That is Sizzling Pod, The Verge’s e-newsletter about podcasting and the audio trade. Join here for extra.
Howdy! I do know lots of you might be in LA for Podcast Motion Evolutions. I’m not, so be happy to succeed in out with gossip.
Right now, New York Journal publishes a polarizing profile of podcast star Andrew Huberman, Slate takes residence the award for Podcast of the Yr, and Invoice Maher launches a brand new community.
New York Journal publishes prolonged function on Andrew Huberman and his messy private life
I don’t begrudge you for those who haven’t had the time to learn New York Journal’s 8,000-word cover story on Andrew Huberman. Whereas a lot of the piece focuses on how he juggled a number of affairs as he was in a long-term relationship (spoiler: all the ladies develop into pals!), it additionally seems on the tradition of bro podcasts and the way they’ve develop into surprisingly central, if not precisely dependable, sources of data.
Huberman, a neurobiology professor at Stanford, rose to prominence a number of years in the past by making science explainer movies and showing as a visitor on exhibits like The Joe Rogan Expertise and Lex Fridman Podcast. His present, Huberman Lab, launched in 2021 and at present ranks within the prime 15 podcasts on each Spotify and Apple Podcasts. And, based on Chartable, it has the fifth-highest attain of any podcast in the world.
The writer, NYMag options author Kerry Howley, argues that Huberman’s educational background provides him a sheen of legitimacy, though his ordinary pet matters — health, psychological wellness, and why it’s best to by no means ever have even a drop of alcohol — don’t have anything to do along with his specialty of visual-system wiring.
“How snug one feels with the science propagated on Huberman Lab relies upon fully on how a lot leeway one is keen to present a person who expounds for a number of hours every week on topics effectively outdoors his space of experience,” Howley writes. I feel we’ve discovered that listeners will give their hosts of selection a lot of leeway in terms of science.
Friends and followers of Huberman have come to his protection. Specializing in the weather about Huberman’s private life, Fridman called the profile a “hit piece,” and conservative thinkpieces are cropping up claiming he’s being unfairly focused. It goes again to the mindset that unbiased hosts like Huberman, Fridman, and Rogan are extra reliable than mainstream media sources. It appears unlikely that Huberman will lose many (if any) followers over the piece, although it might put him extra on the defensive than earlier than.
What did you consider the Huberman profile? Be happy to succeed in out at ariel.shapiro@theverge.com.
Invoice Maher expands podcast operation with a controversial host
Ah, a throwback to a less complicated time when celebrities launched podcast networks. Invoice Maher, who hosts the podcast Membership Random along with Actual Time with Invoice Maher on HBO, announced today that his podcast operation is launching a brand new present hosted by controversial former ESPN host Sage Steele.
Steele, who previously co-hosted SportsCenter, was briefly taken off the air in 2021 after she made feedback on a non-ESPN podcast criticizing the community’s covid vaccine mandate. She settled a lawsuit with ESPN final yr and left the community, saying she did so as a way to “train my first modification rights extra freely.” Looks like match for Maher, who relishes pissing individuals off.
Membership Random Productions, as the brand new community is known as, can even function new exhibits from Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan and Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst, according to Variety. The community can even associate with former basketball star Kevin Garnett on his present KG Licensed.
Spotify is testing video programs within the UK
I didn’t see Spotify’s personal model of MasterClass coming, nevertheless it does make a certain quantity of sense. On Monday, the company announced that it’s partnering with academic producers like BBC Maestro and Skillshare as a part of a trial for UK customers to entry video classes on the platform.
As a part of the trial, free and premium customers within the UK will be capable of entry two classes of a course at no cost earlier than being prompted to buy further classes. Spotify stated in a launch that half of its premium subscribers have listened to academic or self-help podcasts.
Evidently the programs would function on an a la carte system just like the primary iteration of audiobooks. Given the problem of navigating customers off the platform to buy merchandise, that a part of the audiobook enterprise has not but taken off. However maybe with new tech rules in Europe and, probably, the US, that enterprise mannequin might show to be extra fruitful down the road.
Sluggish Burn: Changing into Justice Thomas will get prime honor on the Ambie Awards
Final evening in LA, The Podcast Academy held its fourth annual Awards for Excellence in Audio (aka The Ambies), honoring among the prime exhibits of the yr. Among the many winners have been some buzzy titles, together with Weight For It (Finest Indie Podcast), Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus from Lemonada Media (Finest Interview Podcast), and New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce (Finest Sports activities Podcast… 🤔).
For Podcast of the Yr, Sluggish Burn: Changing into Justice Thomas from Slate beat out fellow nominees, together with Embedded: Taking Cowl from NPR, Subsequent Yr in Moscow from The Economist, and 50 Years of Hip-Hop from KEXP. You’ll find the complete checklist of winners here.