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Friday, Feb 20, 2026
Crooked Media podcasts will be shown on US news channel MS NOW, in a new deal starting next weekend. Saturdays at 9pm ET, a specially produced show for the news network will include clips of a number of Crooked’s US shows. MS NOW is what was once MSNBC.
The Ambies have announced that Kara Swisher will receive the Governors Award, recognizing meaningful contributions to the growth of podcasting. TPA will also posthumously honor Reggie Ossé with the Impact Award, celebrating his lasting influence on cultural storytelling and the evolution of the medium.
T-Mobile spent $5.9mn on podcast ads in January, according to a new report from Magellan AI. The top “mover and shaker” for podcast advertising was TurboTax’s owner Intuit, which spent $2.8mn. We last covered Intuit in October 2024, when it wanted a section of a podcast removed after questions highlighting its behaviour.
“The reason video podcasts matter is YouTube. YouTube has an algorithm that puts your content in front of people who’ve never heard of you … [and] engagement tools that let you actually interact with your audience. Apple Podcasts has… none of that.”, writes Ashley Hamer Pritchard.
✔There's More: HERE
Thursday, Feb 19, 2026
Global, which owns radio and podcast companies including Captivate in the UK and ad exchange DAX, has launched its Global Player app directly in cars, through Android Automotive. It means that podcasts and radio stations are available in cars from BMW, MINI Volvo, Polestar, Renault and Nissan - without fiddling with your phone. The app includes many third-party podcasts; indeed, you can enjoy our daily podcast update directly on Global Player.
More people are writing about Apple Podcasts video, and what it means for the industry. There’s a lot to think about.
- “Another proprietary take on the otherwise open standards world of podcasting … a lock-in strategy to a format based on open standards” writes Nick Heer.
- “The real story isn’t that Apple added video. The real story is that Apple is choosing how video enters the podcasting ecosystem,” writes Rob Greenlee.
Something else to look forward to when your iPhone gets iOS 26.4, apart from video podcasts, is a new feature called “Audio Zoom” in the camera app. It causes audio to be focused on the subject of your video when the camera is zoomed in. (Appearing in the developer beta is no guarantee it’ll be launched in its current form).
DW (Deutsche Welle), Germany’s public international broadcaster, is having to make savings of €21mn (US $25mn), and around 160 full-time positions will be affected. It’s a 5% saving. This comes after the BBC announced 10% cuts totalling “hundreds of millions of pounds” last week. Both organisations make a number of podcasts.
Apple Podcasts has changed its terms of service. Except for adding the word “video” in there, there’s nothing significant in our opinion - we’ve detailed all the changes.
✔There's More: HERE
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2026
- The listener complained to the podcaster, Franco Solerio (who is also developer of Castamatic), who suggested that “injecting arbitrary content with no way in the UI to tell it’s not from the podcast producer is quite bad behaviour … if a podcaster wanted to associate images to their own chapters, they would specify them”. PodcastAddict’s developer, Xavier Guillemane, told Podnews that the feature was opt-in; adding that he was “very surprised [at] this kind of image as the safe search should be on.”
- PodcastAddict, which OP3 data shows is a top 10 podcast app with 1.8% of all podcast downloads, says it is making alterations to the feature “to produce safer results”. However, we believe that the unwritten contract between podcast publishers and apps means that podcast apps should not alter accompanying metadata without creator control.
RØDE has announced new firmware for Wireless GO (Gen 3) and Wireless PRO microphones, which allow them to pair directly with iPhones via Bluetooth.
The business model behind video on Apple Podcasts is explored by Adam Bowie. Meanwhile, we notice that if we watch an episode with a video, we appear to always get the video’s audio track; we’ve asked for clarification on what plays, when.
✔There's More: HERE
Apple Podcasts announced support for video podcasts in the next version of iOS.
Apple Podcasts also seems to have made a lot of changes to its documentation about Apple Podcasts Connect. (Why, yes, we do have an automated system checking that). Show Settings now explains how to tell if you can do video with your existing podcast host; a new Availability table tells us that video podcasts will not be available in mainland China; how to publish video tells us about API keys and talks more about analytics - and clarifies that paid subscriptions are audio-only; Analytics tells us that video analytics aren’t broken out by Apple; here’s a page trying to sell Final Cut Pro as an editing tool, and how to 'shape up your podcast copy’ with advice on Apple’s AI tools; and local capture on iPad which apparently does a very good job of capturing video and audio during live calls on FaceTime or other apps.
Away from Apple Podcasts - PodRanker claims to have checked 128 episodes to discover how much ads are in podcasts. The median figure is 3.7%, which is about two minutes per hour. 13% had no ads at all. The heaviest was 27.6% ads. These numbers are highly dependent on where podcasts are downloaded from, and also how; many podcast ad systems won’t supply ads to automated requests, especially those coming from server farms. We’ve asked for more detail.
Tuesday, Feb 17, 2026
- Unlike Spotify or YouTube, your podcast host will continue to host the video files, using HLS to deliver video in good quality. However, it only works with participating podcast hosts; Apple has launched with just four participating companies: Acast, ART19, Omny Studio and Simplecast.
- For the first time, dynamic advertising will be available for video podcasting. Apple Podcasts will charge a per-impression fee for each dynamic ad shown; however, the ads will be controlled by the podcast hosts and their ad networks. (All four launch partners, Acast, ART19, Omny Studio/Triton and Simplecast/AdsWizz, are also ad networks.)
- Podnews has taken a long look at how the new service works. We’ve posed plenty of questions to Apple, and got plenty of answers; as well as playing with the new service hands-on, and hearing what others think. There is lots more detail over here.
Apple Podcasts also seems to have made a lot of changes to its documentation about Apple Podcasts Connect. (Why, yes, we do have an automated system checking that). Show Settings now explains how to tell if you can do video with your existing podcast host; a new Availability table tells us that video podcasts will not be available in mainland China; how to publish video tells us about API keys and talks more about analytics - and clarifies that paid subscriptions are audio-only; Analytics tells us that video analytics aren’t broken out by Apple; here’s a page trying to sell Final Cut Pro as an editing tool, and how to 'shape up your podcast copy’ with advice on Apple’s AI tools; and local capture on iPad which apparently does a very good job of capturing video and audio during live calls on FaceTime or other apps.
Away from Apple Podcasts - PodRanker claims to have checked 128 episodes to discover how much ads are in podcasts. The median figure is 3.7%, which is about two minutes per hour. 13% had no ads at all. The heaviest was 27.6% ads. These numbers are highly dependent on where podcasts are downloaded from, and also how; many podcast ad systems won’t supply ads to automated requests, especially those coming from server farms. We’ve asked for more detail.
- This data comes after we highlighted Magellan AI’s report that included an average ad-load of 8.82%. Our mistake: we suggested that was 7 minutes every hour; it’s closer to 5. We’ve worked out a better way to math for next time.
✔There's More: HERE
Filling up with fuel is now a great place to also learn more about a new podcast. Purple Daily, a Minnesota Vikings podcast from Gamut Podcast Network, will now accompany you as you fill up your car at regional gas stations Kwik Trip in the area. As you fill up, you get a 30 second taster on the gas pump screen. Here’s a video of the whole thing.
Hosting on Substack? A Guardian investigation reveals some concerning other publications on the platform.
The Age of Audio movie is to get an East Coast premiere on Feb 25 in Kevin Smith’s Smodcastle Cinemas, in Atlantic Highlands NJ, USA. If you’re looking for a great documentary that traces the history of our medium, you’ll be wanting this one.
AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio (which, yes, includes podcast professionals too), is offering a free three-month membership, if you join AIR using code BetterTogether2026. It’s usually $100 for the year. (Already a member? Renew using code WorldRadioDay2026 and save $20.) The organisation includes job alerts, discounts on tools, and mentoring.
Thing we all missed: an online symposium from the MeCCSA Radio and Audio Studies group, last Friday. Speaking was Siobhán McHugh, talking about the so-called 'pivot to video’ and why audio stories can generate empathy, insight and emotion, reverberations that endure long beyond the prescriptive video ‘podcast’.
✔There's More: HERE
Monday, Feb 16, 2026
Hosting on Substack? A Guardian investigation reveals some concerning other publications on the platform.
The Age of Audio movie is to get an East Coast premiere on Feb 25 in Kevin Smith’s Smodcastle Cinemas, in Atlantic Highlands NJ, USA. If you’re looking for a great documentary that traces the history of our medium, you’ll be wanting this one.
AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio (which, yes, includes podcast professionals too), is offering a free three-month membership, if you join AIR using code BetterTogether2026. It’s usually $100 for the year. (Already a member? Renew using code WorldRadioDay2026 and save $20.) The organisation includes job alerts, discounts on tools, and mentoring.
Thing we all missed: an online symposium from the MeCCSA Radio and Audio Studies group, last Friday. Speaking was Siobhán McHugh, talking about the so-called 'pivot to video’ and why audio stories can generate empathy, insight and emotion, reverberations that endure long beyond the prescriptive video ‘podcast’.
✔There's More: HERE
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