More than half of the U.S. population over age 12 has now listened to a podcast, according to Edison Research. The medium has fundamentally altered the landscape for audio content, liberating and empowering both listeners and creators.

In the wake of a seismic deal in the podcast industry that will see top host Joe Rogan bring his show exclusively to Spotify for a reported $100 million, Apple — which will lose distribution of Rogan’s show come 2021 — is revamping its own podcast approach.

According to Bloomberg, Apple — an early distribution platform for podcasts that is also the largest hub for the medium stateside — is now seeking an executive to lead development of original audio series. The exec would report to Ben Crave, Apple’s head of podcasting.

Blubrry has released its new Private Internal Podcasting service for businesses looking to lock down their podcasts to protect them from public distribution.

The hosting service is offering three levels of security based on three hosting plans, simple (limiting private podcasts to 50 user-seats), standard (additional security and 200 user-seats), and enterprise (500 user-seats, most secure).

Theres good news on the horizon for podcast revenue growth, and presumably for radio organizations that are active in that space.

With expected growth of 14.7% through 2020, the stage has been set for podcast revenues to hit $1.1 billion in 2021, according to the IAB/PwC report.

While it remains to be seen what long-term impact the pandemic has on podcast revenues, IAB/PwC still predicts a 15% jump in 2020. This comes after podcast ad revenues soared 48% between 2018 and 2019, a stunning growth rate.

After Spotifys recent string of podcasting deals, it is kind of weird to see a podcast acquisition where Spotify is not involved. E.W. Scripps has been shopping around its Stitcher podcast platform for a couple of weeks, and it looks like it found a buyer in SiriusXM.

Sirius will pay around $300 million for the unit. That is a hefty return for Scripps. It originally bought Stitcher in 2016 for $4.5 million, combining it with its $50 million Midroll Media acquisition from the year before.

Still, $300 million is a good deal for the premium podcast platform, a specialized podcast advertising network doing sales for over 300 podcasts, and the owner of two podcast content networks, Earwolf and Stitcher Podcasts.

That compares to Spotifys acquisition of The Ringer earlier this year, for which it reportedly paid between $141 million to $196 million.

Determine your topic, audience and format

Everyone has something they could talk about for hours on end. When deciding which of these things should be the focus of a podcast, you need to consider topics that you will never get tired of talking about. Brainstorm 52 show topic ideas, one for each week of the year. This will let you know if you have enough ideas to have a regular podcast of your own, or if you would be better off finding guesting opportunities on existing programs. Of course, a show does not have to be weekly, but it is a starting point.

Defining your audience will help to hone the direction of the show, as well. A show geared toward young mothers will sound much different than a podcast for mid-career professionals. Your audience is rarely everyone. Figure out who they are and talk specifically to them, their needs and interests. As you plan your show, consider what type of format will be most effective, as well. Will you host guests, have a co-host or fly solo?

Choose memorable, straightforward branding

When coming up with a title for your podcast, it’s best not to be too clever or obscure. Make it easy to remember and spell and also give some idea of what the show is about. Search potential names in Google and on iTunes to be sure your idea is not already an established podcast. You will also want to claim a custom URL and related social media handles. Again, searching for these items will indicate if the title is already taken.

Cover art for your podcast needs to be an exact square, sized at least 1,400 pixels by 1,400 pixels and 3,000 pixels by 3,000 pixels at the most. Remember that people will be viewing it on a small screen, so use large text for your show name and relevant artwork.

Assemble a digital audio workstation

It is estimated that 32% of Americans listen to podcasts on a monthly basis. And the podcast industry is expected to be worth around $1 billion by the end of next year. Being such a booming industry, it makes sense why so many people are thinking about starting their own podcasts.

Luckily, we are here to help you. So continue reading and we’ll walk you through everything you need to know!

1. USB Audio Interface and Recording Bundle
2. Adjustable Microphone Arm Stand
3. Podcast Recording Software
4. Podcast Editing Software

Spotify on Wednesday said its monthly active user count reached 299 million in the most recent quarter ending June 30. That is an increase of 29 percent year-over-year and brings the streaming giant just shy of that 300 million MAU milestone.

Taking a closer look, we see that Spotify finished the second quarter with 138 million premium (paying) subscribers, up 27 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. The company said its Family Plan continues to be a big driver of performance and further plugged the expansion of its new Premium Duo subscription offering for couples.

Americans are listening to more business and finance podcasts, with downloads and streams up 78% week-over-week since the COVID-19 pandemic began, iHeartMedia reports.

In fact, as of April 2020, there are more than 30 million podcast episodes on the internet with numbers climbing daily. According to the Financial Times, podcasts have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the media market.

This surging level of interest and engagement in finance podcasts is a golden opportunity for financial advisors, especially those whose seminar and event marketing routines have been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this transition into a new way of doing business, it is important for financial advisors to include creativity and innovation into their post-pandemic marketing and communication plans.

Podcast listenership in the US has been soaring in recent years and advertising dollars are following. Podcast ad spending is a bright spot amid lackluster digital radio spending. According to eMarketers latest forecast, US podcast ad spending will surpass 20% of digital radio ad spending this year and cross the $1 billion mark next year.

By the end of 2020, podcast ad spending in the US will reach $782.0 million, up 10.4% from last year, giving it a 21.0% share of the US digital radio ad market. And in 2021, spending will jump nearly 45% to $1.13 billion.    

COVID-19 has threatened the key communication channels corporations need to survive. Workers are displaced. National meetings have been cancelled. Town halls and offsites are viable only through online platforms. In the face of the storm, companies are turning to new channels to keep the lines of communication open. For many organizations, podcasting is a timely and effective way to unite a fractured workforce.

Even before COVID shuttered offices, and work-from-home directives became commonplace, large organizations were discovering podcasting was a worthwhile addition to their communication mix. According to Forbes, the majority of Fortune 500 companies in the US already use podcasting as part of their internal communications. Ideal for a geographically-distanced and mobile audience, podcasting seems purpose built for the modern lifestyle, bringing content where the audience is. Add to the mix a pandemic that has scattered workers across the country, and podcasting makes more sense than ever.

Define your abandonment benchmark

On a recent episode of The Upgrade called How to Be a Better Reader, one of the questions we discussed was when to abandon a book. This question can apply more broadly to any entertainment that takes a commitment longer than two hours—including most podcast runs. So ask yourself: How many episodes should I listen before I commit to a series? How long am I willing to struggle before I abandon?

I recommend giving a series no more than three episodes to hook you into its hosts, topics and format. If you are sold, great, hit that subscribe button. But if not, don’t subscribe at all, or unsubscribe immediately. You can always find the podcast later if you want to check their feed, but chances are you won’t, because they were not a good fit for you anyway.

And now, with your new, clean podcast feed, the goal is to keep it that way. Keep the podcasts you love and allow yourself the freedom to unsubscribe from ones you don’t. Your listening will feel a little more like a pleasure again, and less like a chore.

Today, podcasting has exponential reach. In the US, for example, The latest Niesen release notes that the number of heavy podcast listeners—those listening every day— has grown by more than 3.6 million. The total podcast audience is growing at a compound average growth rate of 20%. (source: Nielsen)

Similarly, in the United Kingdom, at the end of 2019 around 7.1 million people were listening to podcasts each week. That’s one in eight people and is an increase of 24% over the past year – and more than double over the past five years. Ofcom research also found that half of listeners have joined the podcast wave in the last two years. (source: Ofcom)

Imagine the perfect custom talk radio station tailored exactly to your unique likes, with a never-ending flow of great content.

That is exactly what Apple could soon be delivering with its recent podcasting acquisition, Scout FM. Because that’s precisely what Apple has achieved already — in the music sense — with its new personalized music stations in iOS 14.

Digital radio spending has declined during the pandemic, which is in line with reduced advertiser demand. We do, however, expect growth to rebound by 26.8% next year.

But podcast advertising remains a bright spot of growth within digital radio. Spending on all types of podcast ads, including host-read sponsorships, will rise by 10.4% this year to more than $780 million. Next year, podcast ad spending will surpass $1 billion in the US for the first time as growth rebounds to 44.9%. That will boost podcast advertising to almost one-quarter of the digital radio ad market.

The creator of the worlds first operating system for artificial intelligence, aiWARE, and provider of digital content licensing services on behalf of the world’s premier sports entities, news organizations and user-generated content networks has introduced a comprehensive audio content monetization and licensing services for audio creators, including podcasters, broadcasters and audio advertisers.

Introducting Veritones premium audio licensing library and services, designed to enable podcasters, broadcasters and other audio creators to easily license clips of premium audio content from major media brands for their programs, as well as monetize their own content.

As per the research report titled Global Podcasting Market Size study, by Genre, by Format (Interviews, Panels, Solo, Conversational) and Regional Forecasts 2020-2027 available with Market Study Report LLC, global podcasting market is expected to witness unprecedented growth during 2020-2027.

According to the business intelligence report, emphasis among podcast production studios on the distribution and production of their content on audio platforms such as Spotify, coupled with emergence of high bandwidth, and personal digital assistants are augmenting the growth of global podcasting market size.

Increasing penetration of internet as well as smartphones, inclination towards audio and music content, growing acceptance of audio broadcasting content, and escalating demand for podcasts are stimulating the global podcasting market outlook. Citing an instance, the IDC (International Data Corporation) recorded shipment of around 369.8 million units of smartphones by vendors in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Leading players that define global podcasting industry trends are TuneIn Inc., Stitcher Radio, Spotify AB, SoundCloud, Entercom Communications Corporation, Pandora Media LLC, Megaphone LLC, iHeartMedia Inc., and Apple Inc.

On the contrary, storage space issues and high costs associated with podcasting are expected to impede the industry expansion throughout the analysis timeframe.

Spotifys $100 million-plus Anchor acquisition is seemingly paying off. In data released today as part of its annual Wrapped look-back on the year, the company says Anchor, which makes podcast creation software, powered 80 percent of new podcasts on Spotify this year, meaning the software contributed more than 1 million shows to Spotify’s catalog in 2020 alone. Overall, Anchor powers 70 percent of Spotifys total podcast catalog, or around 1.3 million out of over 1.9 million shows.

Podcasting and audiobooks have become increasingly popular in recent years – especially for entrepreneurs and in the business community. For many, these audio formats are a great way to educate people about your product, grow brand loyalty, and help bring in additional revenue for your company. But, a podcast or audiobook is only as good as its technical quality and distribution, both of which can be difficult to master.

Soundwise is an all-in-one platform that helps you create and sell audio products like audiobooks, podcasts, audio courses, and albums directly to your customers.

Spotifys $100 million-plus Anchor acquisition is seemingly paying off. In data released today as part of its annual Wrapped look-back on the year, the company says Anchor, which makes podcast creation software, powered 80 percent of new podcasts on Spotify this year, meaning the software contributed more than 1 million shows to Spotifys catalog in 2020 alone. Overall, Anchor powers 70 percent of Spotifys total podcast catalog, or around 1.3 million out of over 1.9 million shows.

Anchor-hosted shows account for more consumption of third-party podcast content on Spotify than any other podcast hosting or distribution provider
Spotify says Anchor’s top five markets in 2020, by total number of shows, were the US, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Great Britain. In Indonesia, Spotify signed nine shows to become exclusives. Meanwhile, the fastest-growing markets, looking at the average monthly increase in new shows, are India, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Indonesia. India accounts for nearly 40,000 Anchor-made shows and has been growing at an average of 22 percent month-over-month increase in 2020.

The role of podcasts in the information ecosystem has gone largely unexamined. While alt-right figures have been increasingly chased off Facebook and Twitter, podcasting is shaping up as the next arena where the fight over questionable or dangerous content will play out. However, the problem of how to moderate audio content is proving thorny.

As podcasting grows in stature and revenue, its disinformation problem can’t be ignored.

Every year at this time, Edison Research and Triton Digital publish the results of a study called The Infinite Dial that tracks the use of digital audio and related media in the United States. It’s a study that dates back over 20 years—it got its name from the digital radio that was introduced at that time—and is well-respected for the rigor and consistency of its methodology. This year’s study shows how the pandemic has changed digital audio consumption habits. It also shows a few surprises in the streaming music sweepstakes.

The 2021 Infinite Dial results show that the use of online audio—including digital radio, AM/FM internet streams, podcasts, and music services—has plateaued at 68% of Americans ages 12 and up. But there are clear winners and losers, and they don’t merely reflect pandemic-related factors such as people staying at home.

One big winner is podcasting. Growth in podcast listenership shows no signs of tapering off, as monthly listenership continues its linear growth path to 41% penetration, up from 37% in 2020. Growth is particularly high in the 12-34 age bracket, more than half of whom now listen to podcasts regularly (while the 35-54 bracket levels off around 40%). Podcast listenership is also getting more racially diverse, with nonwhite listeners now at 43%, up from 37% last year.

Any summation of the past year begins and ends with COVID, even if we’re just talking about podcasts. Given everything that’s happened, how can it not?

We had just a little over two months of expected life in 2020 before counties across the United States started implementing initial lockdown measures, drastically altering the shape of everyday activity. Movement was scaled down, businesses were shuttered, and a great cloud of uncertainty descended upon the populace as this massive and utterly terrifying thing unfolded all around us.

From PDAs to cell phones to tablets, there's no denying the ever-increasing presence of technology in our world. It’s so pervasive that it's pretty much standard practice for employees to receive company-issued computers and phones on their first day.  But what about the growing tablet market?

Compared to smart phones, tablets have infiltrated the population at a much quicker rate. A recent study found that in just under two years, more than 40 million Americans became owners of some form of tablet—be it an iPad, Kindle, etc. With more and more people acquiring the new gadgets, it's only natural that companies jump on board as well—and many have. From law firms to elementary schools, more employers are recognizing the device's pull and are therefore changing policies and procedures to incorporate increased use of the technology. So what does this mean for the workplace?

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Terminal emulation for Wyse, Viewpoint, VT100,VT220 and more

Complete version history for MacWise version 10 terminal emulation for Mac OS X. Current version is 10.7.56

Complete version history for Yellow Button program launcher for Mac OS X. Current version is 2.1.9

MacWise allows a host computer to control the functionality of special keys on the keyboard. The keys can be re-programmed by the host. Information for host programmers.

March 7th, 2005 Effective today, Carnation Software will have a new RSS news address. Our new address is http://www.carnationsoftware.com/carnation/RSS/CarnationSoftwareNews.xml

This release of MacWise fixes a VT100 / VT220 emulation problem. The screen could get scrambled by an incorrect ESC [ ascii code sent from the host. MacWise now absorbs the invalid code. Also fixes a rare Array Bounds Error message.

This release of MacWise adds a telnet option, "Use the tc shell to log in". When this option is enabled, MacWise first logs into the Mac unix tc shell before issuing telnet commands and opening the connection. This option provides more compatibility with host computers that request the terminal type. It could prevent error messages from the host such as "Connection refused by host" or "Invalid terminal type".

MacWise now has SCO ANSI emulation for Macintosh. All emulations now work with SCO ANSI. (Wyse, Viewpoint, VT100, VT220, Televideo). SCO ANSI colors, cursor positioning and a 25-line screen are supported.

MacWise font now works correctly in Tiger ( OS X 10.4 ). The symptom in previous versions of MacWise was that columns did not line up correctly. The other symptom was that the flashing cursor did not completely erase the cursor line when it flashed on and off.

Added option to keep TCP sessions alive for telnet and ssh. Look under the Special Menu for this option. It allows you to enter a time interval to tell the host that you are still there. This keeps the host from disconnecting you after a pre-determined idle time.

Fix - The MacWise Registration window would not open and you could not register the program.

Fix - If you closed the connection to the host, you could not open it again (when you selected Close Connection from the Connection Menu or Option - O from the keyboard). This problem was introduced in 10.7.63

Fix - Dragging the mouse to capture text on the screen would get an array bounds error if you dragged the mouse beyond the top of the MacWise window. More fixes...

We are pleased to announce that the price per user has been lowered to $65 per user for site licenses of 20 to 49 users.

Icon Pallet launches programs and documents, and accesses folders with a single click. Stores over 600 programs, files and folders on one pallet.

Feature - Added "Black Transparent Set" to Window Colors. This is a black background with transparency to let you see behind the MacWise window.

Fix - VT100 and VT220 emulation - graphics mode was not returning back to text mode
Feature - Added MNP5 data compression to the list of available modem init strings.

MacWise can now use Kermit to log into your host using telnet or secure shell. If your host sends files to your Mac using the Kermit file transfer protocol, MacWise will automatically receive the file and place it in the kermit_Transfers folder in your Documents folder.

Dial into your office computer using your Bluetooth phone and MacWise terminal emulation.

MacWise 10.9.20 Features and Leopard Compatibility

Telnet, SSH and Unix shell dialog windows now support copy and paste. You can now paste IP addresses into the host address field. The dialog windows are also movable.

This is the first version of MacWise to use Nib Menus and dialog boxes, making it easier to localize the interface for foreign languages.

This is the new universal version of MacWise and runs natively on Intel and Power PC Macs. Previous versions ran under Rosetta on Intel Macs. This version is much faster.

This is the new universal version of MacWise and runs natively on Intel and Power PC Macs.

If you are planning a MacWise upgrade soon, this week would be a good time to do it before the price increase.