PodMov Daily: Thursday, February 11

Episode 370: Your Thursday Podthoughts

On Schedule, Facebook Builds a Clubhouse Copy

Facebook is building an audio chat product similar to Clubhouse, reports Mike Isaac of The New York Times. Clubhouse, an invite-only social audio platform, claims two million weekly users about 10 months after launch. As Isaac notes, “Facebook is [known] in Silicon Valley for being willing to clone its competitors.”

Consistent with Facebook’s typical timeline, the project is “earliest stages of development.” In 2016, Instagram copied ‘Stories’ from Snapchat. Last year was busy too: When the Zoom boom hit, “Facebook quickly created Rooms, a group video chat service.” Instagram ‘Reels’ came next, heavily inspired by the summer of TikTok.

Just last Friday, Mark Zuckerberg made a surprise appearance on Clubhouse to discuss augmented and virtual reality. Ashley Carman of The Verge weighs in: “His presence on the app was shocking, given it’s a new social network, so the fact that Facebook might now be cloning Clubhouse is no surprise.”

Podz Takes on Discovery with Personalized Clips

Podz is the latest startup trying to solve the problem of podcast discovery, reports Anthony Ha of TechCrunch. Podz CEO Doug Imbruce thinks that audio isn’t yet a part of everyday lives “because the experience of discovering and consuming podcasts is ancient. It literally feels like browsing the web in 1997.”

On the app, users browse ‘the first audio newsfeed’ of 60-second podcast clips. Imbruce says that “the beating heart of the Podz platform” is a machine learning model that automatically highlights podcasts’ best moments. Each listener’s personalized feed offers friction-free exposure to a wide range of shows.

Looking ahead, the CEO is confident in the app’s growth: “We are really hopeful that we can both increase [the] amount of audio being created by 10x and increase the monetization of audio by 100x.” He’s not the only one. Investors include Katie Couric and (newly minted podcast powerhouse) Paris Hilton.

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?

Here’s what else is going on:

• Body count: Listens and downloads both represent the same true story, says Edison Research SVP Tom Webster. The top 50 most listened-to U.S. podcasts of 2020 list is “measuring humans, not bits.” Downloads still matter, as does Spotify for Podcasters’ fresh tagline: ‘Stream On.’

• Owning it: Stephanie Fuccio explores “Just Busters” and other discussion groups for women and femxle podcast editors. This particular group’s name is meant to encourage members to “stop using the word ‘just’ to talk about their editing work.” (It just tends to downplay talent.)

• Welcome in: On February 25, Acast will host Aclass: Queer Voices, a free virtual workshop for new and aspiring podcasters in the LGBTQ+ community. Comedian Suzi Ruffell (Out With Suzi Ruffell) and BBC presenter Shivani Dave (The Log Books) are special guests. RSVP required.

• No drama: Wesleyne Greer outlines four more sources for royalty-free podcast music and sound effects. Part 2 includes Machinimasound, which was “started to assist creators who were faced with threats and violations of content removal if they didn’t comply with usage rights.” Spicy.