PodMov Daily: Monday, January 13

Episode 119: Your Monday Mix

11 Pulse Award Winners to Share £50K in Podcasting Funding

Last fall, the British Podcast Awards and Wellcome announced the Pulse Award, which would distribute “£50,000 of funding to produce content that drives conversations around public health.”

The 11 winning recipients have been named, reports Radio Today. Grant recipients include the creators of Why Aren’t You A Doctor Yet?, “a podcast where science and tech journalism meets pop culture,” and those of Declassified, designed to “help, support and guide those suffering from mental health and physical illness and injury” in the military community.

British Podcast Awards co-Founder Matt Hill said, “Our independent panel have picked a brilliant selection of shows and we look forward to hearing the results later this year. We’re also getting rea

Creation Foundation: Dan Misener on New-Podcast Planning

Creating a successful new podcast, regardless of subject matter or creative goals, can benefit from a structured plan. Dan Misener of Pacific Content shares his agency’s process for collaborative show creations with brands. Misener’s central questions and strategy form a tight, reliable framework that can be applied with or without a marketing objective.

“Great podcasts serve audiences. Specific audiences. A show for “everybody” is a show for nobody,” Misener explains. “Many of Pacific Content’s clients have already done extensive work to identify and understand who they want to serve.” Independent podcasters have to do this extensive work, also.

It’s essential to balance the elements of creative bravery and commitment, says Misener. “Creative Bravery means making a best-in-class show that is truly audience-first. Commitment means using the right channels, at the right time, to let the right people know about the show.”

Young Middle Easterners Embracing Podcast Production

The Arabic-speaking market is wide open for new shows to take off, writes Megan Giovannetti for AL-Monitor. Giovannetti spoke with Hebah Fisher, CEO and co-founder of the podcast company Kerning Cultures, and her partner Razan Alzayani about the state of the growing Arabic-language audio scene.

“Most mainstream media in the Middle East isn’t created for us, it’s created for our parents,” Fisher told Giovannetti. The goal of Kerning Cultures was to produce stories that “we can actually see ourselves in.”

Ammar Sabban, co-founder of the Saudia Arabia-based production network Mstdfr, or “Speaking Out” in Arabic, explained, “What we like about podcasting is that it allows us to do whatever we want and say almost whatever we want. It’s liberating for us.” After just a few years, Mstdfr now produces 14 shows.

Congratulations to all recipients of Pulse Award grants from the British Podcast Awards and Wellcome. We highly recommend checking out #pulseaward for more information and celebration.

Cheers,

Team PM

Here's what else is going on:

• TMI: Although new to the industry, Spotify is “setting about disrupting it completely,” comments UK tech journalist Chris Smith. The company will collect and share specific, anonymized user data to insert targeted ads in real time.

• Boss talk: In a “candid conversation,” Charlamagne Tha God, co-host of syndicated radio show “The Breakfast Club,” told iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman about why podcasting is “catching fire” and how it’s “helping to fix one of AM/FM’s shortcomings.”

• Access denied: Inside Radio reports that a US federal appeals court upheld a ruling that “CBS didn’t need to pay $1.3 million [to Personal Audio] for allegedly violating a patent tied to podcasts.” The invalidated patent was for an audio organization system.

• Clip art: Quibi, a billion-dollar, Disney-backed startup offering “short form video [media] designed for viewing in short bursts on mobile devices,” has employed “professional storytellers” to ensure a quality viewing experience.