Podcasters’ Top 3 International Subscription Opportunities

PodMov Daily: Friday, March 18

Episode 611: Week Download Complete

Podcasters' Top 3 International Subscription Opportunities

Podcasters looking to generate subscription revenue outside the U.S. may be wise to target listeners in Indonesia, India, and the United Arab Emirates. Kevin Tran of Variety reports on a global survey from YouGov, which found that listeners in these territories would be most receptive to paying for podcasts.

Responses came from nearly 10,800 adults in 18 countries who said they listened to podcasts. Would they be likely to pay for one in the next 12 months? An impressive 68% of Indonesian listeners said they’d be “very or somewhat” likely. The United States, where paid shows are doing well, came in much lower at 25%.

Internet freedom can be a concern, Tran notes. China, the fourth-ranked market in terms of openness to paid podcasts, “has even less internet freedom than the UAE.” That said, he recommends Apple Podcasts’ subscription system, available in 170 countries. Now’s the time to hop on a translation plan.

more to the story

Inside Spotify's Natural Language Search for Podcasts

A Spotify machine learning engineer has posted details on the platform’s Natural Language Search for podcasts. Until recently, search relied mostly on ‘term matching,’ pulling results that appear exactly in the content’s metadata, like a title. However, “Users don’t always type the exact words for what they want to listen to.”

Natural Language Search doesn’t need exact word matches to surface relevant podcasts, explains Alexandre Tamborrino. It works with synonyms, paraphrases, and variations. If a user types in ‘electric cars climate impact,’ they’ll be shown episodes like “Are Electric Cars Better for the Environment?” which would have been left out before.

Here's what else is going on:

Cheers, pioneers: Serial has won The Podcast Academy’s Governors Award. Co-creators Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder will accept the honor at the second annual Ambies on March 22 in LA. The first Governors Award recipients were Marc Maron and Brendan McDonald of the beloved WTF.

Love songs: Monday at 7:00 pm ET is “How to Use Editing to Zhuzh Up Your Story” from Radio Boot Camp. Award-winning producer A.C. Valdez (The Atlantic) will break down non-traditional storytelling structure to help podcasters step outside the narrative nonfiction recipe. $100 registration.

Glass castle: This American Life will accept applications for its next production fellowship until April 1. During the paid six-month program, experienced fellows participate in all aspects of making the show. Benefits include health insurance and an NYC relocation reimbursement (if applicable).

Study session: Until Thursday, March 31, social science podcasters can apply for grants of between $5,000 and $50,000 from The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. They’re seeking story proposals related to “intellectual humility,” or the ability to recognize when we’re wrong.

Brennan Tapp

Brennan is the Managing Editor of Podcast Movement. As the PodMov Daily newsletter czar, she is probably reading or writing at this very moment. Her career has spanned scientific research, academia, and fashion, with clients including The Neiman Marcus Group, Belo + Company, Baylor Scott & White, and Thomson Reuters. She’s glad to have found her home in podcasting and highly recommends "The Memory Palace," which is best listened to on a night drive. She lives in Dallas with her cats, Sushi and Simon.