371 - Major YouTube Upgrades, TikTok Uncertainty, & iOS 26 Unveiled

0:05 Good morning, podcasting Morning Chat. Today is Wednesday, September 17th, 2025, and today we're breaking down big news for creators like YouTube's major upgrades, a podcast summarizing app that's raising eyebrows, and why Tik Tok's US future may not look anything like it's past. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're listening live on YouTube or via podcast, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.

1:21 Good morning again, podcasting, Morning Chat. Thank you so much for being here. I am your host Mark Ronic and on stage with me currently we have my Co hosts Dr. Faye, Jonathan Howard and producer Ashley Feller. Sid Meadows just texted me. He's on the phone at the moment and will be joining us momentarily. It's funny how Sid's day man. When he wakes up, his day starts, he gets on business calls. He's rockin and rollin. I admire the hustle in Sid and thank you for those of you who have already joined us live here on Clubhouse. Glad that you're here. And yes, today we are going to jump into all the headlines around the world of podcasting.

2:09 A quick although I know we'll share more details, but I have to do it. Countdown continues. 9 days left until Empowered Podcasting in Charlotte, NC. The weekend, which this is, I haven't talked about enough. This is the weekend of international podcast day, international podcast day, the 29th. So we're just technically missing the official day and we have the whole weekend to observe, celebrate whatever you want is call it with this quote UN quote holiday. We will be celebrating podcasting all weekend long in Charlotte and I noticed we've had some ticket sales this week, which is exciting to see that people are still opening up their wallets. Although not a not a deep dive into your wallets, I think this is a pretty affordable event and it's cool to see that people are still making it happen.

3:04 So more on that in just a moment. I see Alex Baelish and Sid Meadows has joined us as well. By the way, my intro, I talk about this every so often. There's this term called hitting the posts, and that's just when there's this quick change in the music. Maybe there's a big drum beat or a chord change, something like that, where you try to finish your sentence before that big moment in the song, right? And there are around 3, I believe, in our intro music. And I'm usually pretty good about hitting those posts. Today it was a train wreck. I could not keep up with it. And I just like to call it out 'cause it's a fun game I like to play.

3:49 All right, I say we start digging in to the headlines. First. What I like to do is give you some podcast data. So as of well, first today according to Podcast Business Journal. Oh and I just missed, I realized I didn't write down the official number. I do know a hundred 181,000 plus podcast episodes were published, or I should say podcasts published at least one new episode, which if that number is correct, let's say 180,000 and change that would mean it's down from the previous week by over 61%.

4:36 Again, this comes from Podcast Business Journal where it comes every single week. So we'll keep an eye on this to see if it's a fluke, if maybe it's an error, or if in fact we have a lot of podcast slackers over the past week. Everybody quit. I think everyone must have quit. It's. Been a hell of a week. That is true. There has been a lot to digest over the past week. And yeah, that may have shelved some podcasts temporarily for whatever reasons they choose that how they deal with this, all these different situations going on. And Speaking of which, as I like to do, I like to share the number one podcasts on Apple.

5:21 And then we go to Dr. to share her top five on Spotify because Spotify, generally speaking, has the same person, the same podcast in the number one slot. Where I'm going with this is number one on Apple to DRS point is the car Charlie Kirk show. Clearly people are interested. Not that it wasn't a popular podcast before, because it was, but it obviously I think it's gotten a bump due to the events that happened last week. It's interesting to know how much he had banked, you know, how much, how many episodes he had in the vault and if they're going to play them. Or maybe he was really, you know, top of the news kind of thing and just did it very, very recent. Do you know what I'm saying?

6:11 Maybe. He's been around for a while. He's been around. For a while, I know he's been, yeah, I know he's been around, but I think he talks a lot about events in the news and so that's why maybe he didn't have as many in the vault. I think a lot of his content though, although it is event based, a lot of it's, I would say Evergreen in the sense of the topics that he's talking about. They've been debating for years. So it's going to be interesting to see how it goes. But I don't think he's going to go. I don't think he's, I think he's sticking around for a while in terms of, you know, the list. You know, yeah, at least for now. We're obviously it's he is a hot topic. We're going to see a lot more activity for a little while, at least on his show.

7:01 We'll see what happens moving forward. And with that, also a little side note, Rogan slot slid down to the number four slot on Apple Podcasts. Let's hear the top five overall on Spotify. Dr. Well, shoot. OK, so while I do this, can you very quickly, Mark, look at the number two spot to see who the guest was? Because I don't know why she's number 2. So if maybe it'll tell us if you look up who the guest is. So I will start with #5 #5 is crime, conspiracy, cults and murder #4 is the daily.

7:42 It's been up there for quite a while #3 another another one the past weekend with Theo Von. Number 2 is good hang with Amy Poehler and #1 is the Joey Rogan experience. And good hang, by the way, Good hang. Let's see the past two episodes. September 9th was Selena Gomez and most recently this past week, yesterday was Olivia Coleman. So not who is who is, you know, a big actress. Olivia Cole, Yeah. But I don't know. Olivia Coleman is AUK actress very, very big. That's still a mystery that that's to why. And it's a really good show.

8:27 It's A and it's very popular. So it could just be that it it's making its way into the into the top five again, which these popular shows often do, So go ahead. OK, and so the random chart this week is marketing #5 is the Gold Digger podcast, top business and marketing podcast for creatives, entrepreneurs and women in business #4 it's the Gary Vee audio experience, which makes sense. He would totally be in, you know, somewhere in the top range of marketing #3 is the Russell Bronson show #2 is right about now with Ryan Afford and #1. We have to wait 'cause I was late on the trigger. OK is Pitch Me dive into the raw, unfiltered world of high stakes pitching with Pitch Me Podcast, and that's where it kind of cuts off.

9:24 I don't know who the host is. Yeah. That's interesting though. That's an interesting concept. I like that, Yeah. I wonder. Like it's like a Shark Tank almost. Yeah, I would like to hear more from that. And Gary Vee I know is also in the news and oh man, it just escaped me. He invested in a social media company recently. Does anyone remember? It's, it's one of those, it's not link tree, but it's one of those types of companies and I can't remember. I'm going to look it up if I can. Isn't it? Oh I forget but Selena Gomez was on for her new HBO Max show Selena Plus Chef, so maybe?

10:06 That was the big draw. She was promoting that, OK. Yeah. Interesting because you know she's also in Murderers Only Murdered building. Yes, yes, that's right. And a I'll just say it. I have a little crush on her even though she's too young and I'm too old but she is just such a she's so cute going. To a place with that *** Yeah, I had to figure out how to actually say that. Once it started coming out of my mouth, I couldn't couldn't dial it back. She's adorable. Anyway, I will find. Why can't I remember that name? Maybe Jonathan, you can help me look for it, too. As far as the company Gary Vee just recently invested in, gosh, it's and it's such a known name, and I know it's just escaped me. All right, let's keep going with some events. Did you see the message I sent?

10:59 So before you get to the very last one in the events, I have an event to announce. You got it, You got it. Sure. First, a reminder, or really maybe to let some of you know, the 30th Annual Webby Awards are now open. So if you want to throw your podcast into the ring and you can do so, just look for the Webby Awards, just Google it. You'll find it there and we'll put a link in the show notes big those are that's a big awards ceremony. So I encourage you throw your hat in the ring see see what happens even a nomination something that you can boast about. And also by the way, today later today Houston podcasters meet up is going on in surprise surprise in Houston, TX.

11:47 That will be, I'm trying to see where exactly they're doing that and I can't. That doesn't really say, which is interesting. So look that up. You can always find different events at podnews.com, imsorry.net and find out more information there. Also coming up, we've got the Power of collectives exploring the benefits of community and collaboration. That's coming up as a virtual event tomorrow, Thursday, September 18th, that's hosted by the Association of Independence in Radio. Also the Pod Summit YYC 2025. That's an event for podcasters in Calgary, Canada and Dr. You had something else you wanted to share.

12:33 I did Podcasters directory is again having their weekly Thursday virtual networking. It's a meet up and match up event with this week's focus topics are the arts, entertainment, sports, outdoors, travel and tourism. So if you are a podcaster or someone who wants to be on a podcast when it comes to these genres that I just mentioned, this might be for you. Now I have a special discount code for you so you can get in for free and it's just P MC. It's the initials of our show PMC, and I usually try it before I make the announcement, but this was kind of a last second thing. So he had emailed me and said yes, it works, we're doing this for you.

13:23 OK, It's Thursday, September 18th. It's 3:00 PM Central time, which means 4:00 PM Eastern and 1:00 PM Pacific. It goes for about an hour and a. Half awesome. Thank you, Dr. Appreciate that. And get that link to Ashley and I know she'll put it in the show notes. I sure will. Also, yes, I will just quickly since I talked about it at the top of the show, a reminder Empowered Podcasting conference September 26th to the 28th in Charlotte, NC at the Hyatt Centric. We would love to see you there and be a part of this awesome event with lots of podcasters from all experience levels and including, you know, from newbies to Hall of Farmers. We've got every type of podcaster there to connect with, learn from, collaborate with.

14:17 It's going to be a fun event again for the second year in a row. Come join us. Go to empoweredpodcasting.com For more information. OOP hit the wrong button. I always do it. Where did my news music go? Some things never change. Literally been podcasting for now over 20 years and ever since I've had the ability to play different sounds it almost never fails. I will hit the wrong button at least once during a show. OK so first we've talked about it a few times. As we've shared before, iOS 26 just rolled out with some notable updates to Apple Podcasts. They've added a new AI powered feature called enhanced dialogue.

15:10 We've talked about it that helps clean up background noises so voices can come through more clearly. Playback speeds can now be customized per show at faster and slower speeds than previously, which is a really nice touch. I think the Browse tab has been renamed to new and search now includes expanded categories. That 1 is big in my opinion because for example, we're in the how to category which doesn't always show up. Sometimes it shows up under education, it shows up in different places. This will hopefully help your podcast. If you struggle with finding your podcast in a certain genre on Apple, this should help that along. Oh, and there's a new logo as well if you're interested. And as far as iOS 26 and it's updates go, Jonathan, I know you shared another new feature outside of the Apple Podcast app with some of us last night in a private chat. Do you want to share with the rest of us? Now in messages you can sort it.

16:17 It'll sort your messages automatically for you and. Sorted by like how? Great question mark. So I'm going to go right over here and I'm going to click it and I'm going to give you the what it has as options. So you'll have your general messages and then you'll have unknown senders, transactions, promotions, spam and recently deleted. And you can also filter by unread and manage your filtering in different ways. I find that the default filtering works about 98% of the time it is so. Nice, so it just automatically files that stuff? Yep, that's cool. You only get spam in your main main box. You do have to go in to clear your notifications, but it won't even show up in your main box. Oh, that's really interesting.

17:05 I like that. More efficient with the texting. It reminds me a little bit of how Gmail is set up, how they have those default folders too. But I think you still have to for the most part. A lot of the times you still have to actually tell Gmail to filter it to the different categories. I think that's how it's how it's working these days, but I know it does have those default categories as well. That should be really helpful. Thank you, Jonathan, appreciate that. I'll keep it going. Vimeo, Yes, Vimeo. I'm talking about Vimeoed. They just got scooped up by bending spoons in a big deal. If that name doesn't ring a bell, they're the folks who bought out Stream Yard last year and then nearly doubled Stream Yards price, which people weren't too happy about. They had the same playbook with other companies like Evernote and Meet Up, where prices shot up quickly. They also own We Transfer and Bright Cove, so they're clearly building a serious stack in the content and productivity space. We'll see what happens, what that means for creators relying on Vimeo.

18:14 Vimeo really the closest thing to a competitor to YouTube. But really I think there's a big gap between the two just as far as popularity and use. But we'll see what's in store for Vimeo moving forward, if they'll maybe make a play to try to be more competitive. But if they intend on following their same playbook and spiking the pricing of Vimeo, we may not see it as much of A competitor at all. Can they spike the price of Vimeo? It's already ridiculously expensive. Yeah, it's been a minute since I've looked at their pricing and I probably should have here, but yeah, they are definitely pricey. And I'm not even really sure what people are using it for these days where they can't use it except for sharing private videos.

19:06 I don't personally find a good use for it. What? At least you know I could do anything on YouTube that I could on Vimeo and more. Yeah, I just cancelled mine this week because it's up to $300 a year now. Wow, and what were you using it for? Private videos but I just get I'm like that. I don't need it that badly. Yeah, Yeah, I'm with you. Cool. OK. And then in other news, Amazon and SiriusXM have joined forces. They just announced A partnership that put Sirius X Ms. massive digital audio catalog like think Pandora, SoundCloud, SoundCloud, SoundCloud and soon their top ranked podcast network directly into Amazon's DSP. That means advert advertisers can now target Sirius XMSA 160 million monthly digital listeners with the precision of Amazon's trillions of first party data signals. The integration rolls out with select advertisers in Q4 for podcasters.

20:11 This may be proof that podcasting is, I want to say, becoming the a central piece of the digital ad puzzle. I think it's already been becoming that that I think this really solidifies that even more. With Amazon's shopping and streaming insights feeding into Sirius X Ms. podcast inventory, advertisers may soon have more money flowing into podcasts than ever before. If you're running a show, this could mean more ad dollars chasing your downloads. But the flip side is some fear that this move could actually squeeze the independent podcaster out of the ad market. Because if big brands can buy audience based campaigns across Amazon and Sirius, why bother with your small show? Unless Indy podcasters double down on niche authority and direct brand relationship, they risk getting drowned out in this buying frenzy that's happening with all these big companies in the podcasting space.

21:16 So more to come on that unless anybody wants to chime in with any thoughts on that. I'll keep things moving. Dr. Are you still cooking? I don't want to interrupt your cooking, I think. I'm ready for you. Do you want to take this Riverside story? Riverside said. Jump podcasters ask how many platforms? Riverside just dropped a hefty guide on podcast marketing for the rest of 2025, and it's basically a master class on how to stop shouting into the void. They cover SEO, podcasts, video first promotions, leveraging LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, plus using newsletters and community driven growth. It's a checklist driven, no excuses breakdown for how Riverside believes creators can turn their shows from hobby projects to actual discoverable brands. Creators don't have the luxury of if you build it, they will come.

22:15 Audience growth is cutthroat. The platforms are crowded, algorithms are stingy, and attention spans are tanking. This guide matters because it shifts podcasters from post and prey to strategic, measurable, visible plays. Now, some people think that the checklist screams productivity porn. Half of podcasters may not even have the bandwidth to execute even 10% of these tips. Hustling across every platform may not be sustainable. It could be burnout in like a branded Canva template.

22:55 Fewer, sharper moves usually be shattershot. Marketing expert insights prediction. Well, some predict that by 2026, most successful podcasters won't be the ones doing everything. They'll be the ones ruthless enough to cut 80% of tactics and double down on what actually drives conversion. So here's my question. Now that we have AI, how long will it take before SEO will be a thing of the past? Or will it ever be a thing of the past? So we've, we've been every so often we talk about that or at least it kind of pokes its head and, and we have this conversation about SEO and how AI is already affecting it. But we, yeah, we haven't really ever predicted like if we think it's really going to go away altogether and if so when. And I do predict that SEO will not look the same at all in the near future.

23:57 And I'm going to put which could be even giving it a little too much time. I'm going to, my prediction is, is within the next two to three years, SEO as we know it goes away. It might still be a term, it might still be a thing, but I think it's going to look incredibly different within the next two to three years because of AI and the way that we use it. I. Hope to God that you're right, because I'm so tired of trying to study it and stay ahead of it. Yeah, it is just a beast. And it feels a little bit challenging in the sense like it's just always changing. And when you think about Google and how it just front loads searches now with ads, you know, paid positioning, it's just really frustrating.

24:50 Organic SEO feels like a losing battle to me. Yes, I agree. All right, well, I'll keep things moving with probably one of the biggest headlines we've got for you today. YouTube has rolled out its biggest creator upgrades yet. So podcasters, I think it's time to pay attention if you haven't been. They just dropped a bombshell update pack. And this I think was as this update came as recent as yesterday. So first, here are some of the main features that we've noticed. First collaborations, and I think I've shared a little bit about some rumors about that a week or two ago, but now you can invite up to five creators to collaborate on a video.

25:40 It'll appear in everyone who you're collaborating with, everyone's feed, which means it's built in cross promotion. Think Instagrams collaboration feature if you've used that, where basically if I'm posting content, I can tag Dr. Jonathan, Ashley and Sid or I can add them as collaborators. And then that content, should they accept, will appear on their feeds, on their profiles, looking like their content just as much as it looks like mine. I love that feature. I think that's going to be a popular one among Youtubers and podcasters on YouTube. Also ABC testing.

26:21 Now you can, you'll be able to test 3 thumbnails and three titles all at once. Smart podcasters might publish on YouTube first, then export the winning title to audio feeds. That might be a strategy you try. Or of course, the more basic 1 you you test these three, the one that's doing most you double down on that one. I'm going to save this next one for last because I think this is probably one this next one is one that a lot of people are excited about. So first, auto dubbing. YouTube will auto dub content into other languages, lip sync included. And as far as live updates go, their live stream studio got a massive touch up, easier setup, better discoverability, AI powered highlights and new ad formats that won't interrupt streams. The one that I was holding dynamic brand deals so you can we can say goodbye to baked in ads on YouTube soon. Creators can insert and swap out sponsorships just like a lot of us already do with dynamic ads using, I'll use Buzz Sprout as an example, where you can plug and play different ads at different times of the year, no matter what episode you're talking about, and that will be available to you on YouTube really soon.

27:50 I look at this almost as validation for us podcasters. YouTube, of course, competing with Spotify and Apple, but it's folding it. It's folding podcasting's smartest monetization tricks into video dynamic ads. Like I said, cross collabs, dubbing, it all means discoverability and revenue are about to scale in ways audio platforms have maybe had some trouble matching in some areas. Any of these features calling out to any of you right now? Anything you're looking forward to? I'm looking at our stage and I know most of us here are maybe audio first, or at least YouTube isn't the the main strategy.

28:35 OK. I guess nobody's got anything for me. I think I'm particularly excited about the brand deals, the dynamic ads. I think that is going to be something that we're going to see a lot of this quarter coming and next year, especially. And Jeff has joined us on stage. Jeff, I guess throwing, throwing me a line because I was looking for some engagement. Thank you, Jeff, for coming up here. What did you want to add to the conversation? No, I think these YouTube tools are amazing and the one that I think if it works the way I hope it works, that gets me the most excited is that collaboration one.

29:15 Because if it means that you can go to like minded podcasts and they can tag you and then you can put that into its own, what do they call it? A playlist, right? Friends of the podcast, friends of the channel, then it's a good way just to kind of, you know, organize that right in and then be able to then, you know, get exposure for each other. I think it's a great way for independent Youtubers to to help lift each other up. I'm with you, Jeff. You know, the one thing I want to make clear is I don't know how well received. Not that you're suggesting this, but it just made me think I don't know how well received it would be if we just add collaborators without having a conversation with them about it ahead of time.

30:02 No, no, no. I mean, like I've got other pop culture or pop culture adjacent YouTube, you know, podcast friends. So you know, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you don't have to accept that. That's true. That's true. And that's anything you want, Mark, you know what I'm saying? Not without asking, no, but I mean like if you have a group where like your content helps each other's content, it makes sense just to do that because it the discoverability is so weird on YouTube. You know, even I've been on a tear lately, but like even if I look at my numbers, it's still random the way people are finding me.

30:42 Even though my subscription subscriber rate goes up, that number is so low. So I think whatever we can do to support each other is a great thing. Thank you, Jeff. And I think you missed it earlier. I don't think you had come in the room just yet. And we were talking about Gary Vee and his new purchase or an investment into a social media company. And I was going to ask you, you know, did he not get the memo about Stampede Social? It seems like everyone's investing in Stan right now. Thank you. I was, I couldn't remember the name and I knew it well. I just it totally slipped my mind. And by the way, I say that I say that because Jeff owns runs a company called Stampede Social.

31:29 And Jeff, I'll also give you a minute to share a little bit about it too. No thanks. Unexpected, but Stampede Social is a social engagement platform for creators, so it combines a bunch of cool features for Instagram DM automation, post level giveaways. You can track fan content, you can manage the comments that come in for your particular posts. It's a whole suite of engagement tools to help you put in motion and then manage and measure your own campaigns. Awesome. Yes. And I have been a user of Stampede Social and one of the examples of a way you can use it. It's, it's just like if you've seen any creator on say Instagram encourage you to comment a specific word in the comments and then they'll send you something in return for doing that. That's what one thing that Stampede Social does for you among many other things.

32:25 But that's one way I've used it frequently in the past. Thank you, Sir. Appreciate. That I think Jonathan wants to comment on, on this as well. Go ahead, Jonathan. I was having issues with OK, it wasn't letting me do things, but I was going to jump in and say thank you for staying because it was making me crazy. Me too, me too. The other diary of Aceo, that guy, he a few months ago, I think also invested in it. So this must a lot of people seem to be focusing on that particular platform right now in terms of huge investment in big names. All right, Jeff, we've got some work to do. We got to get get your, your thing out there to those big names so they can start investing big money into Stampede Billy.

33:10 Billy will do it. Yeah. Billy Philly will do it and then forget it and the rest is going to be like, you know, Billy Chu Chang. That's right. Thank you, Sir. All right. Thank you, Jeff, thanks for joining us. You're welcome to hang out here and comment anytime. Since we're talking social media, I'm going to break away from the regular headlines and talk about a few different headlines around social media in particular. First threads just bumped its character limit to 10,000 and it's totally free. And that's a direct shot at X where long form posts still sit behind a pay wall. Wait, let's.

33:51 Go around. And people are going viral on threads, yes. It's not just Nick. No. Yes, I have to go get the the old Facebook out and get my, what you want to call it, my Myspace? Yeah, now. Let me tell you, the threads has been interesting because I don't use it enough and what I find is it's a lot easier to create engagement. Do I post stuff that's considered, in my opinion, duds? Yes, I absolutely do. And what I noticed though is when I find the right phrasing, the right question, the right thing that gets people to engage it, I see a strong amount of activity from it.

34:34 And I don't get that on X, I just don't. I, I have always had trouble really building over on X. I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm not saying no one can. I'm just saying I've had that trouble and I have a lot more. It's a lot easier for me to gain, gain some traction, create some engagement over on threads, do. You find that it's it's because it's already Instagram and people are kind of into it more. I think that was the initial thing about it was Instagram, you know, well, first of all, they were just automatically entering you into the Threads environment. But I think that has kind of worn off. I don't think, you know, I think people are now using it more as what it was intended to be, a Twitter slash X replacement. And I think that's how now people are using it. A lot of people have left X and gone over there to use use it the same way.

35:33 Isn't that a huge jump from 10? That from what to 10,000? What was it before? That I don't remember actually, but yes, it is a big jump. It was probably in the neighborhood of 2 to 300 characters or so originally. That's enormous. Yes. It feels like they're kind of competing with Substack maybe. I mean, that's getting into post your newsletter here kind of territory, isn't it? Yeah, I would say so. And I personally think an effective way that people were getting around it prior to this new character limit was they were threading long posts. In other words, they would start, yeah, a super thread, they would start their their main thread. And then if they had more to say, they would just continue in that thread with a new post connected to it and they would just go on and on until they said everything they needed to say.

36:29 And I liked that. It kept me more engaged. And I'm sure we'll still see that, but I found myself reading more when they were threaded like that as opposed to seeing just a 10,000 character post on another platform. Those 10 I unless I'm really looking to sit down and read, I usually will just skip those longer posts on other platforms and Instagram. 500 to 10,000. OK, it was 500. OK, Thank you, Jonathan. Instagram, by the way, just admitted recently that story views were being unfairly throttled if you posted multiple stories in a row.

37:10 It's an algorithm bug that they say is now fixed, and this was technically people were suspecting this, and since they've now admitted it, I guess it's true. People were saying that if they posted a lot on their stories, not just not only would their stories be less seen, they were noticing activity diminishing on their posts and reels. So if they were posting a lot to stories and they posted a reel that day, that reel would tend to kind of flop, or at least not get the same kind of engagement that it normally did. So this means that creators should no longer see those posts and view views tank those posts and real views tank just for activity, actively posting those stories.

38:00 Instead, the platform is doubling down on engagement signals like DMS, watch time, shares, stickers, tap backs while pulling back on your content if stories are being exited. So in other words, you're posting stories, they're getting some views, you're posting reels, those are getting some comments, you're using other features on Instagram. If you're using these features, if you're doing all the things, they will tend to prop you up and get give you more exposure. That's what they're getting at here. So don't be afraid to post stories. If in the past you were worried about it affecting your content, it will no longer do that.

38:45 And in fact, the more you post, I think what it's quietly suggesting is the more you'll get activity on your other content on the same platform. Now I've got a clip I want to play for you. TikTok sounds like it could actually survive, but the US version may look a little different. Here's a clip from CNNA Deal. For TikTok. So let's talk about it. The trump administration says they've reached an agreement with China to keep the social media platform operational in the United States. Remember, even if you've probably been using it the whole time, TikTok has technically been in limbo for more than a year after then President Joe Biden signed legislation mandating the platform be sold to AUS company over national security concerns.

39:31 Now, with this announcement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson spoke for GRID, where he's been meeting with Chinese counterparts to discuss trade and social media platforms. US diplomats say they've come to an agreement that includes concerns over national security. We are very. Focused on TikTok and making sure that. It was a deal that is is fair from the Chinese and completely respects US National Security concerns and and that's the deal we reached. But a big question you might be asking will the algorithm change? That remains to be seen. A formal announcement for President Trump is expected Friday. There you go. So TikTok sounds like will remain, but will it be the same thing? I think a lot of people and it still hasn't really been revealed yet.

40:15 What's going to happen with Tik Tok's powerful algorithm? We can't deny that TikTok seems to have figured out how to make how to make it more engaging than other platforms. And I mean, sometimes what what will go viral for me on TikTok won't do crap over on Instagram. So I'm curious what we think if this. Changes. I've got a question for Jonathan. Go for it. Jonathan, if you were the TikTok God and had the power to change everything, what is it that you would either add to TikTok or take away from TikTok?

40:58 Oh boy, that's a question I have. But next year I would like to add the rest of the audience that will not be on TikTok anymore because it'll only be AUS app. So I would love to have the rest of my audience back. That's my biggest thing that I'm seeing with the change is if it's AUS only app that means only people in the US will be able to access it. Where does the rest of our audience go? Yeah, and I know that a lot of people creators on TikTok, their plan that they talk about and that they started doing when we lost TikTok temporarily the last time they're going to go to what's the name of Byte Dances app that's basically TikTok, but it's China based red dance is that.

41:45 It read something red. Note. Red note No, I don't feel like. That doesn't sound right. Our brains are not working today. And the point is, is that a lot of creators will plan to leave TikTok all together and go to their counterpart app that's I believe China based, which is interesting to hear. And I'm curious, would anybody stay on TikTok if it changes that drastically into Jonathan's point? You're losing a lot of other locations by it becoming just US based. Unless, who knows, maybe other countries would join in on that somehow. Maybe it would be available to other countries as well.

42:27 I'm not sure how that's going to work, Lemon ate Jen. Jen says in the chat. I think that's it, but I because I know that name, but I'm not sure. Go ahead, Dr. So when Jonathan said it's going to be AUS only app, is it going to be AUS only app or is it just going to be an app that's based in the US, just like Facebook is based in the US, but it is international? My understanding is TikTok is not giving up their own their ownership of the app across the world. So it will be AUI mean maybe? Like the US chapter of TikTok, but.

43:09 We're not going to have access to the Chinese TikTok because that's why we're getting out of it and it is red note and lemonade. And I know that there is AUS based TikTok like app out there called Clapper and the notifications on it were driving me nuts because you'd hear every every time someone chimed in and it just made me crazy. Yeah, I used Clapper early on when the first time TikTok was threatening to go away. And it it was cool, it was fine, but I never really latched on to it. Latched on to it. Yeah, Jeff, as a also Tik Toker, I watch a lot of your content actually on TikTok where?

43:57 What are your thoughts on all this? Well, when I thought it was interesting that you compare your TikTok to Instagram, I always compare my tik toks to YouTube shorts because I always find it funny that one will blow up on TikTok and then YouTube will tank or vice versa or whatever. I thought like when the original ban was happening that even cap cut and this other alternative, they were going to shut down too because they would have the same security risks as would they claim TikTok has. Even though all of our data privacy rights have been exposed because of Facebook, not TikTok. But that could be a different episode. My guess they haven't.

44:43 Again, they haven't revealed all the details yet and my guess is is that Cap Cut would probably be part of that deal. Yeah, I think Tik Tok's unfortunate in the last year anyway. It just seems to not be really the same thing that everyone was clamoring over. It seems like it's all it's all ads or the influencers doing ads. It's like I don't find it as fun except for your content. Oh, yes, Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Jeff. Yeah. And Chris Faglio in the chat says Cap Cut did in fact, shut down. He had no access to his projects. But it is since back cap cut when when TikTok came back, it took cap cut a minute to to pop up again.

45:26 But it is back now. I know people are some people are still using it. But Jonathan, I know you don't use it anymore. You're using something else now. I still use it in the background and for templates. So there is Instagram released edits, which is terrible compared to, you know, cap cut, but it'll maybe eventually possibly get there. And I use captions actually is the app that I use for a lot of mine because it has the AI editing built in. So that's what I use for a lot of my stuff. Yeah. And I see you're getting some people agreeing with you in the chat that edits is kind of poor right now. Yeah, it is not like cap cut. And I think that they've said, even when they started rolling it out, that it's that they're wrote doing a slow roll out, which I thoroughly, I, I think it's the right way to go about it, right.

46:15 Just do it slowly. That's what they did with threads. And little by little, now we're seeing thread updates. I prefer that a company does it slowly because I think that will give them longer shelf life in the future. Jeff, did you want to add something else? Oh. I was going to say I've only been using edits a little bit, but I do love it for its teleprompter feature. So I if I have a very specific script that I want a video, I'll use that and then export it and do stuff somewhere else. Yeah, great point. And that actually reminded me, you know, we were talking earlier about the iOS 26 update. Also, the new iPhones have apparently a very powerful front facing camera. So in the past, you know, you've heard me say a lot of times, you know, if you're going to shoot content, use the back camera of your phone because nine times out of 10, most phones, whether it's iPhone or otherwise, that that camera in the back is much better.

47:12 It will still be a better camera in the back versus the front. But they've made a lot of improvements to that front facing cameras to where do you want to use an app that has the teleprompter feature? Go for it like that's that's that's the way to do it now, but you of course have to have the newest phone in order to do that which not everybody's ready to go bite that bullet just yet I haven't decided yet I don't think I'm going that direction just. Yet I was going to ask you if you bought yours yet. I should have mine hopefully next weekend. Jonathan, you are How? Much is it? Yeah. Well, first, Jonathan, you are, I was going to say worse than I am in the sense that I usually am known for getting jumping on that first, that new thing that comes out, especially when it's an iPhone.

47:55 But I'm hesitating this time. But yeah, what's what's the damage, if you don't mind sharing? I mean, we could always go look it up, but. Yes, I mean 17, I think it's, it's the same price as last year plus $50.00. So not bad at all. And the money back is actually $100 more, so it sort of balances out. I thought it was going to be a lot worse. OK, yeah. So I. Had two more payments and then my my phone is paid off so. And then you're going to do it too, Alex. No time to get a new one. No, I'm fine with my flip phone, my Nokia. Your motor, your Motorola flip phone.

48:36 Oh my. GL it's an LG, it's an LG flip phone and it works great and I only have two more payments since 1983. Put your beeper away. Get. Off my lawn layout. Katie or I was going to say the good old Nextel phones. You guys remember those phones where it was they also had, like, the walkie-talkie feature? Yeah, Jeff, you used to have that. Oh my God, yeah. And if you were in my network, that'd be the coolest thing, because then I could just walkie talk to you. With that annoying I'm. Upgrading by the way, finally, are you the iPhone? Because I still I still have an 11. Oh yeah, it's time. It is time, you know, see, now I'm getting jealous that that's what I was afraid of. Once people start talking about getting the new model, then all of a sudden I want the new model and I have that ability. I paid whatever it was a little extra to to have the yearly upgrade.

49:30 But we'll see. I'm looking at the time here and we're really short on time. Dr. Do you want to share any stories or do you think this is a good place to stop? I think I can get this one in. Sorry, sorry. OK, so is the podcasting authority score the savior of analytics or it's just maybe it's just snake oil? Now there is a podcasting platform called guesting A guesting platform called Interview Valet. An interview Valet got got with another platform called Pod Engine and they just launched a new metric called the podcast authority score. They're pitching it as a podcasting world's Google Page Rank, a way to measure not just downloads, but real business impact.

50:18 So instead of relying on like fuzzy audience estimates, fuzzy math, this score crunches hundreds of data points like engagement, marketing potential, and niche influence. The idea give brands smarter tools to pick with, to pick which podcasts are actually worth guesting on. The Tom Schwab, who is a big name in the podcasting industry, he has the interview Valet, that platform I was talking about, He says the mission is to shift the industry away from vanity metrics and towards meaningful impact. Excuse me, I'm sorry. OK? Pod Engine's Joe Tannerola echoed that.

50:59 Current benchmarks are opaque and best opaque at best and irrelevant at worst. In other words, they're trying to shine a light where podcasting analytics have been murky for years. So this is an interesting thing, just to get some new analytics that actually means something. Do we? Do we need another podcast metric? Or is this just finally just? Is it really that different? So ultimately what this is doing, Dr. if I understand correctly, is it's it's creating a score for your podcast and it's in that score is basically saying what that's where I'm. Yeah, that's that's the podcast that I want to be a guest on. OK.

51:41 So this is to see like if you're going to be a guest on a show, you could go and see the podcast score to whether it's going to be worth your while. Right. But also it also tells you, you know, it also has like a fallout, some other kind of things that it can tell you. That alone tells you a lot of things about the podcast that in ranking, you know, in in ranking ranking wise. I think that for people who are guesting on podcasts, I mean, I know I hear that a lot, right? Like guests often times they have no idea of the podcast really what they're jumping into, right? So this could be really valuable for people just to understand the type of podcast, the success of the podcast, etcetera. Now it happened to me one time when someone asked, when we asked someone to be on the show because one of the shows that I produced and they were their yes or no depended on what our downloads were.

52:45 So this is kind of a way that they can see not the downloads, but at least see some kind of a ranking of where they are. And it said the story says that it's going to point the data points are like for engagement and marketing potential. So it's an interesting, it's an interesting thing. The fear, I suppose, would be if you're a smaller podcast, a brand new podcast, and you're doing that dance with a potential guest and then they see your score and maybe it's not where they're expecting it to be, then you might lose that guest. I think that's. You might lose that guest. It kind of reminds me of Rate My Teacher, which has a good and a bad side to it because you know, if you have a good podcast, but it's engaging, but it also is kind of maybe kind of controversial or just a little off. Not the guests are nice or not to the host isn't nice, but if it's a little, you know, yeah, it it you could get bad scores and it's like, wait, but it's a great podcast, you know, and when you're starting out, it's it's it's even harder. So I can see both sides.

53:54 Yep. Sid, did you want to chime in? Good morning. Yeah, good morning, everybody. So I went to the link that Ashley posted I guess or Mark posted. And so I, I see this is, I want to go investigate this more, but I also see this is very interesting, especially when you're in a niche like mine that this type of score and information that's accumulating all these data points could actually help with sponsorships or ad revenue, right? That I think could be really interesting to explore to share that based on this index, you're in our industry, you're ranking at this kind of level. So I think that's kind of interesting. 6, four more, but I noticed that they have their pricing hidden, which is always like a red flag for me. Then you don't reveal your pricing. You have to schedule a call with somebody, which tells me it's probably really expensive.

54:46 But does anybody have any idea about what it costs? Because you have to schedule a call to yeah. I saw that too. So yeah. And I don't know. Yeah, because I. I, I hate that. I hate that when that happens. I hate that too. I, I, I used to debate that, you know, what, what do I do? Do I show my prices on my website or not? And ultimately it came down to what do I like as a consumer. If I'm on a website and I don't see pricing, it bothers me. I don't trust it and I almost never will go and pursue it any further once I see that they're hiding their prices. Agreed. Yeah. So to be continued, we'll find out. But yeah, it is interesting.

55:29 It it does sound interesting. If you go to pod engine dot AI slash podcast Dash Authority, Dash Score, you can learn more about it. OK, we are back tomorrow, 7:00 AM Eastern Time. We do have some stories that we didn't get to. We might try to cover some of those tomorrow. Either way, we're we'll be talking all things podcasting tomorrow. So if you've got questions, if you've got a current challenge in your podcasting journey, you want to bring and ask us for our opinions, go for it. Let's talk about it. Bring it tomorrow, 7:00 AM Eastern, and until then, make it a great day. Everybody take care.