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Grammar Girl, hosted by Mignon Fogarty, is celebrating its 18th anniversary this week. The podcast, which started as a "quick and dirty tip" about writing, has evolved into a show that explores all things language - from the exciting and fun to the quick tips. Over the past 18 years, Fogarty has seen major changes in the podcasting industry, such as the rise of dynamic ad insertion and the increasing presence of celebrities in the medium. While the core of producing the show hasn't changed much, Fogarty has embraced new technologies like video and AI to enhance the podcast. As Fogarty looks to the future, she is particularly interested in the potential impact of AI on the industry, though she acknowledges the challenge of podcast discovery will likely persist. Listeners can find Grammar Girl and Fogarty's other podcasts on her website or across various social media platforms.

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In this episode, host Sam Sethi is joined by Joe Tannorella, the CEO and co-founder of Pod Engine, an audio intelligence platform that mines podcast data at scale. Joe discusses how Pod Engine uses transcription, natural language processing, and other AI techniques to extract deep insights from podcast episodes, including identifying topics discussed, guests, advertising, and more. The conversation covers how Pod Engine's technology can be used for podcast discovery, guest booking, and even monitoring for misinformation. Overall, this episode provides an in-depth look at the capabilities of Pod Engine and how it aims to provide valuable data and analytics to the podcasting community.

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Bumper, a podcast growth agency started by Dan Misener and Jonas Woost, has launched the Bumper Dashboard - a tool that aggregates podcast data from various sources like hosting providers, marketing attribution services, and podcast apps. The dashboard aims to provide a comprehensive view of podcast performance metrics beyond just downloads, which Misener argues may not be the best measure of audience engagement and reach. The dashboard allows users to see verified listener numbers, total listen time, and other insights across different platforms, helping podcasters make data-driven decisions about their content and format. Bumper offers the dashboard as a free tool for its consulting clients, with the value being in the storytelling and interpretation of the data rather than just the charts and graphs.

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Mathew Passy is an experienced podcast consultant who recently sold his previous company, The Podcast Consultant. After taking some time off, he has now started a new venture called Custom Podcast Solutions, where he and a business partner are exploring various podcast-related ideas and products. One of their key projects is the "Podcast Beacon" - an NFC-enabled device like a bracelet or keychain that allows podcast listeners to easily access a creator's show by simply tapping the device. Passy is also working on developing a portable "podcast case" that aims to make it easy for podcasters to record high-quality audio when away from their home studio. Passy plans to showcase some of these new products at the upcoming Podcast Movement conference as he continues to innovate in the podcasting space.

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Josh Divney is the Content Lead at Podcast Discovery, a UK-based marketing agency that helps podcasts get discovered. Divney explains that Podcast Discovery was founded by Matt Deegan and Matt Hill to provide marketing solutions for podcasts in the UK. Divney's team at Podcast Discovery has worked with popular shows like Nish Kumar and Coco Khan's Politics podcast, Crooked Media's Pod Save the UK, and The Economist. Divney discusses Podcast Discovery's new "Virtual Studio" service, which provides remote podcast guests with high-quality video and audio equipment as well as custom 3D virtual backgrounds to enhance the production value of remote recordings. The goal is to help podcasts maintain a consistent visual identity and professional look across their content, even for remote contributors.

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Sam Sethi chats with Oskar Serrander, CEO and co-founder of Wondercraft, about their new AI-powered advertising platform. Learn how this innovative tool is revolutionizing audio ad creation, from generating ad copy to producing studio-quality voiceovers and sound effects. Discover how Wondercraft is streamlining the advertising workflow, empowering creatives, and transforming the audio industry.

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Sam Sethi interviews Andrew Mason, the CEO of Descript, a popular audio and video editing platform. They discuss Descript's history, innovative features like the "Overdub" voice cloning tool, and future plans for the platform, including improvements to the editing workflow and the integration of AI-powered automation tools. The conversation provides an in-depth look at the evolution of podcast production tools and the challenges of balancing powerful editing capabilities with maintaining an authentic, human-sounded final product.

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Lower Street, a UK-based branded podcast agency, has acquired the Pacific Content brand and trademarks. Lower Street was founded in 2017 and has been a long-time admirer of Pacific Content's work in creating high-quality branded podcasts.

The acquisition allows Lower Street to continue the "mission and values" that Pacific Content stood for in pushing the boundaries of creative and impactful branded podcast content. Several Pacific Content employees will be joining the Lower Street team.

Harry Morton, founder of Lower Street, believes the branded podcast market still has significant growth potential, despite a slight slowdown in the last 18 months. He sees branded podcasts as a powerful way for companies to build relationships with niche, engaged audiences.

While branded podcasts may not top the overall podcast charts, they can still achieve impressive performance and chart positions within their target niches. Lower Street has had over 100 branded podcasts reach the #1 spot on Apple Podcasts charts.

Moving forward, Lower Street plans to maintain the Pacific Content brand and blog content, leveraging the strong equity and reputation it has built in the industry. The two brands will work together, with Lower Street's existing strong brand identity remaining intact.

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