Blog

The Podcast Standards Project (PSP) had a productive presence at the recent Podcast Movement conference in Washington DC, August 20-22, 2024. Our group convened twice during the event, with the purpose of fostering collaboration and advancing our mission to improve the open podcasting ecosystem.

Baseball and Business

Our first gathering was a casual meetup on August 20, generously sponsored by RSS.com. We enjoyed a Washington Nationals baseball game together. As industry members, we don’t always get a chance to hang out outside of official meetings, so this was a fun change!

Official Meeting Highlights

On August 22, we held our official PSP meeting, where we discussed several important topics:

1. Celebrating podcast:podroll Adoption

We began by celebrating a significant milestone: most of our members now support the podcast:podroll tag. This tag allows podcasters to recommend other shows within their RSS feed’s “channel” section. It’s a powerful tool for cross-promotion and discovery, enabling apps and websites to offer listeners curated show recommendations.

2. Leadership Update

Sam Sethi, who had previously volunteered as Chief Evangelist for the group, has decided to move on from representing the group to focus on his work with TrueFans. We thank Sam for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavors.

3. Enhancing the podcast:person Tag

We spent a lot of the meeting brainstorming on how we could improve the podcast:person tag. We explored the idea of attaching a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) to each person, with a central service/endpoint for storage. This approach, similar to Gravatar’s role in avatar management, could significantly enhance the tag’s utility:

• Improved identification of individuals across different apps and services
• Increased adoption by podcast hosting companies and apps
• New opportunities for discoverability and cross-pollination

We would need a central authority (someone like the Podcasting Index or Gravatar) to be the central repository for these GUIDs, and for verifying people’s identities.

This would be tricky to implement, but would open up some exciting possibilities:

• An endpoint for autofilling people’s information
• Options for individuals to claim and edit their profiles
• Connecting diarized transcripts to podcast:person tags with GUIDs, allowing apps and directories to display all transcripts from a specific person

4. AI Content Identification

We discussed the possibility of introducing a tag to indicate AI-generated audio content in podcasts. This idea was inspired by YouTube’s recent implementation of asking creators if their content “Makes a real person appear to say or do something they didn’t say or do.”

5. New Application Process

To conclude our meeting, we established a new application process for hosting providers and listening apps to join the PSP. Interested parties can now apply for certification through our submission form at https://podstandards.org/apply/

Final thoughts

We were glad to have the folks from Podigee (Benjamin Zimmer and Mateusz Sójka) join us for this meeting for the first time!

Members in attendance:

• Justin Jackson (Transistor)
• Kevin Finn (Buzzsprout)
• Alberto & Ben (RSS.com)
• Pierre Finnimore (Captivate)
• Todd Cochrane (Blubrry)
• Benjamin & Mateusz (Podigee)

The Podcast Standards Project, a coalition of platforms dedicated to fostering open standards in podcasting, is thrilled to announce a significant milestone: 2.5 million podcast episodes now feature creator-supplied transcripts, which enhance accessibility and listener engagement.

This achievement was largely made possible by popular podcast hosting platforms that support the new <podcast:transcript> tag: Blubrry, Captivate, RSS.com, Transistor, Buzzsprout, RedCircle, Spreaker, and Libsyn. The introduction of user-supplied transcripts not only improves accessibility but also ensures accuracy and the inclusion of speaker labels, providing a superior listening experience.

“We are immensely proud to witness the adoption of the <podcast:transcript> tag,” said Sam Sethi, Communications Director of the Podcast Standards Project. “This proves that it’s possible to innovate on top of an open standard, like RSS.” Support for the transcript tag was a key feature of version 1 of their certification. In the future, the Podcast Standards Project is planning on adopting new features for podcast creators, like Host & Guest credits and Podroll, a simple way to recommend podcasts to their listeners.

Recently, Apple Podcasts was the first major listening app to support creator-submitted transcripts and the <podcast:transcript> tag. “Having Apple Podcasts support the transcript tag in RSS feeds is a big win for the podcasting ecosystem,” says Justin Jackson, CEO of Transistor. “We’d love to see platforms like Spotify, Pocket Casts, and YouTube follow suit.”

There are nearly 51,000 podcasts with the RSS transcript tag in total. This number would increase dramatically if Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor) enabled users to add VTT or SRT transcript files as part of their hosting service. It’s estimated that their platform hosts nearly 2 million podcasts.

The Podcast Standards Project remains dedicated to advocating for the open podcasting ecosystem. By promoting RSS-based distribution, we ensure that podcasts remain a free, open medium accessible to all creators and listeners worldwide.

As we celebrate this milestone, we invite all podcast hosting providers and listening apps to join us in implementing the <podcast:transcript> tag!

For further details about our standards and how to participate, please visit https://podstandards.org/.

this post was written by Justin Jackson, Transistor

During Podcast Movement Evolutions 2024, a handful of PSP members met for lunch to discuss our ongoing goal of improving the open podcasting ecosystem for listeners and creators.

Our first topic of discussion was Apple Podcasts’ recent adoption of the <podcast:transcript> tag. The entire group felt that this was a big win for podcast standards. Now that there is a major platform supporting the tag, there is an opportunity for this tag to be adopted by other apps (Pocket Casts and Castbox are interested). Doing some advocacy work with Spotify may also encourage them to adopt the tag.

Another big opportunity is for listening apps to adopt the <podcast:person> tag so they can feature host and guest credits on podcast and episode listings. This would allow apps to emulate Apple’s host and guest credits (which are currently proprietary and unavailable to all creators). This conforms to our desire to bring value to listeners, app builders, and hosting providers by innovating on top of RSS with tags that provide value.

It was nice to have Ellie at the meeting as a representative from the podcast-listening app side! Ellie spoke about Pocket Casts, their recent backend overhaul, and how it will set them up for new feature development (and adoption of new podcasting tags). We all agreed that getting more apps to adopt podcast tags like Person, Podroll, and Transcripts should be a main focus moving forward.

The group reiterated the need for podcast hosting platforms to continue to adopt certain tags as a group. RSS, Transistor, and Captivate all committed to launching their <podcast:podroll> implementation soon (by April-June). Buzzsprout has already launched theirs.

Sam Sethi pitched the group on being the public face of Podcast Standards as Chief Evangelist. Sam has long advocated for open standards in podcasting and promoted the Podcasting 2.0 namespace. The group in attendance voted to have him perform this role for one year, with the possibility of extending it. His primary responsibility with the group will be communicating (on a monthly basis) with the press, creators, and apps about new developments. He will also help with our advocacy and outreach work to onboard more platforms.

The group also voted to move PSP communication to Slack (almost everyone uses it). We think it will help us onboard participants and improve engagement. If you would like to join Slack, email Sam Sethi.

Finally, a renewed call was made to encourage more representatives from platforms (like YouTube, Spotify, and Castbox) and hosting providers to join the Podcast Standards Project.

In attendance at the meeting:

• Sam Sethi (TrueFans)
• Ellie (Pocket Casts)
• Justin Jackson (Transistor)
• Alban (Buzzsprout)
• Alberto & Ben (RSS.com)
• Mark & Kieran (Captivate)
• Todd (Blubrry)
• James Cridland (Podnews)

this post was written by Justin Jackson, Transistor

by Justin Jackson, co-founder of Transistor

Podcasting is better when it’s open.  The open RSS protocol has been used to distribute audio since 2001, allowing podcasters the freedom to create, share, and monetize their work without limitations.

Because RSS is an open protocol, it’s not owned or controlled by a single entity. This openness allows podcasters to create, distribute, and monetize their content however they’d like. It also gives podcast listeners the freedom to choose how they listen.

However, as big players have entered the podcast ecosystem, some listening apps and hosting providers have introduced proprietary features. We’ve seen this happen before: in the 90s, Microsoft and Netscape added proprietary features to their web browsers, creating user compatibility issues.

The Podcast Standards Project has a mission similar to the Web Standards Project of 1998: to promote a minimum set of open podcast standards that all hosting providers and listening apps should implement. This will ensure that the creation and consumption of podcasts are consistent across all platforms.

Some argue that innovation in podcasting is only achievable through centralization. However, we believe it’s possible to innovate on top of the open RSS standard. We will make this happen through advocacy and collaboration with all industry players (big and small).

The Podcast Standards Project aims for hosting platforms and listening apps to adopt a standard set of new podcasting tags and features. Only when these features are widely supported can podcast creators and listeners benefit from them.

Why is open podcasting better for podcasters?

Big centralized platforms promise podcasters more distribution, but the tradeoffs can be significant. Social media platforms have reliably used this playbook for years:

1. Entice content creators to their platform with the promise of “more distribution.”
2. Initially, provide substantial organic reach for content.
3. Later, reduce the amount of organic reach a piece of content gets.
4. Monetize this (mostly free) content through ads and “boosts” (where creators have to pay to reach their own audience).

When content creators are forced to pay for access, they invariably retreat to open protocols. For example, they might ask their followers to subscribe to their email list or RSS feed. This is the benefit of open podcasting: it’s a refuge from centralized control.

It also gives podcasters significant advantages:

• They can monetize however they’d like. For example, they’re not beholden to a platform’s ad networks. They can choose Value4Value, Patreon, or sell their own ads.
• Podcasters can also decide where their show is distributed. Most folks submit to Spotify, Apple, Google, and Amazon, but some choose to avoid platforms that don’t align with their values.
• Podcasters can remove themselves from a directory if they no longer agree with that platform.
• If a platform removes a show from its directory, listeners can still access it via the RSS feed.
• Podcasters can host their audio files and RSS feeds wherever they want (they’re not dependent on a single provider). If they want to move from one hosting company to another, importing their feed and forwarding the old feed to the new one is as simple as importing their feed.

Why is open podcasting better for listeners?

When a podcast is purchased (or licensed) by a large listening app, it’s no longer available everywhere via RSS.

From the beginning, podcast listeners have been able to choose their preferred listening app. Some choose the default app installed on their phone, while others choose to use apps by independent developers.

The distributed nature of podcasting has another significant advantage: hyper-targeting is more challenging than in other media. Podcast hosts and podcast apps receive limited data about listeners, which helps bring more balance between listener privacy and advertisers’ interests than in other channels. This also means no single entity can dominate the advertising market, leading to more competition.  This helps ensure that no single platform dominates the market, ensuring value and market power accrue across the ecosystem.

Also, since we can innovate on top of the existing open standard, listeners will get access to new features. Already, podcast RSS feeds can support transcripts. Soon, we may be able to support cross-app comments, more monetization options, and video podcasts in all apps.

Want to help us build the future of open podcasting?

The Podcast Standards Project is a grassroots coalition working to establish modern, open standards, to enable innovation in the podcast industry. We exist to advocate for and protect open podcasting.

• Join us on GitHub
• Connect on Twitter: @PodStandards
• Podcasters: ask your podcast hosting platform to implement these podcast features.
• Podcast listeners: ask your listening app to support these podcast features.