Hello again everyone \u2014 it\u2019s been a while! Ariel\u2019s on vacation for the next week-plus, which means I get to tap in again and do my best impression of your usual host. Today, I chat about Clubhouse\u2019s big revamp, Panera adding a branded sound, and PRX Productions boosting its output through a new partnership.<\/p>\n

Clubhouse splits up<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Monday, I opened up Clubhouse to see if I could find any rooms worth tuning into. Right up top, the app suggested a room called \u201c Tech News around the World,\u201d which seemed relevant enough to me, a technology reporter. But after that, things broke down right away. \u201cQuick tip for getting more SAVES on your Pinterest pins!\u201d didn\u2019t seem to be playing well with anyone. (It had only 17 listeners.) \u201cHAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE NEPHEW RAYMO ,\u201d was surprisingly vibrant when I popped in but seemed to be poorly targeted to me, a person who does not know Raymo.<\/p>\n

Clubhouse, it almost goes without saying, has experienced a major drop-off in interest since its heights during the coronavirus-induced lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Downloads of the app have fallen 86 percent this year, the analytics firm Sensor Tower tells Hot Pod.<\/em> The firm says Clubhouse was downloaded 4.2 million times between January and July of 2022, down from 29.4 million downloads during the same period in 2021. At the same time, Twitter Spaces \u2014 anecdotally, at least \u2014 has been eating Clubhouse\u2019s lunch. I won\u2019t argue that Twitter\u2019s recommendations are that much better (they\u2019re not!), but the company was able to swiftly rebuild Clubhouse\u2019s core features inside its existing social network, siphoning off a lot of the app\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n