PodMov Daily: Thursday, March 11

Episode 388: Your Thursday Podthoughts

Keeping Track: Updates to Apple Podcasts in iOS 14.5

In addition to the switch from ‘subscribe’ to ‘follow,’ Apple Podcasts will see a few more confirmed changes with the release of iOS 14.5. As first reported by Libsyn’s Rob Walch on The Feed, a large ‘latest episode’ play button appears for shows to which you’re not subscribed. The goal is to offer a “taste test” right off the bat.

Walch advises podcasters to “make sure the first 30 seconds are not just a pre-roll ad, but rather give a feel for the episode, a feel for the show.” Podcast artwork is all about first impressions as well. It’s larger than before, centered, and the app’s background automatically adjusts to match the artwork color scheme.

Yesterday, it appeared that the app would no longer automatically download new episodes of followed shows. A known bug in the current beta was the culprit, according to James Cridland of Podnews. Fear not for your stats: Apple confirms that the issue has been fixed and that automatic downloads are here to stay.

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A ‘Film Festival’ for Independent Fiction Podcasts

“We're giving fiction podcasts the Film Festival treatment,” says New Jersey Web Fest president Neem Basha. Ned Donovan, both an award-winning podcast producer and web series creator, made it happen. He’s since joined the Board of the NJWF to help build the first ‘film’ festival for indie fiction podcasters. 

“During my time making both Fiction Podcasts and Web Series I had found the Venn Diagram of creators in both mediums to be a circle,” Donovan writes. In 2019 he approached Basha about integrating podcasters into the event, and received immediate support. This September in New Jersey, the idea comes to life.

The plan, safety permitting, is a weekend of panels, seminars, networking, and screenings. “We're bringing the magic of film festivals to the podcast space, and the magic of the podcast convention to the web series space,” Donovan says. Submissions from every country and genre will be accepted until April 6.

Dynamic Content: A Powerful New Tool from Buzzsprout

With Buzzsprout, it’s faster than ever to keep your podcast fresh — and your listeners up-to-date. The new Dynamic Content tool lets you easily add and remove short pre-roll (intro) and post-roll (outro) content to your episodes. It's the perfect solution for timely messaging.

Whether you’re promoting a virtual event or giving a special shout-out, Dynamic Content makes it simple to swap, automatically add content to new episodes, or apply it to your existing catalog with a click. Old files are removed and replaced, so there’s no clean-up.

For podcasters, this new tool offers more than flexibility. It benefits your audience in more ways than one: Buzzsprout respects your listeners’ privacy. Unlike most Dynamic Ad Insertion, the Dynamic Content tool includes no tracking or targeting. Ready to make the switch?

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Here's what else is going on:

• Hear hear: Rights to derivative works are worth fighting for, says Alex Goldman of Reply All. “What incentive does a reporter have to make deeply affecting (often award winning!) stories if those stories can be taken away from them and exploited to Spotify’s great financial reward?” 

• Money clip: Podbean will host Finance Podcast Week from March 22-28. Focused on finance podcasts, the livestreamed sessions and panels will feature well-known creators in macroeconomics, investing, and personal finance. $39 admission is free here or with code PODMOV at checkout. 

• The stacks: The New York Times’ live webinar “Writing for Podcasts” is on March 25 at 4:00 pm ET. Though the session is directed toward high school educators, Times podcast producers will be discussing techniques, mentor texts, and resources that active creators may find useful.

• Buy buy: In acquisition news, Entercom bought the self-service ad marketplace Podcorn, valuing the company at $22.5 million. Podchaser has acquired Podrover, which helps creators track, organize, and share reviews, as well as Podcharts, which tracks charts and ranking history.