PodMov Daily: Tuesday, November 17

Episode 321: Testing, One Two-sday

Apple Podcasts Launches New Embeddable Web Players

Apple Podcasts has launched its embed web player, enabling visitors to play podcasts right from the chosen website. The new addition allows “anyone — including creators, listeners or marketers — to generate embed codes for the more than 1.5 million shows available across the Apple Podcasts service.”

In addition to playing the podcast and browsing episodes, listeners can engage with the embed “by opening the Apple Podcasts app for iOS, iPadOS or macOS to learn more about the program or to add it to their existing podcast subscriptions,” explains Sarah Perez of TechCrunch. It even comes in four adjustable sizes.

Per an email to creators, the embed codes can be generated from the Apple Podcasts Preview pages on the web or with Apple Podcasts Marketing Tools. This convenient development simply levels the field: “Spotify, too, already offers an embed feature for its podcasts, which allows it to direct users to its own service.”

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A Career Built on “Being Everywhere in Podcasting”

Melissa Locker of Timber.fm profiles Caroline Crampton, “the queen of multitasking.” Crampton is a distinguished podcast critic, a regular contributor to Hot Pod, and the creator of the detective-fiction podcast Shedunnit — among other roles. She says that her big-picture analysis of podcast trends began naturally.

“While there were definitely people doing reviews, and doing them really well, there weren’t a lot of people being more discursive about it,” Crampton says of her columnist days at the New Statesman. “There were very few people saying, ‘Why are we suddenly seeing a cluster of this kind of podcast now?’ or something like that.”

Crampton’s ear for patterns produces outstanding observations. (“The Problem with the Inconsequential Quest,” published in Hot Pod, is your editor’s favorite piece of podcast writing this year.) She and Locker discuss show-finding tricks, working for oneself, and why every successful pitch is short and sweet.

The Dr. John Delony Show: Because Mental Health Matters

Now more than ever, the world feels like it is spinning out of control. Millions of people are struggling with their mental health, marriage, parenting, and family relationships. The Dr. John Delony Show, a new podcast from the Ramsey Network, answers life’s messy questions. 

Host and Ramsey Personality Dr. John Delony, a leading voice on mental health, relationships, and wellness, takes a practical approach to tough topics we all face. Dr. Delony’s caller-driven conversations help listeners work through anxiety, depression and disconnection with new tools and plenty of humor.

Ready to take charge of your mental health? It’s time to cut through the chaos and start building a more confident future. Send in your questions and join the conversation three times a week. Subscribe to The Dr. John Delony Show wherever you get your podcasts.

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Here's what else is going on:

• Mind meld: Podfund is now managed by TechNexus Venture Collaborative, a venture investment firm. According to Andrew Annacone, “Our strategy for Podfund builds on the original model to include some new elements needed to support the next phase in the evolution of audio and media.”

• Beep boop: Sponsor Bot, a tongue-in-cheek podcast ad announcer, is a finalist for the 2020 Audio Verse Awards. Fable & Folly Network created the character, which listeners of We Fix Space Junk love enough to nominate: “It’s really cute even if it’s just telling you there’s an ad before the show.”

• Full circle: On a recent episode of The Simpsons, “Lisa is exhibiting signs of true crime podcast addiction long before she confesses her need ‘to know who killed everybody.’” Somehow on its 32nd season, the beloved animated series conjures up podcasts like “Murder Most Stabby.”

• Dragon roll: Spotify’s hoarding of data follows the Google playbook, writes Grace Gedye of Washington Monthly. “If the platform is able to crush its competitors — or even just shrink the market to a few big players — podcasters could see a decreasing share of the spoils of each ad sale.”