The 7 The Washington Post

4-12-24Why was there an ad on my subscriber edition of the 7 this morning?

5/3/24 I’ve had two ads now. I’m a subscriber and curious about why this is happening.

The lack of show notes in each episode is a poor choice. Links to each story being covered if nothing else would be useful. Don’t just provide the link to the briefing. Put direct links to each of the 7 stories being covered. Why that seemingly obvious step is not being taken is quite concerning.

Also, providing ad-free episodes to Post subscribers only if they also use and login through Apple Podcasts seems customer-hostile, if not outright enabling of Apple’s market power. Independent podcast creators and companies have figured out custom feed links for individualized subscriptions (Relay, ATP, Stratechery, and Patreon as just a few examples). Those feed links work in any podcast app that allows feed URLs to be input. That seems more open and accessible instead of forcing paid Post subscribers to use one specific app. It’s too bad that the folks at the Post won’t engage with such a solution.

The show would have gotten a 4 or 5-star rating from me if not for the choices outlined above. It’s a decent morning digest, for surface level coverage at least. For what purports to be a top-tier news reporting organization, this doesn’t seem to get the support it should have.

Would love this podcast if a more monotone “news” reporting style were used as the content is serious. Then again it is generational that everything be upbeat and entertaining. Sadly much in this world is neither.