Twitter pivots to podcasts?

Audio had its moment of glory during the first lockdown when Clubhouse reached its peak and podcasting blew up. But is it back? Tbh, It never really went away. According to Buzzsprout’s latest report, podcasting continues to be on an upward slope, with over one-third (104M) of Americans listening to podcasts regularly. It looks like more of these folks listen to podcasts than have Netflix accounts.

Youtube recently announced a dedicated podcasts page, which will allow users to explore new and popular podcast episodes, shows, and creators, as well as recommend podcast content. For creators, Youtube will also provide audio-first analytics. Earlier this year, an 84-page deck was leaked, which revealed the company’s plans for podcasts, including its focus on featuring new audio ads sold by Google. Hello, new revenue stream. 💸

Twitter is joining in the fun, too. On Thursday, the company announced the launch of a new version of Twitter Spaces, branded as Stations. Slightly different from traditional podcasting apps and feeds, Stations features topic-based playlists that will include both episodes from RSS feeds, as well as Twitter-native audio clips and recordings.

By the looks of it, makers are also excited by the future of audio–we’ve seen plenty of great launches recently that point to that.

Zencastr launched Zencastr 3.0, which now lets creators record, publish, and monetize their episodes all from the same place.

Galas helps podcasters receive more feedback from listeners by allowing them to create a forum-like page for discussions that can be added to their show notes.

• Tech YouTuber, Sara Dietschy, is doing an AMA over on Discussions. Ask her anything about her latest launch, her first Kickstarter campaign, and how she makes YouTube videos!

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