PodMov Daily: Friday, June 5

Episode 220: Week Download Complete

Small-Scale Opportunity: What Sets Europe's Podcast Market Apart

In Forbes, Bill Rosenblatt describes how “the podcasting market in Europe is shaping up very differently than it is in the United States,” pointing to Podimo as a primary example. The paid-subscription podcast service, “akin to Luminary in the U.S.,” has seen auspicious beginnings unburdened by the American market structure.

Based in Denmark, Podimo may share a general model with Luminary, but “Luminary has spent tens of millions of dollars to offer exclusive podcasts from a few dozen big-name producers and celebrities,” Rosenblatt writes. “Podimo is signing up hundreds of lesser-known podcasters to its service […] and paying them a share of revenue with nothing upfront.”

Without the corporate infrastructure and demand for large-scale podcast advertising, Europe is fertile ground for a more egalitarian system independent of publisher buying power. Rosenblatt details many reasons why Europe isn’t ‘behind’ at all: “The factors that contribute to Podimo’s promising start don’t exist here.”

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Mashable Interviews: Akilah Hughes of What a Day

“Podcasting has a representation problem,” writes Rachel Thompson of Mashable. “Women and people of colour are still sorely underrepresented as hosts, especially when it comes to daily news.” Writer and comedian Akilah Hughes, the co-host of What a Day, joined Mashable’s History Becomes Her podcast to discuss from experience.

Every weekday morning, Hughes and reporter Gideon Resnick deliver 15 minutes of distilled, contextualized headlines. “As a black woman — not to speak for all of us — but I think historically, we have shown up for every group of people,” Hughes said. “And because of that, I think that I read the news differently. And my take on the news is different.”

Thompson writes that in the episode, recorded in February, “Hughes discusses representation in podcasting, her book Obviously: Stories from My Timeline, and how she practices self-care as someone reporting on daily news.” Considering that What a Day is published at 5:00 am in New York, the co-hosts have serious stamina.

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Here's what else is going on:

• That beat: A new partnership between the acclaimed storytelling show Snap Judgment and PRX begins July 1. Host and creator Glynn Washington looks forward to a slate of new programming, “ensuring voices from all walks of life have a place on our airwaves.”

• Reading room: Today at 1:00 pm CT, the American Library Association will host a free webinar to celebrate the start of Audiobook Month. The panel of publishers will spotlight industry data, insights, and the summer's anticipated audiobook projects.

• Analog cabin: Daniel Thorson’s podcast, Emerge, seeks to explore “the next phase of the human experiment.” The New York Times chronicles Thorson’s recent, literal emergence from a 10-week silent meditation and the strangeness of rejoining the present.

• Upward spring: Triton Digital has released its latest podcasting report on Latin America. Measurements spanning from mid-April to mid-May reveal the region’s top 100 shows. 22 newcomers made the list, which accounted for 21.6 million downloads in total.