PodMov Daily: Tuesday, February 23

Episode 376: Testing, One Two-sday

Interactive Podcasting Tools and (Much) More from Spotify

Spotify has announced a slew of tools to help podcasters create interactive shows, reports Sara Fischer of Axios. At yesterday’s Stream On event, the company said that Anchor will be adding engagement features like polls and Q&As, as well as “partnering with WordPress to turn written content directly into podcasts.”

The introduction of Spotify Audience Network kept monetization at the forefront. Now in development, the new ad marketplace will allow brands to advertise on podcasts both on- and off-platform. On the creator side, Anchor will start testing Patreon-style paid subscriptions for fans to directly support podcasters.

Machine learning-powered discovery is also in the works, which will “craft podcast recommendation lists based on a listener’s taste in music.” In other news, Spotify is improving its (barely functional) podcast search capability just in time: International expansion will bring the platform to over 1 billion more people.

Adtech, Explained: Podcast Attribution and Privacy

How does podcast attribution work, and how does it tie into listener privacy? “Since podcasting doesn’t have the ability for a listener to click, there’s necessity in using the listeners data to determine campaign effectiveness,” explains Bryan Barletta. In Sounds Profitable, he translates another slice of adtech.

“The collection, augmentation, and sharing of data is what has caught the attention of privacy experts hovering around this space,” Barletta points out. “Their issue doesn’t stem from the serving [or evaluation] of ads, but rather how the listeners’ data was processed and who was allowed access to it.”

Augmentation is one method used to pinpoint the efficacy of an ad. Using IP address alone, a device graph can dig (deep) into the personal data of households. Is that level of detail really necessary? Barletta says that with enough data, not all of it, smart business decisions and privacy regulations can coexist.

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Here's what else is going on:

• Half pipe: A Clubhouse user was able to siphon off audio feeds and make them accessible from a third-party website, reports Jon Porter of The Verge. The person has been kicked off, but that’s two security incidents in two weeks. Be mindful of personal information, room surfers.

• Well played: With the open letter Podcasters Declare, an Australian podcast network is urging Apple to add a Climate category. When it added True Crime, other apps followed. Apple owes planetary crisis the same recognition, the petition argues. “The real true crime is climate silence.”

• Gain > pain: What does it mean to set recording levels with proper gain staging? For The Podcast Host, audio engineer Sarah Buchynski breaks down basic terms and common roadblocks. She’s used one tried-and-true staging technique to instruct hundreds of audiobook narrators.

• Red crayon: My Favorite Murder, one of the biggest hits in true crime, is turning five. Hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark reflect on honoring victims’ experiences, prioritizing mental health, and their legendary fan base. (‘Murderinos’ even have their own “off-color” coloring book.)