Podfest kicks off twelfth annual event in Orlando

• Podfest kicked off its twelfth annual event, with an expected attendance of 2,000 people under a new CEO, Nick Pavilidis. There’s a full schedule here. The organisation expanded its “Podtours” across North America, and claims significant growth.

  • The Podcast Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is at Podfest tonight at 7pm with a record attendance - 2026 inductees include our Editor, James Cridland.

• Podcast Movement Evolutions will be at SXSW this year; more details have been released about the event including a morning keynote from YouTube, a dedicated recording space for creators, and a roster of leading sponsors.

• Podcasthon has crossed a significant milestone, with more than 2,000 podcasts now signed up worldwide. The annual charity podcasting initiative continues to expand across languages, countries, and causes, signaling growing momentum for coordinated podcast-led social impact. As Doug Downs reports for Podnews, it’s showing significant growth.

• PodcastOne renewed The Adam Carolla Show for a multiyear extension. The show will now be available on the Megyn Kelly channel on SiriusXM. The show, which recently celebrated its 4,000th episode, has had over 700 million downloads.

• Podcast hosting platform Transistor now supports Spotify Open Access, allowing private podcasts to be listened-to directly on the app. Shows can also appear in Spotify search if required.

• Audioboom released a trading update for 2025. Revenue was up 10%; profit up 18%. The company’s Q4 saw 150 million monthly downloads/views - an increase of 66%.

Podnews is no longer directly connected to Sounds Profitable and Podcast Movement, who appear in a story today.

People News

• Mathew Passy no longer works at Libsyn. He was working on customer sales and support for enterprise clients of the LibsynPro platform. Currently at Podfest, he is talking about the Conntap range of NFC-enabled contact tools, to help you share a podcast with just one tap. Both Rob Walch and Elsie Escobar have also left Libsyn.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: From TWiT, Security Now has now joined Airwave. Cybersecurity guru Steve Gibson joins Leo Laporte every Tuesday. Steve and Leo break down the latest cybercrime and hacking stories, offering a deep understanding of what’s happening and how to protect yourself and your business.

In the Podnews Weekly Review this week, Sam and James look at the big news from the last three weeks - including quite how much podcast traffic is generated by bots.

Parenting Hell with Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe is now a video podcast. The show will make videos available on Spotify; Prince Naseem Hamed was their first guest. The show’s out every Tuesday and Friday.

The Late Bloomer Actor returns for a fifth season. David John Clark kicks off the season with a look at universal basic income for the arts, and its similarities to podcasting’s concept of “Value 4 Value”. His guest is Conrad Shaw.

The Attention Shift dives into the evolving world of sport, media and culture, hosted by Ed Abis, Jo Redfern and Lee Radbourne. Expect unfiltered conversations about the battle for attention, platform power plays and the future of fandom. If you’re in sport, media or tech, or just obsessed with where attention is heading, this is your front-row seat.

In Light in the Battle this week, you’ll hear about 6 steps to think about to break a trauma bond after living in chaos. Narcissistic abuse tends to create chronically-high levels of stress hormones in the brain, and you’ll learn practical suggestions to normalize them.