5 Major Podcast Updates You Need to Know This Week

0:05 Good morning, podcasting, Morning Chat. Today is Wednesday, November 5th, 2025, and today we're diving into this week's podcast news like Netflix's video podcast moves that could shake up YouTube, new research exposes a gender gap, and Apple's latest updates more interactive than ever. 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 catching us via podcast, please share this 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. Thanks so much for being here. I am your host Mark Ronick, and currently on stage with me we have Sid Meadows, Dr. Fey, producer Ashley Feller, Jonathan Howard, Nick Naul back and Phil Better. By the way, I do want to say, Jonathan, I listened to Monday's episode and a you did a great job covering the intro in your own way, but in the spirit of how I do it. So that's one point. And then two, I wanted to point out that I giggled when I heard you stumble over Phil's name because it appears here on Clubhouse as the podcast mogul. And admittedly, even though I know this man's name, I know his face when I see the podcast mogul I, it's his actual name slips my mind almost every time so far since he's joined us on the team.

2:20 So I can relate to that slip up. Jonathan and I wanted to also share with you all before we dive into all the headlines. Today is episode 400. I missed 300. I was, I believe, volunteering at that summer camp and Jonathan actually had covered for me at episode 300. He almost did it again for 400. He was at 398 when he covered. But yes, something to celebrate for sure. Episode 400. And that doesn't even include the year or two prior to even becoming a podcast. In other words, we were our live only show leading up to I guess about two years ago this Feb, this coming February, it'll be two years. So yeah, we've done lots of episodes and sometimes I'm, I surprise myself with how many episodes about podcasting or podcast related topics that we've done here at the podcasting morning chat.

3:20 Also a reminder this Thursday, tomorrow, 7:00 AM Eastern, we're back live and we are doing another podcast evaluation. It's our podcast evaluation series that we've been doing every Thursday. The podcast we are evaluating is called You Are Your Biggest Asset. It's one of Phil Better's clients and the episode that we are covering is want five extra hours in the week. I know that our team has been already doing their evaluations. Thank you for doing that. That saves me a little bit of time and aggravation and we will be ready to rock'n'roll and share as of tomorrow. I do have some breaking news.

4:04 Actually, Dr. has some breaking news. I'm going to go to Dr. before we get into the usual format of our news and comment day. So with that, Dr. good morning to you. What is the breaking news? Good morning. Now should I say the news or should I let the clip say it? You can give us the. Headline and tell us where the clip comes from. OK, so I will say that this clip comes from a podcast called Lore LORE. The host of that is Rob. What's his last name from the feed? Rob Walsh, Thank you. I always want to say greenly, and I know it's not green. So I know him from the feed along with Elsie, and he's got some really interesting news about the feed. Let's do it.

4:55 That's all I'll say, yeah. I have some breaking news. Let me read the official wording from Lipson mostly verbatim with maybe one week or so in there quote. After more than a decade, The Feed, the official Lipson podcast is coming to a close. Since 2013, The Feed has been a go to source for podcast education, insights and inspiration. With two effing awesome Co hosts and the best audience in podcasting, the show helped creators of all levels learn, grow and connect. As Lipson looks ahead to 2026, we're excited to introduce new ways to support and celebrate our creator and advertiser community across all our platforms.

5:42 Stay tuned. More ways to learn, connect and create are on the way. UN quote. So what does that mean? In short, no new episodes of The Feed. The Feed was a big part of why I put Podcast 411 on hiatus. Really tough to do both from a content point of view and a time point of view. But with the sun setting of the feed, that means Podcast 411 is back, baby. There you go. And I would say come back if you're a feed listener. Welcome to the Podcasting Morning Chat. We do all of that too. We we learn, we connect, we grow together and we talk all things podcasting all the time.

6:25 So yeah, come join us. I will say that, you know, I am a I'm a huge listener of the feed and I'm, I'm a little of a climp. I got to say I this was, you know, this this was the first show to give me St. cred when I didn't know anything because I would just kind of spit out stuff verbatim from what I heard from this show. And people would ask me, you know, what are you doing? I'm podcasting. Oh, really? I got a question and I would just kind of spit out everything that they would say and it kind of gave me a little St. Fred. So, yeah, this is this is tough for me. So we'll see what we'll see what happens. Thank you and interesting.

7:06 I'm watching. I'm following the chat as you're sharing and and by the way, no disrespect to the feed me calling out. Hey, come join us over here. I I know that they were a long running show and very quality show for podcasters. So I'm I'm just having a little fun and I'm reading the chat here. I see Sid said he's never heard of them. Nick says he's never listened, but Ashley says she loves that show and she's a little sad like you Dr. and Ralph says Libson seems to be in a downward spiral. I'm very curious. Why did you say that? Well, the first thing that's on my mind and maybe on Ralph's is that Dave Jackson is no was no longer with them.

7:48 That was the first clue to me. I don't know about Ralph, but that was the first clue to me. And by the way, we should say just in case. I mean, I know we have an audience of podcasters, but just in case we have some newer podcasters. Libsyn is a podcasting podcast host provider, so it's like a buzz sprout, it's like a pod bean, etcetera. Just wanted to call that out there. And they do other stuff as well, but that's what they are probably most known for in these circles. Ralph, good morning, Thanks for being here. What did you want to add to all this? Yeah, I was. Just going to kind of trumpet what Dr. Just said. It just seems like their technology has been suffering. They've been really having some technological issues. I was on their platform for the longest time, but last April I actually moved to Captivate and I just feel like it's more of an engaged company. So I just, I, I feel bad because Dave Jacks is a pretty good friend of mine and I think she's right. When he left, I think there was just a, you know, a vortex of just talent just left there.

8:45 But that's just my view. No big deal, Mark. And as they are, you had mentioned, you had mentioned earlier also Rob Greenlee used to be a part of Libsyn as well. I think he exited prior to Dave Jackson. Way before, yeah, yeah. So who knows, but good luck to Libsyn. We'll see what happens moving forward now that the feed is no more. And like I said, come join us over at the podcasting morning chat if you're looking for a place, an outlet to fill that void. All right, sorry if that was way too loud. Let's dig into some headlines and let's Dr. Did you have anything else you wanted to add? I feel like I might have cut you off. Nope, I'm good. I I stuck in an event there that was not on the rundown when. Awesome.

9:30 All right, we'll get to that in just a moment. First, let me give you some podcast data for as of yesterday, I should say November 4th, 2025, the number one podcast on Apple in the United States, Crime Junkie by Audio Chuck and it's back everyone. The stat I used to share on a weekly basis? I've brought it back today. Over the past week, 312,594 thousand podcasts posted at least one new episode, which is up just over a half a percent over last week, with that number being 310,770 3. And I'm not doing the Spotify #1 because Dr. is going to give us her top five, since we kind of all know who's already #1 go for it, Dr. Yeah, OK, so #5 is Crime junkie #4 is this past weekend with Theo von #3 is the Journal, The Wall Street Journal.

10:30 Number 2 is Tucker Carlson show and the number one spot goes to the Joe Rogan Experience. You know him, you love him. Thank you, Dr. And what's your random chart of the week? Hey random chart of the week is automotive so here we go #5 is past gas I filled it media. I like that. The The Carmudgeon Show. Well, lots of puns, OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This car pod with Doug Demaro and friends and #2 is the carpool with Kelly and Liz and #1 taking the number one spot is the Smoking Tire.

11:14 Interesting, what made you pick Automotive I? Just wanted something different that's. All yo when I first heard automotive I thought OK automotive but then the the title saved the whole list. The several of these titles of these shows are awesome, especially #5 Past Gas. I love moving into some events that you may be interested in as a content creator. First, protect your podcast. That happens tomorrow, November 6. It's a virtual event and it's free, and it's hosted by our friend the podcast Lawyer Gordon Firemark, and a little more on that. Protect your intellectual property so no one else can steal or profit from your work and set up your show like a real business without spending $750 an hour on attorneys.

12:04 Not my words. That comes straight from the event. Another event coming up, fixing podcast audio with Christophe Grosser of aphonic. I have got to know Christophe a little bit. A couple years ago when they were a sponsor for the first Empowered podcasting conference. Really nice guy, really passionate about aphonic. This is happening. I'm sharing it because we all talk about aphonic and have talked about it for a long time now. The audio enhanced tool. This event happens Thursday, November 20th at 11:00 AM Eastern Time, so check that out. It's an online event and of course Podfest Expo. The 12th annual event happens Thursday, January 15th and concludes on the 18th. This is a paid event.

12:52 It's happening in Orlando, FL and if you use code Mark Marc, you can get 10% off your ticket. So just go to podfestexpo.com For more information and again, use code Mark Marc to get yourself 10% off. I will be speaking there. I know that Phil will be at Podfest, right? Phil, you're going to Podfest. Not speaking, but going. Yes, I am planning on being at Podfest the first time. Going to Podfest because Mark convinced me to go. It's all Marks fault that I'm going. It's my fault, but they I think it'll be appreciated having you there with nothing if if for nothing more your loud booming voice to get the get the crowds under control like you did at at EPC. Last, I will be more than happy to use my booming voice for that.

13:42 Awesome. Well, I'm curious Phil, what are your thoughts coming from your first ever conference, which was ours empowered Podcasting, which was you know 125 ish people there and now you're going to walk into something basically, I don't know, about 10 times the size of it. What are your thoughts around that? I'm excited because I used to work for an online comic company, so I would go to comic conventions and work booths. So like being around so many people doesn't really bother me and excites me. I'm just ready to learn and just soak in so much and just network. Like, I'm just excited to just be there and see everything.

14:24 I'm excited for you. It was. It's definitely that that Pod Fest itself was a big influence on me over the past few years. It inspired me to start our conference. But I've also made some really close connections there, friends, business, et cetera. So I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience. And I have to admit, it's like a new relationship here. I I've courted Phil. He's drinking the kool-aid of Empowered Podcasting. But now he's about to go date another conference in January. And that always makes me a little curious and not concerned. I think that's a little extreme, but I can't think of a better word. But you know, I'm like. But what if he likes it better? I can promise you Mark, I will never leave Empowered Podcasting Conference.

15:11 I will be a regular attendee for you all. Right. Cool. Awesome. Thank you, Phil. That makes me feel a little bit better. We'll see how I feel after the event. OK. And all jokes aside, Dr. do you want to share this last event with everyone? I do podcasting directory virtual networking event What I talk about every Thursday from Thursday from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM Eastern Time. Now this the next three tomorrow and the next two Thursdays after, it's kind of special for me because I will be Co hosting those these three events. Yeah. So it is a bunch of podcasters and people who want to be on podcasts to get together and talk about podcasting. And the scheduled topics for tomorrow is business, entrepreneurship, money, finance, tech and AI. It's quite a broad category it.

16:09 Is I know and if you use the code PMC, the initials of our show you will get in for free and gosh I hope to see everyone there 'cause I'm Co hosting y'all come. On That's awesome Dr. does this. Is it a similar format to what we do here? You know, how does it? How does that work as as a? Coach now a lot of people, a lot of people when they first come, they think of Zoom. This is not Zoom. This is a different program to like to do virtual. I am not crazy about this program. I will tell you up front, but I mean because it has like a learning curve. It's called Go brunch or something like that.

16:51 It has breakout rooms, it has breakout rooms and you have your choice of which breakout room to go to. So you switch screens, there's an icon to go to the all rooms and all the different choices are in front of you and you just click the one that you want to click on. But it's it's really interesting. And I have been able to get guest spots for two of my clients on shows in the past couple weeks. So yeah. That's cool. It sounds like almost like a virtual conference where you can choose a different, you know, what track you want to go see or. Yeah, that's cool. I like that cool idea. All right, so that is tomorrow, 4:00 PM. And again, use discount code PMC to get in for free. And we'll put a link in the show notes for you. OK, let's keep it moving.

17:43 OK. As Dr. goes to cook some eggs for her husband, I will take over completely and share some news with you. So these are this is our news bites segment. These are stories that we've deemed important to share and we aren't sure how much conversation we'll have over them. They're sometimes as quick to the point. So here we go. First, as I mentioned in the intro, Netflix is making even more moves in podcasting. We talked about recent deals with Spotify over the past couple weeks and I think last week even we had another one, I can't remember. It might have been iheart that they were partnering with. Well, now Netflix is reportedly in talks to license a slate of video podcast.

18:30 Oh no, it this is the story from iHeartMedia. So that's what I was thinking. Please forgive me. And this is including major podcast titles like The Breakfast Club, The J Shetty Podcast, and Stuff You Should Know with the goal of securing video only exclusivity, meaning these episodic shows could vanish from YouTube in their full form. If you remember a few years ago when Joe Rogan signed with Spotify, for the first couple years, I believe he was exclusive to Spotify. They had nothing on YouTube. And I think a lot of people didn't love that. And I think since he's back on YouTube now moving on, continuing on, I should say it's a clear signal that Netflix wants to go head to head with YouTube by building out a new video podcast pipeline that leverages I Hearts and others strong brand portfolio and live style formats. By the way, a side note for you.

19:31 According to Pod News and Deadline, half of the first set of Spotify's podcasts coming to Netflix have fewer than 50,000 plays for each of their last 10 episodes, even including both Spotify and YouTube. I share this because, well, first, I know some of you may say, well, fewer than 50,000. I wish I could get a number like that. Yeah, I get it. And it's just interesting to hear that these aren't necessarily the biggest downloaded or viewed shows out there. But sure, certainly they are big names and we know. That they have big followings, just not as big as maybe some expect from pod news. This week.

20:18 Apple quietly rolled out a new feature in the latest Mac OS update in Mac OS26, which dropped back in mid-september. The Apple Podcast app now includes the same read along Transcript experience that's been available for a while on iPhone and iPad. Apple currently supports Transcripts in 13 languages. They can be automatically generated or of course, creators can upload their own for even better accuracy or I guess an attempt at even better accuracy. We don't know if just uploading your own is going to make it more accurate, but that's a cool feature Now you can much like karaoke, although I don't think you would actually read out loud. You can follow along the transcript as it's happening. Next story.

21:06 We've we talked about host red ads on this show before and how effective that style of advertising on podcasts can be. Well, red circle, that's the company that owns TikTok, just unveiled a new product called mic check. It's a first of its kind AI tool that automatically reviews host red podcast ads for accuracy, tone and freshness before they air. The system is built into Red Circles ad platform and is trained on nearly 1 billion past ad impressions, giving creators instant feedback and a performance score to help brands feel confident while preserving authenticity. I love the concept and I worry sometimes, especially with corporate, that they're going to rely too much on what the AI tells them.

22:00 In other words, if the AI doesn't give it as high of a score as they are expecting, are they going to give the creator a hard time to keep adjusting until the system approves? Until red circles mic check tells you, yeah, this is going to do great. I'm hoping that it's used more as a guide and not as a rule of thumb, so we'll hear more about that, but a cool idea for sure. Speaking of tools, a new tool called Podcast Magic has just launched to make it super easy for listeners and creators to capture and share podcast moments. All you've got to do this is interesting and I want to hear people's take on this, especially some of our techies in the room.

22:47 All you've got to do is screenshot your podcast player and make sure that it has a visible time stamp. So if you're listening right now and let's say it's, I don't know, 20 some minutes into the show and you screenshot that, what it wants you to do is e-mail it to, to this tool to podcast Magic. And within seconds you'll get back a transcript and a shareable clip. And you don't need an app to do this. So I think that this because you're just screenshotting and then hitting your share button on your screenshot and emailing it to this tool. Podcast Magic, the founder, I think it's pronounced Sari azut. I don't think it's sorry because I feel like that sounds like SORRY, but who knows?

23:35 Had this to say about Podcast Magic. Podcasts are where the best ideas live, but there's never been an easy way to capture and share those moments. I might argue that I'll go on. We wanted to build something that honors the craft of podcasting and helps the best moments travel further. I do like that that goal, but I just is that really a time saver to screenshot, hit a share button and e-mail it off? Or is it just as easy to just hit the share button? Let's say if we're listening on Spotify, you just hit a share button and send it off. Dr. Go ahead. How many times you have to touch the screen? I mean, you touch it to to screenshot it, then you have to touch it, touch your screen again to get to your e-mail, and then you have to touch the screen again to get the cursor to go in the two area where you're going to send it to. And then you have to touch this.

24:33 I mean, there's too many. I don't know if it's a time saver. Nick, did you want to comment on this? I see you commenting in the chat. I. Was just replying to Janae. Janae said it looks sounds like a great way to capture emails. Yeah that is a good point and very interesting. Huh, let me check in with Lindsay who's joined us on stage and I see Renee is joining us as well. I think she wants to chime in too. Lindsay, good morning to you. What say you what is this topic of podcast Magic's new tool? What what comes to mind for you? Well, I love that they. Addressed the e-mail collection because I was like, Yep, that'll all go from my junk e-mail so I don't end up on a mailing list and what came up for me and of. Course, I wish there was a.

25:20 Way on every platform to like transcribe a section and what came up for me that how I will absolutely use this more than likely is when I learned something and I I'm not looking to share the whole episode. In fact, I'm looking to capture that nugget either to, you know, repurpose in some way, quote in some way. We send that specific tidbit of information. And especially like for an introduction, like, hey, around minute 20, you're going to see all of this. She listened the whole episode. I mean, I love giving context when I'm making recommendations. And I'm typically only sharing podcast episodes if there's like a bigger situation with that person.

26:01 So sharing it with clients, sharing it with someone that I'm working with, sharing it with a team member. So those things for me, I would love to be able to capture little segments without them having to listen or say, OK, scroll to, you know, minute 20 or what have you Just literally send it off. I do think that some of the great ideas will now be actually where others will be. More than borrowing, they'll be stealing others ideas and saying they are their own. However, we can do that through listening and I call that learning. So yeah, I think it's a it's a neat technology. I don't know how effective. Again, I think that the platforms for listening really must do a better job at bookmarking and allowing for note taking in their interfacing. Yeah, I'm with you there, Lindsay. Thank you for that.

26:47 It reminds me what you're discussing or you know, saying what would be helpful. It reminds me of the old feature that we had on Clubhouse here. There was a sharing feature where you could capture the last 30 seconds spoken and that that was a great tool. I know I used that both to share on social media and to share with others as well. So I'd like to see something like that on more podcast players. I'm going to go to Nick because I think Nick wanted to respond while Lindsay was talking. And then we're going to check in with Renee. Go ahead, Nick. As I was thinking about the. Tool more. I don't fully get the real value that it brings, especially now a lot of these AI tools, Gemini, ChatGPT, all you have to do is paste in a link and it can go get whatever information you need from that episode and I believe including the transcript, at least with ChatGPT. The the extra step of.

27:39 Taking the screenshot, putting in an e-mail, waiting for a reply e-mail to come through when I can just literally pop it in and ChatGPT and say give me the transcript seems like a waste of time. Yeah, yeah, I'm going to. I'm with you there, Nick. And I'm feeling that more and more as we discuss this. Renee, good morning. Did you want to add something before I check in with Sid? Yeah, real quick. I wasn't. I'm out on my morning walk, so I didn't get to read the chat, what Janae said. But so maybe I'm crossing over with what he said, but yeah, so they're going to have access to everybody you e-mail and then they're also going to have access to your camera at some level. So every time we, you know, use something for free, we got to remember, you know, we are that we're giving them access.

28:22 I never know. You know, it says good partial access to your camera or to your photos. I just never trust anything. So yeah, when we, if we would use this app, they're getting 2 pieces of our IP or our data and that's who we're emailing to. And I don't know how deep it can go into the address. Obviously it has to give you a search function because they need to make it quick. So they're going to have access to everybody you regularly e-mail and then your your camera. Yeah, the the camera was not mentioned. So I'm glad you mentioned that too. And really more so maybe not your camera, but more so your photos, right? Because that's what you're giving access to. You're sharing your photos, not specifically your camera, but still there is some privacy concerns there too. I'm with you, Sid.

29:08 Good morning to you, Sir. Did you want to add on to this? Good morning everybody. I just have a question. So how do they do this with a screenshot? You take a screenshot of an of a podcast that you heard something for the time stamp. You emailed the screenshot. Then they send you a video clip and transcript of that particular section. How do they do that from a screenshot? Fantastic question that I don't think they explained other than saying using AI. So there's something to do with AI. So maybe the AI reads the title, it sees the episode, it sees the time stamp, and then much like an opus clips, it's going to isolate that particular time area that that's been time stamped and then generate the video.

29:53 And at the same time, it's probably pulling the transcript from a platform where it lives for that episode. Yeah. So it has to have access to a platform where it can quickly go and grab, grab that. I mean, I think it's pretty cool idea. I don't understand the full use case of it, but they go and grab it. But if you're a Spotify only and they're using Apple, then they can't generate the clip from you because there are some people that are, you know, only exclusive to one platform. So it's interesting. Might be worth checking out just to see how it works. Yeah, and maybe create a backup e-mail to you so that you're you just in case you don't get flooded with spam after that. Janae, good morning. Did you want to add on to this before we go on to the next story?

30:36 Good morning. Yes, I absolutely want to add. This is a cool trick for sure. They're capturing emails. You're making sure that your e-mail is a Nike one, right? And then you're also making their emails safe in your system. So lots of cool things happening, but they do not have access to your camera. They do not have access to your camera folder. You're literally emailing a photo from your camera app or from your album and emailing it to this e-mail address, right? That's all you're doing. And then they're going to figure out all of stuff and send back to you. So I was the question I had asked is, has anybody tried to get resisted? First time that we're all hearing about it. I don't think anyone's tried it yet. It's pretty new.

31:20 I think it, the announcement just came out over the past week. So I don't think anybody here has tried it yet, but like Sid said, maybe maybe one of us will try it as an experiment. Experiment. Maybe I'll Yep, I just took a screenshot of a oh, good things. e-mail us. So when I get it back, I'll let you all know. OK, give us a sign. Let us know if and when you get it, and we'll come back to you and check in. Thank you, Janae. All right, let's see here. Let's keep it moving. So Apple is back in the news and they've added things like chapters, timed links, I'll explain and smart transcripts.

32:06 The latest update, iOS 26.2, turns listening into an interactive experience from like I said, chapter markers and clickable timed links to auto generated transcripts and personalized episode artwork. Apple is giving creators new ways to boost engagement and help listeners connect with content faster. So chapters. This lets listeners jump to those specific sections or revisit favorite parts. Apple can even auto generate them for English shows if creators don't provide their own. We've known about that with Spotify and now Apple will do the same.

32:48 Timed links. This is where creators can add links tied to time stamps promoting related shows, songs or content across Apple platforms. So for example, you can when there is is at a certain moment, let's say I'm talking about last week's podcast evaluation and it was on Thursday and I don't remember the episode number. But what I can do is when I'm talking about that, it'll pop up on your screen a link to that episode so that you could easily go check it out, bookmark it, do whatever you got to do. I really love that. And you can even link to songs.

33:28 So I'm thinking of Song Swap Showdown, our friend Chris Baglio and his wife, where they talk about music and different songs as they're talking about it. They could link to it on Apple's platform. I think that's their, that's a cool way and a long overdue way to interact with a podcast. And I say long overdue because I, I just don't feel like these podcast players as much as they offer. It's all the same stuff between player to player and essentially all it's allowing us to do is play a podcast, share a podcast, etcetera. I like how these these are now stepping up and adding more interactivity to it. Automatic linking is another feature. This is where Apple may auto insert links when other podcasts are mentioned, helping with discovery and cross promotion. So that's specific to Apple, meaning Apple will suggest other podcasts based on what's being discussed. I'm going to stop there for a second. Jonathan, did you want to add something or did you have a question?

34:37 Well, my question is that or concern would be that that's then sending people away from your podcast in the middle of an episode, you might lose some of your listenership, at least people that listen all the way through. Yeah, that is a concern. And at the same time, we flip the coin and it could be your show being recommended that somebody could click on and go to listening while listening to another show. So yeah, it helps with discoverability and cross promotion. But yes, it runs the risk of losing that listener at least temporarily and at the most maybe never coming back. So yeah, I get what you're saying. Yeah. And just with as many podcasts as there are out there, the chances of ours being recommended is probably a little bit slim in most equations.

35:21 I think it depends, right? Like I think if you're listening to an independent podcast, hopefully it's going to be smart enough to also recommend other independent podcasts. But yeah, we're, it's, it's a wait and see. We got to see how this works and it's a very valid concern. Episode specific artwork let's creators visually highlight themes or guests, making each episode stand out in feeds and on screen. I would argue this might just be something that's already, I know it's already there and it's something that we have been doing for a while. And I I check and our specific episode art shows up on my Apple podcast page. So I think this might just be a leftover feature on their new features page.

36:04 And lastly, full creator control creators can opt out of auto generated chapters, transcripts or links via Podcast Connect. So that's somewhat of an answer to Jonathan's concern. But the users have to know that they can do that. So one thing I would say is if there's a feature you don't want your audience to use, like what Jonathan was saying, maybe he doesn't want them to use some of those features, you got to tell them. You got to tell and maybe even explain why, right? Don't just say, hey, I don't want you using the automatic, the automatic linking feature. Explain why to your audience. I think you'll get a better response that way. I don't think everybody's going to just say, OK, Jonathan, I'm going to turn it off.

36:45 But I think that you will get some people doing that for you. So Mark, I wanted to add to, I think Jonathan's on point with driving people away from your show and distracting them and they go to listen to a song and then they get to distract you with their day or whatever, and then they don't come back to your show. I think that could potentially be a real problem. But you know, as a avid podcast listener, I don't necessarily see how I would use these. But as a podcaster, I really wish Apple and other platforms would change where they're investing their money and figure out the right way to give us better analytics about our shows that can help us grow our shows. Because the inconsistency between platforms with analytics, the lack of some detailed analytics, the problems that you see when you go to Apple Podcast Connect, they need to invest in that side rather than continuing to invest in some of the forward facing things, at least in my opinion, that could help us all grow our shows. I'm with you, Sid.

37:48 Thank you for saying that. I totally agree with you. I don't understand, and I've been on that soapbox before. I I don't understand why analytics can't be more detailed, especially when Apple and Spotify these days are competing with a YouTube that does a fantastic job with their analytics. Why aren't Apple and Spotify stepping up? It almost makes me think that it's very intentional because we've been clamoring for it. Podcasters of all shapes and sizes have been clamoring for better analytics, and it and it just Go falls on deaf ears. At least it feels that way. When you really start to dive into it, so I don't mean to derail this, when you start to look at your Apple Podcast Connect and you start looking at the data, you start to spy all these inconsistent information and the things just don't line up and it just makes it really hard for you to determine which shows are landing, which topics are landing. What's your real consumption rate? Because some of it's just really weird. How many followers do you have or how many listeners do you have?

38:55 I mean, it just is makes it really difficult, I think, to truly understand the reach of your show. I'm, and again, I am with you, Sid, and there are lots of inconsistencies. It drives me crazy when I see some shows that have like, for example, retention rate 110%. Well, how is that possible, right? But I think, yeah. And it could just be that it's the same people that are listening more or listening again to the episode. I don't know, but that there should be enough technology available to Apple to be able to adjust that. All right, Janae. Yeah. So did you get an an e-mail back from this company? Yes, I got the e-mail back in about 5 minutes. So I sent it 732, came back 737.

39:43 And it says, hey there, if here's the moment you capture from the podcast, this one's on us. You've just used pod magic, podcast magic, the simple way to capture insights from podcast. No apps download, no subscription BS unlock unlimited moments for one time, $20 fee. So pay one's $20 used forever. What you get back is a moment, a clip, a time stamp and the transcript from when it was captured. And you can see see related idea. And then they're asking you to try Sublime, which is the team behind. Podcast magic. All right, There you go. Janae, thank you for being our tester this morning.

40:23 And that sounds cool overall. And it's like, yeah, give us $20 and your e-mail address and we're going to spam you as much as possible. And to be fair, we don't know if we're they're going to really do that or not, but it certainly feels at least at the very least it feels a little suspicious. I will say that. And again, yeah, it's a cool idea, but I'm not sure is it more convenient, I guess, for what you get in the e-mail back to you. I guess there's some advantage to that. But I'm going to go back to D Rs point too. It just feels like there's a lot of touch points involved here. All right, let's keep things moving. Dr. I'm going to ask you to just pick the next story because I've just lost my place and can't find my my rundown.

41:10 That's OK. OK, so we're going to stay on the subject of Apple for a second. Now. Podcasters, Apple has just handed you a monetization playbook. Apple is stepping up its post, its podcast game and putting real money on the table for creators. The Apple Podcast Subscriptions program is now designed to give podcasters more control and flexibility and cash flow. Creators can set their own prices, offer monthly or annual plans, and dangle perks like ad free listening, early access, bonus episodes or exclusive subscriber only shows. Hey Dr. Here's. AI want to jump in just again for clarification. I understand that most podcasters may grasp the concept of subscription, but it's important just to call out when Apple now says subscriptions, it's not subscribing to your free podcast, it's subscribing to your paid podcast. So now you call, you call it Follow My Podcast when you're talking about your free podcast and asking subscribers or followers to connect with you on a long term basis. Right, exactly.

42:24 Apple gives creators 70% of subscription revenue, and after a year of loyal subscribers, that number climbs to 85%. And about ads and sponsorships, well, those remain at 100% yours. Apple's framing this as kind of a one stop shop for creators who want to own their relationship with listeners while keeping their brand, revenue and data under one roof. The message is clear. If you're ready to professionalize, that is a word that they've used. Professionalize your podcast. This is the infrastructure to do it.

43:07 Everything all under one roof. That kind of scares me. So So my question is, would you trust Apple as your main source of podcast income or diversify across the platforms? Oh, I would absolutely diversify. I would not stay in that place. I'm in the diversity. Yeah, yeah. And there are plenty of places to do that. You know, you can also offer a Patreon as an example. So you you have that kind of paid subscription service that's outside the platform, gives you more control over everything. But the thing that really sticks out here that seems odd to me is the fact that if you've been offering paid content on Apple for the first year, you're giving up 30% of your subscription revenue, but then it jumps after a year to 85. Is that so?

44:02 Is that I guess? Is that better or worse? I'm I'm confused by the the number. The number climbs to Apple gives creators 70% and then you and after a year you get 85%. OK. So you get more, yes, OK. You get more. Got it. OK. I thought it was the other way around, that they're actually raising it. So that's a big step up for Apple because I know for years it's always been 30% for as long as I can remember. And that included music as well, if you're selling music. And I know a lot of creators used to complain a lot about that. So it's cool that they've listened and that they're actually rewarding you for after a year of doing this on their platform, they're giving you much more of that revenue back.

44:46 I'm and, and I'm OK with 30%, I'm OK with 15%. But as long as I am diversifying. If I'm not diversifying, then yeah, that hits a lot harder having to give up that much revenue. But if, if I'm spreading it out, I'm OK with it because let's be real, Apple is still one of the most popular platforms for podcast listening. And if people are on that app, it's going to be, in my opinion, easier to convert them to becoming a paid subscriber if it's all happening right there on the app that they're using. Still scary? Yes it is, but is it as scary if you're diversifying? No, it's not. Right.

45:28 Yeah. So I my recommendation would be just make sure you're going on other platforms as well and selling your content in other areas, other platforms. Yeah, man, all. Right, let's keep it moving. Women podcasters are feeling the burn, and the payouts aren't quite there yet either. There's a new survey that where the data reveals A troubling gender gap in podcasting. Female creators are experiencing higher burnout and fewer financial rewards compared to their male counterparts. So for example, this this study says that female podcasters are reporting higher levels of burnout.

46:09 In the one survey, it said 28% of women versus 17% of men said they had considered quitting their podcast due to burnout. This all comes from the podcast host, by the way. Women are less likely to feel they're achieving their podcasting goals. Only 15% of them said they were accomplishing most or all of their goals, versus 24% for men. And monetization, as I said, is a tougher Rd. for women. According to the podcast host survey, 49% of female respondents said monetization was their biggest challenge compared to 34% of male respondents.

46:50 Going on this one, I think we've even talked about before. Video compounding pressures appear to impact women more. 53% of women saw adapting to video expectations as a major threat versus 37% of men. Also, only 25% of female respondents reported publishing full video episodes, compared with 32% of men. Despite these challenges, there is bright news among creators who haven't launched yet. So they surveyed people who are talking about launching but haven't actually officially launched yet. 57% of those are women, suggesting strong upcoming female participation in podcasting. So the findings align with broader workplace research showing that women shoulder more, quote, invisible labor and burnout, which may extend to into creative sectors like podcasting.

47:52 So I want to hear from the women in our room. Do you feel that way? Do you feel like this is a struggle for you? Do you feel like the men are succeeding more in podcasting? Anyone have any thoughts? And if not, we'll just move on. But I found this to be interesting and surprising that one stat I was sharing about the pressure of video. I mean, we've talked about it. We've had women in our community share that, you know, they don't want to go on camera or they're hesitant to go on camera if they're not fully done, right, Like they don't have the makeup, they don't have the hair done. It does seem to be, at least from our circles, it seems to be something that is much more considered among women than men. But promising to see that the ones in this survey that are planning to launch seem to be more men than women. All right, I'm going to ask one more question about this. If you were launching a podcast today and you identify as a woman, what would you do differently to avoid burnout? Or what would you suggest to a female podcaster or podcaster to be to avoid burnout and to improve monetization potential? I batch.

49:06 I take my time in batch because that's really, I think one of the main reasons why Pod Fade exists is because, you know, eventually you run out of family and friends to interview and now you're stuck trying to figure out who you can interview and the pressure's on and you know, you just got to, you've got to come up with something. So batch batch. All right. Going to you, Sid. Good morning again. What? What say you, Sir? So I would say this to anybody, not just women, Set realistic expectations. If you're brand new podcaster or you're thinking about a podcast and a Daily Show, probably way too much for you to take on, maybe a weekly show too much you take on.

49:56 So start, you know, start small and set realistic expectations about what it is that you can do because podcasting is a lot of work and you got to figure out what it is you can do. And, you know, don't put yourself under undue pressure for, you know, vanity metrics or commitment to doing something until you really know that, hey, I like this. I want to keep doing this. I want to keep moving this forward. So just set the right expectations, start small and then grow it. And if you after three months you'd like, OK, I can do a weekly show and after six months, you think I can do a Daily Show like Ralph does a Daily Show? I mean then do it, but just start small.

50:36 Yeah, I like that. Small steps with goals in mind to do whatever it is you want to do, but work your way there. Don't expect to do it all at once right away. Because that is, as Sid is pointing out, a recipe for burnout for sure to go to Phil. Phil, you said you had a news story for us this morning, so let's hear from you instead of me this whole time and Dr. as well. So go for it, Phil. Good morning. So in my job as an audience growth specialist, I get a lot of emails and I got one from Acast yesterday about their most recent they cast Pulse and people actually find podcasters.

51:20 75% of listeners don't find podcasters to be an influencer, but 85% of those same respondents have been influenced by a podcaster changing their mind on the subject. So that means podcasters are nearly are nearly will to journalists in their power of influence and trust. And I want to know what you guys think about that as we're all independent podcasters. Do you find yourselves being more being an influencer or do you not see yourselves as influencers? I don't, I personally don't know. I haven't really thought enough about it to decide, do I really think of myself as an influencer? And to something you said a moment ago, I do see and relate to the idea that, yeah, I'm going to trust my favorite podcaster way more than I'm going to trust a journalist. I think it's because I've really gotten to know that host on a deeper level than a journalist.

52:23 The journalists, you know, they're basically on screen sharing the story and then they're gone, right? I don't get to know who that person is. I don't get to really respect who they are. I mean, I could respect their work, but I don't know them as a person. And I think that really is a big factor. And I think Sid wanted to chime in as well. Go for it, Sid. OK, so I don't consider myself an influencer. I'm a guy that is sharing insights and information to a specific community that hopefully helps them grow, helps their business grow and they get an inside look at the office furniture industry. That's really what my objective here is. And again, I don't think you get to call yourself an influencer, and I think your audience gets to call you an influencer. I think your community gets to decide whether you're an influencer or not because they're the ones that are listening.

53:16 They're the ones that are consuming. And yeah, I can say I'm an influencer in the office furniture industry. What gives me the right to say that if my audience says that it's something completely different? So Sid, if your audience is in fact calling you an influencer, then are you more comfortable saying yes, I'm an influencer because now your audience has called you as such? So they do call me that. It's almost embarrassing, right? But I do not call myself an influencer. I'm very humble with this and anytime I meet somebody that watches my show or listens to my show, I'm very grateful for them and I thank them. I asked them what they like about it. I take a picture of their name badge so I can be sure to connect with them on socials and thank them again. And I just let them call me an influencer.

53:58 Like I have a review that somebody referred to me as the ultimate office furniture influencer or something like that. I'm just very humble with it. But I you will never hear me say that I'm an influencer. Okay. I don't call myself. I think Jonathan wanted to chime in as well. Go ahead, Jonathan. Yeah, I think first of all, both of you were influencers and period, because you do have the influence over your audience. Your audience says look to you for advice, you're an influencer. However, I think what has happened is the term influencer has gotten a negative spin on it from social media and some influencers that, you know, go a little crazy over there and but you 2 are both influencers. You have an audience that listens to you. You influence their opinions.

54:40 You influence what they decide on. Sometimes you're an influencer. Yeah. Thank you, Jonathan. This reminds me of Empowered Podcasting when I was talking about authenticity and how a lot of people can't stand that word and how it's the moist of personal development words. And this is, I think, another one of those words, right? To that, I think we just attach some kind of negative spin, negative connotation to it and we forget sometimes really what it actually means. I, I, I am of the camp these days that if there's a word out there that is rubbing people the wrong way, I want to just actually, and it's my word, like it's a word I'm connecting with. I embrace the word and I own it to the definition I've given it.

55:24 And I think that makes a big difference, you know, so if people, if you think people are looking at influencer the wrong way, then show them what the right way is. I don't think there's anything wrong with being an influencer. I think it's just a matter of how we define it and how we own it. So thank you to Jonathan for that. And we are out of time, even though we do have much more to cover. We will hold some of these for next week because they are, as they say, Evergreen. So we will jump back into those next week. A reminder that tomorrow we're doing that podcast evaluation episode. Check the show notes to get the link if you want to hear the episode. We'll also be talking about, among other things, with this podcast. Check that out in the show notes.

56:05 We'd love to have you be more a part of it. And if you don't, no problem. We'll play clips tomorrow so that you can play along on the spot. So until tomorrow, make it a great day everybody take care.