PodMov Daily: Wednesday, August 18

Episode 486: Your Midweek Update

What Would Losing IP Addresses Mean for Podcasting?

At the core of podcast technology is the IP address, writes Bryan Barletta in Sounds Profitable. “Without it, only the podcast apps can tell you any valuable metrics about your podcast.” A new Apple feature, Private Relay, will hide IP addresses for user activity within Safari. Its eventual scope will likely be much larger.

Barletta expects the feature to cover iOS devices broadly in the future, which would make individual podcast downloads much harder to identify — for creators and publishers. “Without IP addresses, we don’t just lose the ability to target our listeners,” he points out. “We lose the ability to know how many we have.” 

Of course Apple, Spotify, Google, and Amazon will be the winners in all of this: For several reasons, the only people able to target advertising would be the owners of those major apps. Barletta’s explanation will help everyone, including those who aren’t involved in capital-P Podcasting, see the bigger picture.

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“Visual Podcasts” Get Creative with Monetization

There’s no hard definition for a “visual podcast,” which makes presentation a bit of an experiment. Marc Canter went with mixed-media monetization for The First 50 Gigs, launched on Patreon. The Guns N’ Roses documentary series can include audio, video, and photos — depending on your membership tier.

It doesn’t take an Axl Rose fan to appreciate the slick, themed setup. For $5 per month, “General Admission” patrons have access to audio episodes and multilingual transcripts. “Partial View” and “Front Row” patrons receive a mix of video episodes, photo galleries, bonus material, and even collectible merch. 

“There are a few features we're still building, such as transcriptions, private RSS feeds, and foreign language captions,” Canter says. He plans to add new offerings once the project reaches 500 and 1,500 patrons. As podcasting, video, and live interaction continue to blend, ‘storefront’ design is interesting to watch.

Descript: Studio-Quality Podcasts, As Easy As Editing A Doc

Descript makes editing a podcast as easy as editing a doc. It gives you all the power of a professional-grade studio — no training or production skills required. It’s fast, powerful, and used by The New York Times, NPR, BBC News, and thousands of podcasters.

Transcription is instant, and editing your audio is as simple as tapping the backspace key. Remove ‘uhhhs’ and ‘ummms’ with a click, instantly eliminate background noise, and collaborate with your team in real time. You can even add spoken words to your audio or video, without re-recording, using the Overdub voice-cloning tool.

The bottom line: Descript frees you from the technical grind so you can focus on telling great stories. See for yourself: For a limited time, get a free month of Descript Pro with exclusive code PODMOV21. 

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Here's what else is going on:

• Triple scoop: How do podcasting, video, and blogging realistically work together? For Colin Gray, founder and CEO of The Podcast Host, the answer is Content Stacking. His article series is about “squeezing the most juice possible” from ideas through careful planning, production, and publishing.

• Bonus round: NPR has launched its podcast subscription platform for selections including Code Switch, Fresh Air, and How I Built This. “Sponsor-free” Plus shows (e.g., Code Switch+) are $2.99 per month à la carte through most major listening apps, bringing offerings up to speed with Spotify.

• Trick shot: According to Rob Rosenthal, Heavyweight host Jonathan Goldstein is among “the best of the best writers” in audio storytelling. Goldstein discusses his process, including a signature maneuver he learned at This American Life — jokingly dubbed ‘The Goldstein’ by other producers.

• Copy that: In positive synthetic-speech news, actor Val Kilmer (Batman Forever, Top Gun) recently had his voice “masterfully restored” with AI after damage from throat cancer treatment. “The chance to narrate my story, in a voice that feels authentic and familiar, is an incredibly special gift.”