Kuku FM raised $19.5 Mn/ Big brands boycotting Russian markets/ Podcast moves by YouTube & Twitter
Scoops of the week:
1. Rishi Malhotra, founder & former CEO of JioSaavn, has been tapped as the new CEO of Luminary.
Malhotra says he was inspired to join Luminary because he believes that the content fostered by the company's subscription model can inspire other forms of entertainment.
On the same, Malhotra said, “I really believe in a subscription model. It allows artists to be as free as they want to be.”
2. Following are the audio-based companies that raised a round of funding in the last few days:
Kuku FM has raised a Series B funding of $19.5 million led by South Korean gaming giant Krafton.
Speaking on the Indian audio platforms, Sean Hyunil Sohn, Head of India Division at Krafton, said, "We strongly believe that Indian IPs and regional Indian languages content growth will unlock the next big monetization opportunity not just in India but even globally in the long term."
Snipd, the Zurich-based startup, has raised $700,000 to rollout an AI-powered podcast player.
Audio OTT startup, Pocket FM, has bagged $65 million in funding round. The platform will use the infused capital to introduce AI and expand its creator community.
Gumball, a startup focused on streamlining the process for buying host-read ads, has raised $10 million.
3. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the podcast and media giants have stepped forward to take their stand. Václav Kudělka, Art Director at eSuba, created a series of edits of these big brands, showing what their logos would say if they could speak.
Spotify has closed its office in Russia and removed content from Kremlin-backed outlets RT and Sputnik. In addition, it’s also restricting the discoverability of content from other outlets affiliated with the Russian government.
The European Union has also ordered their removal from the bloc.
Tech platforms including YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok have complied by blocking their accounts, with Apple and Google following suit in their respective app stores.
4. In a Bloomberg report, sources reveal that YouTube is offering $50,000 to individual shows and $200,000 and $300,000 to podcast networks.
Since creating a video version of a podcast entails building studios, hiring editors, and developing a video publishing system that comes with immense costs, YouTube's efforts will encourage podcasters and podcast networks to make that shift.
5. Podnews, considering major podcast directories, has tried to figure out approximately how many podcasts there are in the world. Apparently, it’s more than 4 million.
6. Twitter might be coming up with a podcast tab, as spotted by Alessandro Paluzzi. Nathan Gathright has shared his wishlist of what he’d like to see in this upcoming feature if it is, in fact, a podcast move.
7. Google has released a new dubbing tool, Aloud, that assists creators by transcribing, translating, and narrating their videos.
8. SickBird, a digital production company, has launched a TikTok creator incubator.
The platform is making an effort to identify emerging talent with high followership and provide them with the opportunity to create original podcasts and digital series.
The content won’t be on TikTok but rather podcasts to bring video platform users into audio creation.
9. The online tool for recording, editing and collaborating, acquired by Spotify in 2017, Soundtrap, is now available with Spotify premium as a bundle.
The bundle, costing $16.99 a month, will include Soundtrap for Music Makers Supreme (the highest tier service for musicians) and Soundtrap for Storytellers, geared towards podcasters.
Podcasters will be able to publish their podcasts from Soundtrap directly to Spotify instead of using a podcast hosting service.
A major drawback to Soundtrap is that it won’t generate an RSS feed for each episode, which you’ll need to publish your podcast outside of Spotify.
If you want to publish to Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or other podcasting services, you'll have to download each podcast episode as an audio file and then re-upload them onto third-party platforms.
Interesting reads!
Liz Horowitz from Podcast Movement shares what makes a good host-read ad
Here are some tips and best Zoom settings if you, too, use it to record your podcast interviews
Made millions with free podcasts, said no one ever until John Dumas did it with his Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast
Here are the 6 tools that will help you grow and earn from your show
That’s it for this week folks! We’ll see you again with some more interesting reads! You can always write back to us. We’d love to hear from you. Until then, we hope you stay safe, stay happy and stay creative!
Happy Podcasting!
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