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Tuesday, March 24, 2026
- Over the past few weeks, Podnews has heard sustained chatter from different parts of the industry about significant changes to come at Spotify’s podcasting tools, including potential closures of revenue programs and brands. Spotify flatly deny any upcoming changes, describing them to us as “very much not true”.
CNN loves podcasts so much, it appears to be making some of its programs look like them. Jake Tapper’s show appeared to “come from his office”, complete with visible microphones and a cheap sofa; Anderson Cooper also appears to be using large, in-vision microphones.
The Wall Street Journal cover “the veteran podcasters hanging up their headphones”; reasons given are the additional stress from video.
Goalhanger has launched a creator fund called The Accelerator. Creators will receive mentoring and up to £10,000 ($13,000) over a three-month period.
✔There's More: HERE
If you think there’s too much competition in podcasting, you might want to think again. The total number of new podcasts feeds in 2025 was 207,907, says Listen Notes. But the total number of new books in 2025? Just in the US, there were more than 4 million, notes Tom Webster on LinkedIn.
The BBC is to get a new Director General (the name the corporation gives for its CEO). Matt Brittin is tipped to get the job; he was the head of Google for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for more than ten years.
Semafor tells us that Vox Media tried to sell its podcast slate last year. It’s no longer for sale, says the piece.
A new podcast awards have been announced. The MPN Awards, run by the Marketing Podcast Network,, are open to any podcast in the marketing podcast world. Nominations close April 30.
Amazon Ads is now selling advertising into Spotify in Australia. The companies have been working together in other markets since October.
British Airways has reportedly added podcasts on its in-flight entertainment service from Audible.
Goalhanger is interviewed by The Media Leader on its paid subscription business for podcasts.
Magellan AI released its top US podcast advertiser rankings for February. McDonald’s was the top mover, spending $5.1mn last month (is it just us, or did they forget to mention the brand name in the ad? Weird) Clothing company Quince is the #1 spender, spending $5.8mn.
Podtrac published its global multi-channel podcast ranking for February. The MeidasTouch Podcast is still #1, but The Rest is History has jumped up to third place.
PodcastOne renewed sales and distribution for five popular A+E Networks podcasts. The shows’ combined downloads are more than 200 million.
Acast has become the first global platform to join Spain’s Audio Academy. The organisation aims to support Spanish-language audio’s professionalisation, and strengthen its institutional representation.
Want to run the world’s biggest podcast festival? Crossed Wires is looking for a Managing Director for the yearly event in Sheffield.
The BBC website has a new regular podcast review section. Eight of the best podcasts of 2026 so far is from Fiona Sturges, who has been writing a weekly column at the FT for the last decade, and also works at The Guardian and I paper.
Spotify launched a new podcast, Spotify EQUAL, highlighting the company’s five year program to address gender inequities in music. Interviewing ambassadors for the program, the artists share their creative journeys, the challenges they’ve faced, and what it takes to build community and equity for women in music.
Transcripts are coming to Overcast, and will be free for everyone, says developer Marco Arment. We first reported on this feature in July. The service doesn’t yet use creator-produced transcripts, relying on AI; and the current beta says (see it here) that each transcript “probably contains errors”. However, Marco tells Podnews that today’s build already downloads any VTT specified in the feed using the Podcasting 2.0 tag - "I just haven’t finished the parsing and display of them yet”, he says. (It’ll transcribe everything - even private feeds).
When is the new video experience in Apple Podcasts going to launch? It’s with iOS 26.4, which has just posted its release candidate. That might mean it’s released to the public “as soon as next Wednesday (Mar 25) or as late as the following Monday (Mar 30)”, says seasoned Apple watcher John Spurlock. The upgrade message does not appear to promote video in Apple Podcasts to iPhone users; but opening Apple Podcasts gives a new splash screen highlighting the new feature.
Podcast app and hosting company Truefans has launched a video hosting service. The service charges by total bandwidth used, and works with a number of third-party podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts. Podcasters will gain access to a new ‘watch time’ metric.
AdResults Media pulls together five audio trends that might help you update your own company deck about podcasting and audio.
In Australia, the IAB has embarked on a new piece of work about “the future of measurement” - reviewing current measurement practices and identifying gaps and future requirements.
Ausha’s Odile Beniflah writes about her experiences at Podcast Movement Evolutions at SXSW. The new format “worked beautifully”, she said. Meanwhile, Greg Wasserman from RSS.com also wrote his reflections, highlighting the two generations of media creators who attended the event.
The winners of the iHeart Podcast Awards 2026 were announced. Podcast of the year went to Acast’s Giggly Squad. The show was hosted by Ego Nwodim, and three Icon Awards were also given out, to Jay Shetty, Terry Gross and Hrishikesh Hirway.
A new US tax change could be good news for podcasters, says Ralph V Estep Jr, but it could also be confusing. Today, with the Podcast Professionals Association, he writes for Podnews: No Tax on Tips: What Podcasters Must Know Now - detailing the new tax rule that might mean meaningful money, as long as you do it right.
In Australia, the Australian Podcast Ranker was released for February. There have been two enhancements to Demos+, allowing media buyers to see top indexing podcasts by audience composition, and an enhanced category ranker. The full ranker shows Mamamia Out Loud as retaining the #1 slot. Three smart-speaker bulletins are also in the top 10 - ABC News Top Stories, Sky News Australia Update, and The Update from NOVA.
The industry data website Podcast Industry Insights has relaunched, with new data from Apple Podcasts categories as well as the Podcast Index. The information now contains seven years of historical data, and it remains outside of a paywall.
Castbox’s Valentina Kaledina writes her thoughts from Podcast Movement Evolutions at SXSW. “If you want to become an influencer only on one platform, that is not going to work. Your audience is expecting from you a few different forms of content that they can consume in various settings.”
Monday, March 23, 2026
The BBC is to get a new Director General (the name the corporation gives for its CEO). Matt Brittin is tipped to get the job; he was the head of Google for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for more than ten years.
Semafor tells us that Vox Media tried to sell its podcast slate last year. It’s no longer for sale, says the piece.
A new podcast awards have been announced. The MPN Awards, run by the Marketing Podcast Network,, are open to any podcast in the marketing podcast world. Nominations close April 30.
Amazon Ads is now selling advertising into Spotify in Australia. The companies have been working together in other markets since October.
British Airways has reportedly added podcasts on its in-flight entertainment service from Audible.
Goalhanger is interviewed by The Media Leader on its paid subscription business for podcasts.
✔There's More: HERE
Friday, March 20, 2026
Podtrac published its global multi-channel podcast ranking for February. The MeidasTouch Podcast is still #1, but The Rest is History has jumped up to third place.
PodcastOne renewed sales and distribution for five popular A+E Networks podcasts. The shows’ combined downloads are more than 200 million.
Acast has become the first global platform to join Spain’s Audio Academy. The organisation aims to support Spanish-language audio’s professionalisation, and strengthen its institutional representation.
Want to run the world’s biggest podcast festival? Crossed Wires is looking for a Managing Director for the yearly event in Sheffield.
The BBC website has a new regular podcast review section. Eight of the best podcasts of 2026 so far is from Fiona Sturges, who has been writing a weekly column at the FT for the last decade, and also works at The Guardian and I paper.
Spotify launched a new podcast, Spotify EQUAL, highlighting the company’s five year program to address gender inequities in music. Interviewing ambassadors for the program, the artists share their creative journeys, the challenges they’ve faced, and what it takes to build community and equity for women in music.
✔There's More: HERE
Thursday, March 19, 2026
When is the new video experience in Apple Podcasts going to launch? It’s with iOS 26.4, which has just posted its release candidate. That might mean it’s released to the public “as soon as next Wednesday (Mar 25) or as late as the following Monday (Mar 30)”, says seasoned Apple watcher John Spurlock. The upgrade message does not appear to promote video in Apple Podcasts to iPhone users; but opening Apple Podcasts gives a new splash screen highlighting the new feature.
Podcast app and hosting company Truefans has launched a video hosting service. The service charges by total bandwidth used, and works with a number of third-party podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts. Podcasters will gain access to a new ‘watch time’ metric.
AdResults Media pulls together five audio trends that might help you update your own company deck about podcasting and audio.
In Australia, the IAB has embarked on a new piece of work about “the future of measurement” - reviewing current measurement practices and identifying gaps and future requirements.
Ausha’s Odile Beniflah writes about her experiences at Podcast Movement Evolutions at SXSW. The new format “worked beautifully”, she said. Meanwhile, Greg Wasserman from RSS.com also wrote his reflections, highlighting the two generations of media creators who attended the event.
✔There's More: HERE
Wednesday, March 18 2026
A new US tax change could be good news for podcasters, says Ralph V Estep Jr, but it could also be confusing. Today, with the Podcast Professionals Association, he writes for Podnews: No Tax on Tips: What Podcasters Must Know Now - detailing the new tax rule that might mean meaningful money, as long as you do it right.
In Australia, the Australian Podcast Ranker was released for February. There have been two enhancements to Demos+, allowing media buyers to see top indexing podcasts by audience composition, and an enhanced category ranker. The full ranker shows Mamamia Out Loud as retaining the #1 slot. Three smart-speaker bulletins are also in the top 10 - ABC News Top Stories, Sky News Australia Update, and The Update from NOVA.
The industry data website Podcast Industry Insights has relaunched, with new data from Apple Podcasts categories as well as the Podcast Index. The information now contains seven years of historical data, and it remains outside of a paywall.
Castbox’s Valentina Kaledina writes her thoughts from Podcast Movement Evolutions at SXSW. “If you want to become an influencer only on one platform, that is not going to work. Your audience is expecting from you a few different forms of content that they can consume in various settings.”
✔There's More: HERE
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