‘Wisecrack’ walks away with four awards

• The winners of the sixth annual Ambies awards were announced last night - Tenderfoot TV’s Wisecrack walked away with four awards including Podcast of the Year. Jodie Tovay, the co-host, accepted the award, noting twice that the show had been turned down by all the major (television) streamers. Kara Swisher was given the Governors Award. You can watch the ceremony here.

• Good news: while Apple’s general specification for HLS streaming includes an option to make the ads unskippable, we’ve heard from multiple sources that Apple Podcasts will not be supporting that feature. We’ve updated our technical detail article with that information , and made a few other edits to keep it up to date.

• iHeartMedia released “the state of podcasting 2026 - what advertisers need to know”. “When compared to social media, Americans find podcasts 23x more trustworthy."

• Acast spoke at MIP London, highlighting that the company is careful to protect the amount of ad load to avoid reaching saturation point.

• If the future for podcasting is video, perhaps the future of YouTube is audio. Podcast hosting company Ausha has added a tool to turn YouTube videos into audio podcasts. It joins Blubrry’s Vid2Pod service, which was launched two years ago; both tools will also convert an entire YouTube playlist into audio podcasts, as well as new uploads.

• Martin Bojtos suggests that revenue for podcasting will increase by 20% for podcasters who take advantage of Apple Podcasts video.

People News

• AudioUK has a new CEO - Chris Baughen, who starts at the end of March. He joins from Wondery, Spotify, Global and Deezer.

Podcast News - with Airwave

Airwave congratulates our Ambie-winning podcast for the category of Best DIY Podcast! Redacted History is a show where we can have real, unfiltered conversations about the things that SOME FOLK don’t want us to talk about - telling the stories of people that the textbooks forgot. It’s hosted by the award-winning Dr André White.

What Your Therapist Thinks is back for season two, with new episodes dropping today. The first season topped Apple Podcasts charts, becoming #1 in Mental Health and #1 in Health & Fitness. The new season features guests like TherapyJeff, a licensed therapist with 4M followers across social platforms.

A new episode of The Practitioner-Scholar: The PennCLO Podcast features Dr. Raghu Krishnamoorthy, Director of the Penn Chief Learning Officer Doctoral Program, and Sharon M. Ravitch, Ph.D., Professor of Practice at Penn GSE, celebrating the launch of their new book, Leaders as Architects of Change. - and what leadership demands now in a world defined by uncertainty, accelerated change, and constant disruption.

Get into STEM is a new podcast supporting Australian educators to engage every student in meaningful STEM learning, regardless of background, ability, or prior experience. Michelle Hamill chats with guests about creating neuro‑affirming STEM classrooms, the role of school leaders in STEM education, citizen science in schools, and the opportunities and resources available across the STEM education landscape.

Wondering where to go next? Get digestable guides to global destinations on the Travel in 10. From the best sightseeing spots and accommodations, to dining and activities, this show is great for busy people with 10 minutes to spare - to work out where to be constantly on the go next.

Podcasts in the wild

Sorry for the picture of the snow -too soon, New York? But, Podnews reader Stephen “Teevio” Hallgren was out snowboarding at Lake Louise last week, and while on the chair lift, saw this nice sticker for Remember Shuffle, a podcast all about the 2000s, back when it was trendy to go snowboarding. “Of course I froze my fingers to take a pic, because podcasts!”