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Friday, Aug 1, 2025
Spotify is adding age verification for users in the UK to access mature content, including podcasts marked as ‘explicit’. It uses a service called Yoti, which employs face scanning or asks you to upload images of your ID. It’s part of the UK’s Online Safety Act.
- UK podcast The News Agents recently reported on a story where the UK government mistakenly leaked the identities of 18,000 Afghans who worked with the British government.
- Proton VPN says it has had 18x more downloads in the UK since the law came into effect.
ID checks are also coming to Australia, where YouTube and other social media services are to be banned for everyone under the age of 16 from Dec 10. The ban is for YouTube accounts, which includes YouTube Music. Facebook, Instagram and others are also to be banned.
- This episode of the ABC’s PM podcast reports on Australian airline Qantas has confirmed that the personal information of 5.7 million customers was compromised in July.
- Mullvad VPN sells vouchers via Amazon Australia: a voucher removes any potential link between an anonymous VPN account and the credit card used to pay for it.
Godcaster, which unifies live radio and podcasts, is now available as an app, for iPhone and Android. Adam Curry made the announcement on the Glenn Beck Program.
Podcast guest platform Talks.co has added double opt-in guest matching, hoping to help podcast hosts who are drowning in cold pitches from potential guests. There’s a free plan for podcast hosts.
Podcast production agency Podcast Town has rebranded as EF3 Studios, broadening its focus to serve as a full-scale media and brand activation partner.
The growing demand for video-first podcast spaces means Podshop Studios in London has announced a new four-studio complex in Shoreditch, close to its existing site.
👉There's More To Read: HERE
Thursday, July 31, 2025
Nielsen released The Record: Q2 US audio listening trends. Podcasting accounts for 19% of all ad-supported audio listened-to every day. For 18-34 years-olds, podcasts account for almost a third of all time listening to ad-supported audio .
Magellan AI says there’s a new biggest podcast advertiser in the US - and it’s not BetterHelp or Amazon. It’s Toyota: the car maker hitting $5.7mn in spend in June.
A new feature for the RØDECaster Pro II and Pro Duo has been launched - RØDE CallMe. It’s a seamless, low-latency audio connection, allowing users to connect to remote guests. They can use either other RØDECaster units, or a web browser. You’ll need to update your unit to the latest firmware - and ensure it’s registered.
👉There's More To Read: HERE
Spotify released its Q2/25 financial report. Year-on-year, the company made 53% more income, and 19% higher profit. It now has 696mn monthly users (up 11%).
Spotify’s revenue from ads decreased by 1% to €453mn (US $523mn). Daniel Ek tackled this head on in his opening remarks: “The one area that hasn’t yet met our expectations is our ads business – we’ve been moving too slowly and it’s taking longer than expected to see the improvements we initiated take hold. It’s really an execution challenge, not a problem with the strategy. While I am unhappy with where we are today, I remain confident in the ambitions we laid out for this business… we are working quickly to ensure we are on the right path.” Spotify’s VP of Global Advertising, Lee Brown, is to leave the company by what’s described as a mutual agreement.
How is video working on Spotify. In Dec 2023, the company only had 100,000 video podcasts on its platform; now, according to Gustav Söderström, there are “more than 430,000 video podcasts on Spotify and video continues to outperform with consumption trending higher and higher - growing 20x faster than audio-only consumption since 2024. More than 350 million users have streamed a video podcast on our platform, a 65% increase year over year.” These figures look impressive; but Spotify only launched their big video push in Nov 2024 - and many larger video podcasters are quietly given $5,000 of advertising to kick things off, which might mean only a temporary uplift. Later, in the earnings call, Alex Norström added that “Users who watch a podcast consume 1.5x more than users who just listen”.
Nominees for the 2025 Ear Worthy Awards have been announced, which recognises indie podcasts and podcasters. Our editorial policy is that we don’t single out specific podcasts who get nominations, which we’re slightly regretting today. But we - by which we mean all nominated podcasters, of course - find out who’s won on Aug 26. Fingers crossed!
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Spotify’s revenue from ads decreased by 1% to €453mn (US $523mn). Daniel Ek tackled this head on in his opening remarks: “The one area that hasn’t yet met our expectations is our ads business – we’ve been moving too slowly and it’s taking longer than expected to see the improvements we initiated take hold. It’s really an execution challenge, not a problem with the strategy. While I am unhappy with where we are today, I remain confident in the ambitions we laid out for this business… we are working quickly to ensure we are on the right path.” Spotify’s VP of Global Advertising, Lee Brown, is to leave the company by what’s described as a mutual agreement.
How is video working on Spotify. In Dec 2023, the company only had 100,000 video podcasts on its platform; now, according to Gustav Söderström, there are “more than 430,000 video podcasts on Spotify and video continues to outperform with consumption trending higher and higher - growing 20x faster than audio-only consumption since 2024. More than 350 million users have streamed a video podcast on our platform, a 65% increase year over year.” These figures look impressive; but Spotify only launched their big video push in Nov 2024 - and many larger video podcasters are quietly given $5,000 of advertising to kick things off, which might mean only a temporary uplift. Later, in the earnings call, Alex Norström added that “Users who watch a podcast consume 1.5x more than users who just listen”.
Nominees for the 2025 Ear Worthy Awards have been announced, which recognises indie podcasts and podcasters. Our editorial policy is that we don’t single out specific podcasts who get nominations, which we’re slightly regretting today. But we - by which we mean all nominated podcasters, of course - find out who’s won on Aug 26. Fingers crossed!
👉There's More To Read: HERE
They’re already in apps like Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and Spotify: transcripts might be the next feature to be added to popular iOS app Overcast. John Spurlock has spotted a new tool called “Overcast Transcriber” accessing podcast episodes. (Support for the funding tag would be excellent too, Marco!)
Edison Research is to present The UK Podcast Consumer 2025 in a free webinar on Thu Aug 7.
Acast announced a global partnership with Magnite, which will make Acast’s podcasts available to advertisers via the world’s largest independent supply-side platform for advertising.
Sport Social - now home to over 300 football shows across the Premier League and English Football League - has added EFL show Not The Top 20 Podcast to its roster.
Podsqueeze has launched a new website builder for podcasters. The tool is available on all plans, including free ones.
Retailers should give audio a starring role in their media advertising plans, says Westwood One’s Pierre Bouvard, highlighting advertising for this year’s Amazon Prime Day.
Nine indigenous podcasts have been awarded a total of CA$200,000 in Canada.
Podcast hosting company RSS.com has launched PAID: “Programmatic Ads Inserted Dynamically”. Ads are automatically selected and placed in shows (as preroll, midroll or postroll); podcasters can start earning instantly. All paid RSS customers are eligible with just 10 downloads a month anywhere in the world; payments are made monthly with PayPal (with a minimum payout of just $1).
Ausha is planning something fun for Podcast Movement - PodWars: Battle for Visibility. The Ausha booth will let podcasters check how visible their shows are.
The Italian Podcasting Festival 2025 has been announced: part online, part in-person. It includes an online event on International Podcasting Day.
A few weeks ago, Ömer, the host of the Perxudres Podcast, contacted Podnews with an interesting problem: Spotify for Creators didn’t list the Kurdish language in its dropdown box for podcasts: making it really hard for those podcasts to be found. We made some enquiries; and, good news for the 29 million people who speak the language: it’s now available to be selected. Kurdîya li Spotifyê pîroz be!
The Times publishes a piece (behind a paywall) about the phenomenon of the “always on” podcast, and whether audiences should be a little more forgiving of hosts taking time away. (The benefit of a co-hosted show is that one can take time off while the other doesn’t, of course).
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Edison Research is to present The UK Podcast Consumer 2025 in a free webinar on Thu Aug 7.
- Adspend in the UK grew by 8% in Q1/25. No figures for podcasting were given.
Acast announced a global partnership with Magnite, which will make Acast’s podcasts available to advertisers via the world’s largest independent supply-side platform for advertising.
- De skickade pressmeddelandet till oss på svenska först. Vi publicerade det. Det ser bra ut.
Sport Social - now home to over 300 football shows across the Premier League and English Football League - has added EFL show Not The Top 20 Podcast to its roster.
Podsqueeze has launched a new website builder for podcasters. The tool is available on all plans, including free ones.
Retailers should give audio a starring role in their media advertising plans, says Westwood One’s Pierre Bouvard, highlighting advertising for this year’s Amazon Prime Day.
Nine indigenous podcasts have been awarded a total of CA$200,000 in Canada.
👉There's More To Read: HERE
Monday, July 28, 2025
Podcast hosting company RSS.com has launched PAID: “Programmatic Ads Inserted Dynamically”. Ads are automatically selected and placed in shows (as preroll, midroll or postroll); podcasters can start earning instantly. All paid RSS customers are eligible with just 10 downloads a month anywhere in the world; payments are made monthly with PayPal (with a minimum payout of just $1).
- The tool has access to multiple systems for ad inventory across the US and worldwide; typically podcasters earn 70% of the revenue, the company says.
- RSS.com will be at Podcast Movement in Dallas. Our Editor is an advisor.
Ausha is planning something fun for Podcast Movement - PodWars: Battle for Visibility. The Ausha booth will let podcasters check how visible their shows are.
- Also at Podcast Movement, just announced is The Podcast Growth Study, a new keynote unveiling in-depth research on how listeners discover shows, become superfans, and respond to marketing. It’s with Strategic Solutions Research and Point-To-Point Marketing.
- Arielle Nissenblatt dug out the (printed) Podcast Movement 2017 program.
- Podnews readers save on selected Podcast Movement passes
The Italian Podcasting Festival 2025 has been announced: part online, part in-person. It includes an online event on International Podcasting Day.
A few weeks ago, Ömer, the host of the Perxudres Podcast, contacted Podnews with an interesting problem: Spotify for Creators didn’t list the Kurdish language in its dropdown box for podcasts: making it really hard for those podcasts to be found. We made some enquiries; and, good news for the 29 million people who speak the language: it’s now available to be selected. Kurdîya li Spotifyê pîroz be!
The Times publishes a piece (behind a paywall) about the phenomenon of the “always on” podcast, and whether audiences should be a little more forgiving of hosts taking time away. (The benefit of a co-hosted show is that one can take time off while the other doesn’t, of course).
👉There's More To Read: HERE
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