Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#91

Post by chrisrhoden » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:18 PM UTC

bscphil wrote: post #72

snailmailman wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the later could be possible. I have no idea how podcast-ads work but lately i noticed some podcasts giving me seemingly location-dependent ads. (about something in a nearby major city) either everyone is getting advertisements for a very dallas targeted ad, or are the podcast companies making several versions of the podcast and serving different ones to different people? sounds like a lot of extra work to me,…

I agree - actually I've gotten into the habit of trying to track down the original RSS feed for each podcast I listen to. Often the link shared by the podcaster will be to rehosters like Google Play or iTunes, or lesser-known services, that have tracking and probably the ability to insert custom ads. The worst is when they make the elitist move of only linking iTunes, making their podcast unlistenable (on mobile at l…

> podcasts have unblockable ads

As far as I know, they are also the last digital ads with a non-disableable skip button, so you win some and lose some.

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#92

Post by julianz » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:21 PM UTC

neves wrote: post #73

MBCook wrote: post #2

This is very unfortunate. Apple being totally hands off, other than running the iTunes podcast directory, is one of the best things that’s ever happened for podcasts. I like my 3rd party app (Overcast). I don’t want to have to use 3 podcast apps to listen to all my podcasts. I think I agree with some of the podcast app developers: if it’s not available in any app it shouldn’t be called a ‘podcast’.

I see a lot of good podcast apps for Apple but I couldn't find a nice one for Android. I would like to pay for one, but I can't a reasonable one that allows me to make my playlists and speed listen without drowning me in ads. Sure I can spend hours trying each one of the dozens, but would my fellow HN have any suggestion?

Pocket Casts. End of story. It has speed settings and silence trimming, playlists, syncs across devices, and you pay for it so there's no ads.

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#93

Post by chrisrhoden » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:26 PM UTC

Swenrekcah wrote: post #36

MBCook wrote: post #2

This is very unfortunate. Apple being totally hands off, other than running the iTunes podcast directory, is one of the best things that’s ever happened for podcasts. I like my 3rd party app (Overcast). I don’t want to have to use 3 podcast apps to listen to all my podcasts. I think I agree with some of the podcast app developers: if it’s not available in any app it shouldn’t be called a ‘podcast’.

Completely agree that if it’s not accessible on any app then it’s not a podcast. I also would pay for a podcast app that could guarantee that the audio file was the same for all listeners.

Real question - is it dynamic ads that bug you, or the implication that there is some personal tracking motivating the dynamic ads (rather than, say, calendar based ad buys or impression limits)?

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#94

Post by jayflux » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:28 PM UTC

b_tterc_p wrote: post #24

I don’t know why apple assumes they will be good at making creative content. Podcasts, TV, video games... They might be. No reason to lean either way. But it’s expensive. It feels contrary to the desires of people who invested in apple, the hardware, software, and platform provider...

Apple won’t be making the content, my guess is they’ll pull a Spotify and buy the productions companies who make the content. Things will continue the way they are now, except they’re exclusive to Apple.

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#95

Post by filmgirlcw » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:29 PM UTC

fetus8 wrote: post #57

microdrum wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I personally don’t like Overcast because of the ad injection (which I consider immoral) and the hypocrisy of its author being anti-ads in general (not to mention having built Tumblr, which turned out to be a porn obfuscation service), I agree that this is a bad move by Apple. Doesn’t matter: podcasts are going to go the way of TV, radio, and movies anyway.

I've been using Overcast, and have noticed that with certain podcasts, the audio ad-breaks seem to come in the middle of sentences, and there's no segue from podcast content to ad-read. Is that what you're referring to by "ad injection"? Or is just that the creator sucks at editing?

That’s because the podcast in question probably uses a network/hosting service that auto-injects ads. Overcast does NOT inject ads into podcasts. It offers banner ads in the app for podcasts (and you can pay to turn that off), but it doesn’t inject any content into the podcasts themselves.

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#96

Post by filmgirlcw » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:33 PM UTC

I don’t mind if Apple does this. I don’t even mind if Apple uses this as an opportunity to promote/feature its podcasts more prominently in Apple Podcasts. But I’m very fearful that Apple will make its podcasts only available in Apple Podcasts and won’t adhere to the RSS spec and will only be available in its apps and on its platform.

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#97

Post by ufo » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:36 PM UTC

bscphil wrote: post #72

snailmailman wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the later could be possible. I have no idea how podcast-ads work but lately i noticed some podcasts giving me seemingly location-dependent ads. (about something in a nearby major city) either everyone is getting advertisements for a very dallas targeted ad, or are the podcast companies making several versions of the podcast and serving different ones to different people? sounds like a lot of extra work to me,…

I agree - actually I've gotten into the habit of trying to track down the original RSS feed for each podcast I listen to. Often the link shared by the podcaster will be to rehosters like Google Play or iTunes, or lesser-known services, that have tracking and probably the ability to insert custom ads. The worst is when they make the elitist move of only linking iTunes, making their podcast unlistenable (on mobile at l…

Some soundcloud podcasts don't have,an RSS feed and,are only listenable withthe soundcloud app. These are the worst.

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#98

Post by filmgirlcw » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:37 PM UTC

bscphil wrote: post #72

snailmailman wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the later could be possible. I have no idea how podcast-ads work but lately i noticed some podcasts giving me seemingly location-dependent ads. (about something in a nearby major city) either everyone is getting advertisements for a very dallas targeted ad, or are the podcast companies making several versions of the podcast and serving different ones to different people? sounds like a lot of extra work to me,…

I agree - actually I've gotten into the habit of trying to track down the original RSS feed for each podcast I listen to. Often the link shared by the podcaster will be to rehosters like Google Play or iTunes, or lesser-known services, that have tracking and probably the ability to insert custom ads. The worst is when they make the elitist move of only linking iTunes, making their podcast unlistenable (on mobile at l…

There’s not a universal solution, in part because many times the dynamic ad-insertion is something the podcasters themselves want (or it’s one of the terms of using a certain podcast host).

I have a podcast with a podcasting network that sells our ads for us. To my knowledge, they don’t do any dynamic ad insertions for older episodes (though if they did, I wouldn’t necessarily be upset, provided they were inserted the right way), but plenty of podcasting networks DO do that and it’s something the creator’s endorse because it means they are getting paid more money.

There are third-party podcast apps that rehost feeds and may add their own stuff to the content — that’s another issue entirely — but most dynamic ad-insertion stuff is happening with the permission/consent of the people that make the podcast, either explicitly or as terms they agreed to in order to get hosted/have ads sold on their behalf.

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#99

Post by chipotle_coyote » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:40 PM UTC

filmgirlcw wrote: post #96

I don’t mind if Apple does this. I don’t even mind if Apple uses this as an opportunity to promote/feature its podcasts more prominently in Apple Podcasts. But I’m very fearful that Apple will make its podcasts only available in Apple Podcasts and won’t adhere to the RSS spec and will only be available in its apps and on its platform.

I'd kind of like them to make their podcasts totally open (i.e., like every other non-exclusive podcast), with a proviso that their original podcasts cannot be made available through any app that shares exclusive for-pay content. That is, you can listen to an Apple Original Podcast(tm) on not only Apple Podcasts, but Overcast, Castro, Pocketcasts, etc., but not through Spotify or Luminary.

And, yes, I recognize that'd be kind of a jerk move, but I'm okay with being a jerk in this context.

Re: Apple Plans to Bankroll Original Podcasts to Fend Off Rivals

#100

Post by ufo » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 10:45 PM UTC

neves wrote: post #73

MBCook wrote: post #2

This is very unfortunate. Apple being totally hands off, other than running the iTunes podcast directory, is one of the best things that’s ever happened for podcasts. I like my 3rd party app (Overcast). I don’t want to have to use 3 podcast apps to listen to all my podcasts. I think I agree with some of the podcast app developers: if it’s not available in any app it shouldn’t be called a ‘podcast’.

I see a lot of good podcast apps for Apple but I couldn't find a nice one for Android. I would like to pay for one, but I can't a reasonable one that allows me to make my playlists and speed listen without drowning me in ads. Sure I can spend hours trying each one of the dozens, but would my fellow HN have any suggestion?

AntennaPod is a fantastic FOSS podcast app for android. It doesn't have in-app purchases, advertisements or other such misfeatures.

There is a speed setting that speeds things up without sounding distorted. You can toggle between a configurable list of speeds (I switch between 1.0x and 1.15x depending on the podcast). I just wish it would remember different speeds for each podcast -- currently the speed behaves as a global setting.

The UI is set up so that when you download a new episode it goes into the reproduction queue. I don't think it has playlists but in my experience being able to reorder the episodes in the queue is all I need because I rarely listen to the same episode twice.