PodMov Daily: Tuesday, February 2

Episode 363: Testing, One Two-sday

Demystifying Podcast Adtech, One Episode at a Time

In the weekly newsletter Sounds Profitable, Bryan Barletta breaks down the technical details of the podcast advertising space. Now, he’s launched a companion podcast that lets readers listen to the ideas at work. The first episode, a creative lesson in dynamic content, demonstrates its versatility firsthand.

“My goal was simple: instead of just talking about all the cool ideas available in podcast adtech, I wanted to create a playground where I could actually experiment with different solutions,” Barletta explains. Starting with dynamic insertion, “I’m proving [its uses] now and demonstrating how it can be done better.”

Podcast philosopher and strategist Evo Terra, who edits Sounds Profitable, is involved with the new show. From his (very) helpful post: “I love how [Bryan]’s exploiting adtech not just to flood his episodes with ads, but as a way to increase both the relevance and personability of the episodes for his listeners.”

One Year Later, a Podcast Network Built to Survive

On the first birthday of her multimedia podcasting platform, Sheletta Brundidge is living out the words of Madam C.J. Walker: “Don’t sit down and wait for opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” In Entrepreneur, Brundidge reflects on SHElettaMakesMeLaugh.com and its hard-won first year.

“I founded SHElettaMakesMeLaugh as a podcasting platform for Black folks, a place to share our stories and talk about our concerns with listeners hungry to hear voices like their own,” Brundidge says. When we spoke with her in early June, the new company had essentially been in pandemic mode since launch.

“The reason my company is still alive and serving our listeners is because Black women made sacrifices and doubled down on me when times were tough,” Brundidge writes. “And I did the same for them.” With eight podcasts and a bedrock of compassion, the platform continues to serve listeners, no matter what.

Heads up, freelancers. Are your organized? Great at scripting? Love to do sound design? TK Dutes wants to know.

Here's what else is going on:

• Sharp eye: Marketplace producer Jennie Josephson books guests in the true spirit of public media. “Who is an expert in the topic? A lot of smart people. Who can put a complete thought about that topic into a reasonably short and interesting statement? Fewer people than you’d think.”

• All night: “Clubhouse just passed 5.6m registered users and they're growing at ~20k users/hour,” Tweeted developer James Potter late Sunday night. Recent estimates have fallen far short. Vajresh Balaji, tracking since September, anticipated three million users by mid-February.

• Pop icon: To access Spotify through a 17-year-old iPod, Guy Dupont had to “gut everything inside the MP3 player except the iconic click wheel on the front.” The ‘sPot’ was built for under $100 and runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. Dupont’s walkthrough details all the DIY nostalgia.

• High odds: Sharon Mashihi, the creator of the “strange, intimate” podcast Appearances, opens up to Emily Gould of Vulture. Gimlet head Lydia Polgreen has said that the independent, metafictional series “feels like a creative breakthrough for the form.” Contains adult themes.