Month: December 2020

Audible has a Podcast Development Program

~ jen

Audible announced the Audible Podcast Development Program. Those who are eligible could get $10,000 to develop their podcast with Audible and reach millions of passionate listeners with the Audible Podcast Development Program.

You can apply through the Audible website. To be considered, applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EST on 1/18/21.

Share your inventive, immersive, and wholly original idea. We’re exclusively looking for podcasts with an episodic format and a narrative arc (i.e., a beginning, middle, and end…though not necessarily in that order). We’re seeking a diversity not only of genres – from scripted fiction and comedy, to drama, documentary, and investigative journalism – but of perspectives, cultures, regions, and identities. While we do enjoy conversational shows and hosted interviews, we’re currently accepting submissions for narrative podcasts only.

If your project is selected and meets Audible’s eligibility criteria, Audible will:

  • Award you a 10K commissioning fee to develop your idea into a fully produced podcast pilot or program
  • Cover production costs
  • Provide editorial and script guidance, as well as production and casting expertise
  • Give you the use of Audible’s state-of-the-art production equipment and resources
  • Facilitate mentorship and peer networking opportunities
  • Release your podcast to millions of Audible listeners

Those who are interested in submitting a podcast to the Audible Podcast Development Program should read through the Frequently Asked Questions posted on their website. One important thing to know is that the Program is focused on new ideas and programs that are not (and have not been) publicly available through any service, platform or other channel. This means you cannot submit a podcast that has already been released publicly.

Spotify Announced 2020 Podcast Hall of Fame

~ jen

Spotify released a playlist titled: “2020 Podcast Hall of Fame”. It includes hand-picked episodes showcasing the best of 2020. Those who have a Spotify account can listen to as many of the selected episodes as they choose.

It is not possible to listen to them on Spotify if you do not have a Spotify account. However, you can find these episodes by using your favorite search engine.

The 2020 Podcast Hall of Fame list includes:

  • Reply All #158 The Case of the Missing Hit – Gimlet (released March 5)
  • Code Switch A Decade of Watching Black People Die – NPR (released May 31)
  • California Love Ellie – LAist Studios (August 13)
  • VENT Documentaries #3 Why Does Everyone Call Me Carlos? – VICE UK (released May 11)
  • Resistance Shake the Room – Gimlet (released October 21)
  • All the Smoke E11: KOBE BRYANT – The Black Effect and iHeartRadio (released January 9)
  • 99% Invisible Perfume: Articles of Interest #9 – Roman Mars (released July 17)
  • Lolita Podcast 1: Dolores, Not Lolita – iHeartRadio (released November 23)
  • The Renner Files The Jeremy Renner App Lives – Caroline Goldfarb & Sarah Ramos (released October 21)
  • Edge of Sports NFL Pro Bowler Michael Bennet on the Power of Protest – Dave Zirin.The Nation (released July 6)
  • NATAL Three: Mikah and Cecilia’s Stories – The Woodshaw, You Had Me at Black (released May 20)
  • The Queer Arabs Episode 114 [In English], part 1: It’s Time To Let Classical Music Die – Alia, Ellie, Ahmed, Nadia and Adam (released July 17)
  • Unpack ‘n Bounce Back Friendship – Reyna Biddy & Skye Townsend (released July 13)
  • Reveal American Rehab Chapter 1: A Desperate Call – The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX 9 (released July 4)
  • Cool Mules DOs and DON’Ts – CANADALAND (released March 23)
  • Jemele Hill is Unbothered Ep 103: GABRIELLE UNION – The Chip in the Cookie – Spotify Studios (released July 27)
  • Outside/In Ginkgo Love – New Hampshire Public Radio / Panoply (released July 2)
  • WTF with Marc Maron Podcast Remembering Lynn Shelton – Marc Maron (released May 18)
  • Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain – Failure – Emma Chamberlain and Ramble (released February 20)
  • The Daily The Sunday Read: ‘Closing the Restaurant That Was My Life for 20 Years – The New York Times (released April 26)
  • The Cut Emily Ratajkowski Wants Her Pictures Back – Vox Media Podcast Network (released September 26)
  • Office Ladies – Casino Night w/ John Krasinski – Earwolf & Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey (released May 13)
  • The Ringer – Doc Rivers on Player Empowerment, Growing Up the Son of a Chicago Cop, Where Our Country is Going, and the NBA’s Return – Flying Coach With Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll (released June 16)
  • Richard’s Famous Food Podcast #15: Welcome To Richard’s Famous LA Food Podcast – Richard Parks III (released July 1)
  • Call Her Daddy 92 MILEY CYRUS – Barstool Sports (released August 14)

New York Times Added a Disclaimer to Caliphate Podcast

~ jen

The New York Times has retracted the core of its hit 2018 podcast series Caliphate after an internal review found the paper failed to heed red flags indicating that the man it relied upon for its narrative about the allure of terrorism could not be trusted to tell the truth, NPR reported.

The New York Times has added a disclaimer to the portion of its website the Caliphate podcast can be listened to. It includes the following:

In 2018, The Times released a 12-part narrative podcast series called “Caliphate” on the Islamic State terrorist group and its operations. While parts of the series involved a broad examination of the group’s tactics and influence, multiple episodes were driven primarily by the confessional tale of a Canadian man of Pakistani origin who called himself Abu Huzayfah and claimed to have been a member of the Islamic State who had taken part in killings in Syria.

During the course of reporting the series, The Times discovered significant falsehoods and other discrepancies in Huzayfah’s story. The Times took a number of steps, including seeking confirmation of details from intelligence officials in the United States, to find independent evidence of Huzayfah’s story. The decision was made to proceed with the project but to include an episode, Chapter 6, devoted to exploring major discrepancies and highlighting the fact-checking process that sought to verify key elements of its narrative…

…As a result, The Times has concluded that the episodes of “Caliphate” that presented Mr. Chaudhry’s claims did not meet our standards for accuracy…

…In the absence of firmer evidence, “Caliphate” should have been substantially revised to exclude material related to Mr. Chaudhry. The podcast as a whole should not have been produced with Mr. Chaudhry as a central narrative character.

NPR reported that Canadian authorities accused Shehroze Chaudhry of lying about being an executioner for ISIS. He currently faces criminal charges in a federal court in Ontario of perpetrating a terrorism hoax.

According to NPR, The New York Times offered to return the Peabody Award and the awards’ executive director accepted. The Overseas Press Club also rescinded its Lowell Thomas Award.

RedCircle Offers Programmatic Advertising

~ jen

RedCircle announced that it officially offers programmatic advertising for their incredible community of creators. In partnership with Adswizz, they have developed a fully scalable monetization solution that individually optimizes each listener’s ad experience while putting more money in RedCircle creator’s pockets.

Programmatic advertising is very similar to streaming music ads. Pre-recorded ads will automatically be inserted into your predesignated ad insertion points. The more ad insertion points, the more opportunities for you to earn money.

Programmatic ads can be enabled on all podcasts with 500+ weekly downloads. The programmatic ad marketplace allows brands to bid at scale on a given amount of downloads. This process is almost instantaneous! As listeners download your show, our platform will assess how many available ad blocks there are and allow brands to dynamically insert their ads based on your show’s content and opted in categories. The beauty of it all is that two listeners could download the same episode at the same time and get an entirely different set of ads targeted directly to them.

Podcasters who are interested in enabling programmatic advertising on their RedCircle podcasts should go through the RedCircle Ad Platform (RAP). You can opt-into Host-Read and programmatic ads by going to the advertising section of your account.

The specific aspects of programmatic ads that RedCircle needs from you are: Your show’s primary category, and any advertising categories that you wish to exclude from playing on your show. The example RedCircle gives is if you don’t want political ads, you can check “Politics” as one of your exclusions.

IAB Tech Lab Releases Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines 2.1

~ jen

IAB Tech Lab has released the Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines 2.1 for public comment for a 30-day period which began on December 2, 2020, and lasts until December 31, 2020. Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines are standard metrics for both podcast content and podcast ads to provide marketplace clarity through a common language for measurement.

With the podcast industry’s significant growth, and ad revenue projected to reach $1 billion in the U.S. for 2020, there is a need to keep pace with market needs and provide further clarification of the Measurement Guidelines. The IAB Tech Lab Podcast Technical Working Group put together the latest updates on industry best practices to reduce measurement discrepancies and provide a set of recommended metrics and guidelines across the podcast marketplace.

The IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines 2.1 have significant updates over the current version, which was last updated in 2017. They include a new section with guidance on user agent structure, recommendations for IPv6 IP addresses, filtering guidance for Apple WatchOS user agents, and a number of additional podcast player recommendations.

“The podcast industry has remained vibrant during the global pandemic. Podcast listeners are loyal and highly engaged which makes them an appealing target for marketers”, said Shailley Singh, Vice President, Product and Global Programs, IAB Tech Lab. “However, this medium is currently under-utilized due to industry challenges around a commonly agreed-upon set of metrics. The IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines is designed to address this by creating a consistent set of podcast advertising metrics so buyers and sellers can engage in a conversation about campaign strategy with confidence.”

“The changes to the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines v2.1 are the result of hours of conversation, collaboration, and research among podcast industry leaders across a range of topics most notably with respect to guidance for podcast app developers,” said Robert Freeland, Co-Founder and CTO, Podtrac. “The IAB Tech Lab Podcast Technical Working Group continues to iterate on its standards to provide the market with the most accurate and consistent data.”

Steve Mulder, Senior Director of Audience Insights, NPR, added, “Podcasting continued to grow in 2020 despite the COVID-19 disruptions to all of our lives, reinforcing the power of this medium to connect with audiences. With this continued growth, it is vital to accurately measure podcasting effectiveness, and that’s why the updates to the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines matter. These updates ensure podcast metrics can be trusted by publishers and advertisers for making key investment decisions in this powerful medium.”

IAB Tech Lab Podcast Technical Working Group Co-Chairs Include Steve Mulder, Senior Director of Audience Insights, NPR, and Robert Freeland, Co-Founder and CTO, Podtrac.

To review the proposed standard and provide feedback, please go to: https://iabtechlab.com/standards/podcast-measurement-guidelines/