRX’s Radiotopia network.

• Sounder has launched an “Audio Data Cloud”, which aims to analyse audio for advertisers to learn more about content of podcasts: including topic analysis, brand safety and automated summaries.

• Flagging upcoming tools similar to Sounder’s in Q1/22, Elli Dimitroulakos from Acast underlines “podcasting’s measurement problem” in an interview for AdExchanger Talks, with Allison Schiff. It’s not an Acast issue - “it’s really an industry thing where we all sit down and talk things through,” she says.

• Podtrac has added a new Show Overview report for podcasters using their free analytics.

• Beams, a short-form audio app that lets you post up to 90 seconds of voice recordings in groups, has completed a seed round of $6m. The app has more than 5,000 topic groups.

• Racket, a similar short-form audio app that lets you post up to 99 seconds of voice recordings, is now available on the Apple App Store, and is announcing $3m of pre-seed funding.

  
  Sep 9 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Oprah Winfrey was on Clubhouse, but only 23,000 people listened. Or only 41,500 people, according to a spokesperson, who claims a “glitch”. Meanwhile apps or logins are no longer required to listen on Spotify Greenroom. And - genuine question - has anyone heard from Mark Cuban’s Fireside Chat recently?

• Critical Mention is the latest company to partner with the proprietary podcast directory Podchaser. The partnership will allow brands to accurately track and measure the impact of brand mentions across podcasting.

  
  Sep 9 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Pod1, a bio link for podcasters, has launched. The service, which is free to sign up, allows you to post a simple and configurable page that plays the audio of your podcast, with customiseable links and stats - here’s ours.

• CairoRCS Media, an Italian newspaper publisher, has signed with AdsWizz for podcast monetisation.

• The Asia Podcast Awards are open for entries - you’ve until Wednesday to enter, and it’ll cost S$15 (about US $11). Winners will be announced at the Asia Podcast Festival in early December.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Sep 9 2023

Moves and hires - with Pod People

• Ricky Mulvey has joined The Motley Fool as Podcast Producer. He was a podcast producer for Allworth Financial, and recently freelanced with NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Sep 9 2023

• 'Nata Edwards has joined CBS Sports as a Podcast Producer. He joins from WFAE in Charlotte NC.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Sep 9 2023

Tips and tricks

• Almost every show in existence could be up to 20% more effective/successful/impactful if the audio quality was better, says Pacific Content’s Shawn Cole.

Podcast News - with Blue Wire

In Blue Wire's limited series WR1 presented by WynnBet, legendary NFL wide receiver Cris Carter interviews legends of the WR position as well as the next generation of superstars to understand what makes this position so unique, as so many personalities and stories come from outside of the hash marks. Guests include Julian Edelman, Adam Thielen, Mike Evans, Calvin Johnson, and many more.

Meshel Laurie’s Smart Fella Productions has launched Meanagers, a show designed to help parents understand their teen kids - and why they can be so mean. It’s hosted by Madeleine West and child psychologist Angela Murray. - read more

Independent podcast The Who & How Club has announced a sponsorship deal from Better Help. The show shares life stories and reflections, and asks who are you - and how did you become you?

Nominated for 16 international awards, I’m Not A Monster has returned for two epilogue podcasts and a Q&A special. The show is a co-production between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS).

From Executive Producer Sylvester Stallone, The Comeback is an immersive, cinematic documentary podcast series about meteoric success, devastating falls, and inspirational comebacks — all told by the people who lived them. The trailer is live now.

Hosted by Philadelphia journalist and author Mike Sielski, I Am Kobe features intimate, never-before-heard tapes of professional basketball player Kobe Bryant as a teenager, exploring his thoughts, his dreams, and his goals. Some tapes are from when Kobe was a senior in high school. It launched yesterday from Diversion Podcasts and iHeartRadio. - read more

CNN has launched what they call a 'showcast’ - a chance to rediscover Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown in an audio-first format from the first episode beginning in Myanmar to its conclusion in the Lower East Side in New York City. The first two episodes are available now. - read more

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