PodMov Daily: Thursday, December 2

Episode 547: Your Thursday Podthoughts

Honoring Podcasts at the 26th Annual Webby Awards

Podcasts will be front and center like never before at the 26th Annual Webby Awards, dubbed “the Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times. Since 1996, The Webby Awards has honored the world’s best digital creators, media makers, inventors, artists, and innovators on the internet. 

Entering a podcast places it on the same stage as boundary-pushing talent, like past honorees Crooked Media, Spotify, The Washington Post, The Daily, Pivot, California Love, and Lemonada Media. Over 80% of winners reported that their award helped drive new business, and the Awards earned 3.3 billion global media impressions last year.

General series, individual episodes, limited series and specials, and features are all welcome. Check out submission details, plus new categories for this year including Advice & How-To, Creativity & Marketing, Best-Co Hosts, and Health & Wellness. The final entry deadline is Friday, December 17.

Thoughts on the ‘Novelty Value’ of Spotify Wrapped

With Spotify Wrapped, listeners and creators alike have been given personalized tools to promote Spotify. Much of this happens on Twitter, where Overcast developer Marco Arment was asked if his app would consider sharing similar stats. It’s a diplomatic reminder that social hype is an optional part of podcast listening. 

“There’s absolutely demand — just look at my mentions today. Happens every December,” Arment replied to the hopeful commenter. “But I don’t collect enough data to provide such stats, and honestly, I don’t really want to — I don’t have any other use for this data, and I don’t think this novelty value is worth the costs.”

On the other hand, The Allusionist host Helen Zaltzman discovered some serious novelty value through Wrapped. Seven years into the show’s production (and 15 years into podcasting) the linguistics wizard is “thrilled” to discover her core market: “people whose idea of a New Year’s Eve party time is listening to podcasts.”

Timber: Shape the Future of Quality-First Podcast Hosting

Timber is looking for craft-loving, independent podcasters to beta test its new hosting service. Testers will receive a year of free hosting with a quality-first approach. The interface is clean and intuitive, the analytics are beautiful and user-friendly, and import is lightning fast.

The service is nearly two years in the making, and it shows. From episode management to analytics, each feature is designed to serve passionate, experienced podcasters. Your feedback will shape an even better experience for a growing community.

This offer is limited to the first 50 shows that commit. If you’re interested, please email jon@timber.fm or fill out this form. Need another reason to sign up? Someday, when all the best independent shows are hosted on Timber, you'll be able to say you were here first.

Here's what else is going on:

• Idea machine: This Saturday at 1:00 pm ET is “Pitch Your Podcast to the Pros!,” part of the free Charlotte Podcast Festival. Four experts will give instant feedback, including Ian Chillag (Everything Is Alive, NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!). Register first for a chance to deliver your pitch.

• Great outdoors: Next Thursday, December 9 is “How to Make Your Podcast More Than the Sum of Its Parts” from PRX and the Google Podcasts creator program. Four indie creators will share how they’ve built brand engagement through events, social media, merch, and partnerships. Free registration.

• Risk management: Brands entering podcast advertising have “safety and suitability” to consider, writes Lisa Utzschneider in TechCrunch. The Integral Ad Science CEO says that platforms need to determine on “a very granular level” if campaigns may clash with ever-changing podcast content.

• Bonus points: The 2022 winner of NPR’s College Podcast Challenge will be awarded $5,000, and each finalist will receive $500. “Podcasting takes time and effort and we think it should be rewarded,” write Sequoia Carrillo and Steve Drummond. Submissions will be accepted until February 28.