The inaugural SONARR Awards was held last night in Sydney, hosted by Alexei Toliopoulos and bringing leading names from Australia’s audio industry together for a gala dinner celebrating the year’s best work. The debut set a new benchmark for how the industry is recognised: inclusive, detailed and creatively presented.

Opening the night, SONARR founder Pariya Taherzadeh said: “We started it because audio in this country needed a fresh look: a new way of seeing it, a new way of being heard, and quite literally, a new way of being recognised. All of that requires us to re-imagine, and we wanted everyone to be part of the re-imagining. Producers, composers, writers, event planners, creators from all walks of life. Podcast, radio, audiobook and voice-over, and all of them are built on the same two things: sound and narrative.”

The awards recognised not only well-known works and people, but also corners of the industry that rarely get a spotlight.

Winners from across the industry

Trophies were presented by representatives from AFTRS, Podnews, ABC, RØDE, Original Audio, Podcast Workers Australia, Bedou and the Australian Association of Voice Actors (AAVA), alongside independent creators including Farz Edraki and First Nations Gamilaroi, media personality Matty Mills.

The grand award of the night, SONARR of the Year, went to A Cyclone for Christmas by Caddie Brain, produced for the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. SONARR also distributed a $10,000 prize pool, with $5,000 going to the top independent winner, A Cyclone for Christmas, and $5,000 to the top commercial winner, Rhys Gunter, who won the Producer Excellence Award.

Of the 33 awards presented, 22 went to independent creators and 11 to commercial productions. Marc Fennell won four awards: three for No One Saw It Coming with Marc Fennell (ABC Radio National) and the CALD Creator Award. We Used to be Journos (Ette Media) won two, and SBS Audio won two, including Network Excellence.

SONARR held the standard firmly. Some categories were presented with only one or two finalists, because few entries met the bar. One category, Marketing for Audio, received no entries. SONARR acknowledged this openly and invited the industry to submit work for the 2027 awards.

The evening was full of powerful speeches, alongside good food, conversation and networking.

A new fixture for the calendar

With the inaugural event complete, Australian audio now has an annual occasion to look forward to and to be recognised for a full year of work, to catch up with peers, and to celebrate the late-night edits and long hours behind the audio Australians listen to every day.

The SONARR Awards was supported by AFTRS, RODE, Original Audio and AAVA.

Full list of winners

Podcasts Detail

SOUND pillar

• Audio Production Award: Conspiracy: War on the Waterfront - Rewind - ABC Radio National (Radio, Commercial)
• Sound Design and Atmosphere Award: A Cyclone for Christmas - Caddie Brain - Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (Radio, Indie)
• Original Sonic Identity Award: Shortwave - Ian Moorhead - Darwin Festival and ABC Radio Darwin (Radio, Indie)

NARRATIVE pillar

• AFTRS Narrative Excellence Award: No One Saw It Coming with Marc Fennell - Marc Fennell - ABC Radio National (Podcast, Commercial)
• Audio Drama Award: The Glam Gizmo - Gizmo Verse (Podcast, Indie)
• Investigative and Documentary Award: Dear Rachelle - True Crime Australia - News Corp Australia (Podcast, Commercial)
• Cultural and Social Insight Award: voicesofwomen's podcast - Lliane Clarke (Podcast, Indie)
• News and Public Discourse Award: We Used to be Journos - Ette Media (Podcast, Indie)
• Knowledge and Learning Award: No One Saw It Coming with Marc Fennell - Marc Fennell - ABC Radio National (Podcast, Commercial)
• STEM Award: Nocturnal Worlds - Audiocraft (Podcast, Indie)
• Business and Entrepreneurship Award: Minted Kids - Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon - F+K Media (Podcast, Indie)
• Health and Wellbeing Award: Breaking Taboos: Older Australians Talk About Mental Health - Dr Helene Thomas, Dr Mia Lindgren, Professor Kate Burridge (Podcast, Indie)
• Entertainment and Lifestyle Award: The World Cup, But Not Really - SBS Audio (Podcast, Commercial)
• Comedy Award: Tony Martin’s Sizzletown - Pots and Pans (Podcast, Indie)
• Youth and Family Award: Fluff ’n’ Stuff - Pevan & Sarah (Podcast, Commercial)
• Arts and Culture Award: No One Saw It Coming with Marc Fennell - Marc Fennell - ABC Radio National (Podcast, Commercial)
• Music Award: Cassette Culture - Martin Franklin (Podcast, Indie)

VOICE pillar

• Indie Creator Award: Kyla Brettle (Podcast, Indie)
• First Nations Creator Award: Sajarn Stow (Radio, Indie)
• Female Creator Award: Julia Rangiheuea (Podcast, Indie)
• LGBTQA+ Creator Award: Laura Brierley Newton (Podcast, Indie)
• CALD Creator Award: Marc Fennell (Podcast, Indie)
• Student Creator Award: Felicity Weaver - AFTRS (Podcast, Indie)
• Host / Presenter Excellence Award: Ashlynne McGhee (Podcast, Indie)
• Producer Excellence Award: Rhys Gunter (Podcast, Commercial)
• Performance / Acting Excellence Award: Colin Cassidy (Voice-Over, Indie)
• Network Excellence Award: SBS Audio (Podcast and Radio, Commercial)

IMPACT pillar

• Community Wave Maker Award: Soil: Rewilding the Underground - Jessica Hamilton (Podcast, Indie)
• Innovation Award: The Dynamic Blood Supply Audio System - NOVA Entertainment and Original Audio - Red Cross Australia: Lifeblood (Radio, Commercial)
• Audience Connection Award: We Used to be Journos - Ette Media (Podcast, Indie)

Vision pillar

• Video for Audio Award: Wiggle Talk - A Podcast for Parents - The Wiggles (Podcast, Commercial)
• Visual Identity Award: Real Made Up Stories - Coequal (Podcast, Indie)
• Events for Audio Award: DomeFest - Dome and Finely Tuned (Podcast, Indie)

Top pillar winners

• SOUND: A Cyclone for Christmas - Caddie Brain - Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (Radio, Indie)
• NARRATIVE: Dear Rachelle - True Crime Australia - News Corp Australia (Podcast, Commercial)
• VOICE: Rhys Gunter (Podcast, Commercial)
• IMPACT: The Dynamic Blood Supply Audio System - NOVA Entertainment and Original Audio - Red Cross Australia: Lifeblood (Radio, Commercial)
• VISION: Real Made Up Stories - Coequal (Podcast, Indie)

Cash Prize Winners ($5,000 each)

• Independent: A Cyclone for Christmas - Caddie Brain - Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (Radio, Indie)
• Commercial: Rhys Gunter (Podcast, Commercial)

SONARR of the Year

• A Cyclone for Christmas - Caddie Brain - Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (Radio, Indie)

PAVE Studios, a creator-first media company whose original content spans video, audio, live experiences, and more, today announced a deal to bring two Crime House original video podcasts to Disney+ and Hulu for an exclusive window. Clues, hosted by Kaelyn Moore, streams beginning October 20, and new video podcast Mother Knows Murder, hosted by Niecy Nash (All’s Fair, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Rookie: Feds, Claws) and her daughter, actress Dia Nash, premieres November 9. 

The deal marks the first distribution of video podcasts from PAVE Studios on a major streaming platform, furthering the reach of these creators and their unique, premium storytelling to a broader audience. 

“We built Crime House to be a brand that travels, with creator-led podcasts that can live anywhere audiences are watching. Bringing Clues and Mother Knows Murder to Disney+ and Hulu is proof of that model, and it's the first of many places we expect these stories to go," said PAVE Studios Founder and CEO Max Cutler. “As streaming platforms increasingly look to add premium content from talented creators, PAVE is well-positioned to be a content collaborator to these companies, and we are excited to be working with Disney to bring our shows to their streaming viewers.” 

Clues debuts October 20, with new episodes each week, one day before available on other podcast platforms. Some crimes are solved by a single clue. One overlooked fingerprint, a missing puzzle piece, or a detail hiding in plain sight. _T_he 2026 Webby Award-winning Crime House Original hosted by Kaelyn Moore takes you deep into the world of notorious crimes and forensic breakthroughs.

“Clues was developed with a streaming audience in mind from day one. Our goal was to create a show with the production quality and storytelling that would stand naturally alongside other premium content on a streamer like Disney+ and Hulu,” said Moore, a breakout host and creator with a top-ranked true crime slate that also includes the award-winning Heart Starts Pounding podcast and the newly premiered Last Trace with Kaelyn Moore.

The exclusive series premiere of new weekly show, Mother Knows Murder, follows on November 9, one day prior to launching across all other podcast platforms. There's nothing quite like curling up with your mom, a snack board, and a glass of wine for a true crime case you can't put down. Each week, Niecy and Dia Nash climb into bed, turn on the TV, and dig into a real case together. 

Through these shows, PAVE Studios continues to partner with established and emerging voices to build meaningful connections with audiences via its expanding portfolio of premium original content.

Strategic Solutions Research along with Point-To-Point Marketing presented “Beyond the Pre-Roll: Revenue Opportunities Beyond Traditional Commercials” on Tuesday, examining how podcast companies can create more value from their audiences without simply adding more ad inventory.

The Podcast Study 2026 is made possible with the support of Crooked Media, NPR, and PRX. Strategic Solutions Research and Point-To-Point Marketing thank all three organizations for helping make this national research and webinar series possible.

The national study of 1,205 U.S. podcast consumers showed that traditional advertising remains important, while also revealing opportunities to expand revenue through host-read advertising, memberships, premium offerings, events, and direct audience relationships.

More than half of podcast consumers, 54.8%, said podcasts already carry too many ads, while only 8.6% said they would accept more advertising to keep podcasts free.

At the same time, 40% said a host-read ad strongly influences them to try or buy a product, compared with 26.6% for a prerecorded ad. Host endorsements also improve attention, brand recall, trust, and purchase consideration.

“The opportunity here is bigger and more exciting than simply adding more ads,” said Hal Rood, Partner/EVP of Strategic Solutions Research. “Podcast companies have a chance to make existing advertising work harder while also creating new revenue through memberships, premium offerings, events, and direct audience relationships.”

Another major focus was building the audience relationship before asking consumers to pay.

Nearly half of podcast consumers, 48.5%, said they would definitely join a free VIP Club. More than eight in ten said they would open an email from a favorite host, while 46.7% have purchased merchandise or participated in an event.

The research suggested a progression from free engagement to paid participation through VIP programs, host email, exclusive content, social media, community, and events. Interest in paid offerings was strongest below $5 per month.

Tuesday’s webinar also profiled the revenue upside with two high-value audience groups identified in The Podcast Study: Superfans and Prime Prospects. Together, they account for more than one-third of the audience.

“The distinction between these two groups is important to understanding how to grow,” said Rood. “Prime Prospects have the same level of engagement as Superfans. We want to help podcast companies understand not only how many Superfans and Prime Prospects they have, but what actions can potentially move listeners from one level of engagement to the next.”

The webinar also reinforced the connection between audience development and monetization. “It might surprise podcasters at how much more effective social media is compared to advertising within another podcast,” Rood remarked. 

Social media was cited by 53.2% of podcast consumers as a source of discovery, compared with 17.4% who cited advertising within another podcast.

“For us, the next step is applying what we learned,” said Tim Bronsil, CEO of Point-To-Point Marketing. “We have much more knowledge now about how people discover content, what makes them stay, and what separates a highly engaged consumer from everyone else. We can use that intelligence to continue improving the audience development campaigns we build for our Point-To-Point Marketing clients.”

The Podcast Study 2026 webinar series will conclude October 20 with “What Radio Can Learn from Podcasting’s Trust Economy.” The free session will focus on findings relevant to radio leaders, programmers, personalities, and sellers, including trust, talent, advertising, host influence, and audience development. Registration and information are available at ThePodcastStudy.com.

PodGround is proud to announce the recipients of its third and final Creator Micro-Grant of 2026, a program designed to support independent podcasters who are creating meaningful content and making a positive impact in their communities.

This round, two creators will each receive $500 to invest in the growth and sustainability of their podcasts, alongside one year of free podcast hosting from RSS.com. 

The final grant cycle of 2026 is made possible through the support of VOLT Productions.

Through direct funding, community resources, and industry support, PodGround continues its mission to help independent creators overcome the challenges of podcasting and build shows that can grow sustainably.

Dan Swift, host of Time We Discuss: Career Discovery and Exploration Podcast

Swift is the host of Time We Discuss, a podcast helping people discover career opportunities and make informed decisions about their professional futures.

The show was inspired by his wife's experience navigating a career change and struggling to find helpful resources to explore different professions. Recognizing that many people face similar challenges, Dan created a platform where professionals share their career journeys, everyday responsibilities, and insights into their industries.

Through these conversations, the podcast helps listeners explore unfamiliar career paths, understand transferable skills, and discover opportunities that align with their interests and aspirations.

Dan plans to use the $500 grant to strengthen his podcast's marketing and sponsorship outreach. By investing in physical promotional materials, including postcards and mailers, he hopes to connect with potential sponsors, increase the show's visibility, and move closer to financial sustainability.

"Aside from the financial benefits of the grant, being the grant recipient also adds a star to the podcast, giving it more credibility, and more clout," Dan shared.

Cecile Liconnet, host of Living the Dream: Women Reinventing Their Careers Abroad

Cecile is the host of Living the Dream, a podcast sharing the stories of women who have relocated to the south of France and reinvented themselves professionally.

The show explores the realities of starting over in a new country, from rebuilding professional networks and navigating unfamiliar environments to finding the confidence to pursue new opportunities. Through personal conversations, Cecile highlights the resilience, courage, and determination behind women's journeys of reinvention.

Since launching the podcast in November 2025, Cecile has managed nearly every aspect of production independently, including recording, editing, research, promotion, and website management.

She plans to use the $500 grant to improve her home recording setup, invest in better audio equipment, and create a more practical workspace that will help her produce high-quality episodes and build a sustainable podcast.

"This is the first dollar my podcast has ever earned," Cecile shared. "It is not just equipment. It is a vote of confidence that makes the next step feel possible."

Uplifting the Community

The judging panel for this final grant cycle included Marc Ronick (Empowered Podcasting Conference), Gab Burke (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)  and Simona Costantini (VOLT Productions).

With the completion of this round, PodGround has awarded six micro-grants to independent podcasters throughout 2026, supporting creators who are educating, inspiring, and connecting audiences through meaningful conversations.

Beyond financial support, PodGround remains committed to helping creators navigate the challenges of podcasting through community, education, collaboration, and accountability. 

This cycle Jenn Trepeck (Podcast Professionals Association) and Leah Bryant (Podcasting Problem Solver) will be leading strategy sessions with the winners to audit and improve their shows.

"Every grant cycle reminds us just how many incredible creators are building meaningful shows with limited resources," said Remi Roy Osi, founder of PodGround. "The funding helps, but so does knowing that someone believes in what you're building. That's what this grant is really about."

Although this marks the final Creator Micro-Grant of 2026, PodGround will continue supporting independent podcasters through 2027 and beyond. 

Learn more about PodGround and future Creator Micro-Grant opportunities at podground.io.

YouTube remains the largest podcast platform, with its userbase growing from 281.2 million in 2024 to 308.2 million in 2025, giving it a 32% market share. YouTube added 27.0 million users in 2025, compared with 10.8 million for Spotify and 2.0 million for Apple. YouTube leads in almost every territory, with China, where YouTube does not operate, a clear exception. Together, YouTube and Spotify account for 50.0% of global podcast market share.

YouTube has sustained global growth since 2019 and holds over half of the market share in Latin America. While YouTube has achieved global dominance, Spotify retains a stronghold in the Nordics.

Ximalaya FM, China’s largest online audio-sharing and podcast platform, ranks second with a 29.2% market share – a notable position given that its userbase is almost entirely in China. Spotify follows in third place, while Apple Podcasts ranks fourth globally and third when China is excluded.

Across all platforms, total podcast users grew by over 60 million between 2024 and 2025, with YouTube driving the most growth. Monthly active podcast accounts have increased by 184% since 2020. With the term “podcast” only coined in 2004, this growth has been very strong.

The report finds that platform scale matters as much as the podcast proposition. Multi-purpose platforms such as YouTube and Spotify embed podcasts within their existing audiences, putting audio-only services such as Audible, BBC Sounds, and NPR at a structural disadvantage.

Multi-use entertainment platforms are winning on podcast users. However, growing screen fatigue and wider concerns about time spent watching video could give audio-only platforms an opportunity to regain some ground.

“The podcasting industry has traditionally focused on listenership, regardless of platform. MIDiA Research’s podcast market share model offers a new perspective, measuring the competitive landscape through the platforms themselves. As the industry evolves from individual hit shows to broader networks and platform ecosystems, understanding market share will be increasingly valuable in identifying opportunities for growth and success.” Laura Fisher, Audio and Entertainment Analyst at MIDiA Research

“Podcasting is a nascent industry and growth remains strong. Since 2020 we’ve seen an 184% growth in the number of global monthly active accounts. Growth in overseas markets, the pandemic boom, and diversification of platforms has all contributed to this.

The major audio and video platforms have been paying attention, in a world unlike music where podcast production is very fragmented, the platforms who hold significant market share have much more bargaining power.” Mark Qi, Forecasting and Modelling Analyst at MIDiA Research

The report is available for purchase here.

The integration brings Datonics' wide ranging audience taxonomy, including demographics, automotive, CPG purchase behavior, and other audience attributes into Triton's advertising technology. For publishers, the new segments make their inventory more valuable to buyers. For advertisers, it means sharper insights into who they're reaching, and the ability to target precisely and reach audiences they weren't able to before.

“This gives publishers of every size access to the kind of audience data that used to be reserved for the biggest players. That’s a meaningful shift in how digital audio competes for ad dollars,” said Spencer Morris, Executive Vice President, Data Operations and Data Products, Triton Digital. “Advertisers now no longer have to guess who they’re reaching. This integration gives them the specificity to plan with real confidence, which translates directly into stronger campaign performance for our publishers.” 

To ensure publishers and buyers maintain current audience eligibility, Datonics provides Triton with data updates which are available for targeting in TAP. This keeps targeting precise and gives buyers confidence that their ads reach the intended listeners.  

"Audio is a critical part of the holistic omnichannel strategy advertisers should be leveraging, and Triton is a great partner in this space," said Michael Benedek, President and CEO, Datonics. “Triton Digital is a clear leader in connecting data and technology, and this integration puts our segments directly in front of the publishers and buyers who are smartly leveraging digital audio.”

Datonics segments are available now in 12 countries — the United States, Canada and Mexico in North America; the United Kingdom, Germany and France in EMEA; Australia, South Korea, Singapore, India and Japan in APAC; and Brazil in LATAM — giving publishers and advertisers in markets that previously lacked access to this level of audience data a new way to compete. 

The integration reinforces Triton’s broader narrative of connecting the digital audio ecosystem through technology, data, measurement, and monetization. Datonics strengthens the data and targeting layer of that ecosystem, while TAP provides the technology publishers use to activate those audiences, enabling a more efficient and valuable digital audio marketplace.

To learn more, visit https://tritondigital.com/solutions/audio-advertising/tap.

Liquid Studios today released the first video edition of Podnews Daily, the essential industry news podcast written and read each weekday by Podnews editor James Cridland. For a one week pilot – Wednesday October 14 through Tuesday October 20 – every edition is also published as a video: a landscape cut for YouTube, a vertical cut for phones and LinkedIn, and a short clip for social.

Nothing about how Podnews is made has changed. James writes, reads and mixes the bulletin as he always has. The finished audio goes to Liquid Studios, and the landscape edition comes back within the hour, with the vertical cut and social clip within the hour following. All made to the style and criteria James requested. No camera, no studio, no re-recording, no extra work for the newsroom.

“This is what AI is made for - making human creativity even better,” said James Cridland, editor of Podnews. “It’s like an extra pair of hands for me: making extra content that Podnews simply couldn’t make on our own - something more engaging and interesting than our usual static slide, but within our control and with our own editorial. As podcasts go multiplatform, and audio turns into liquid content, this sort of AI augmentation is incredibly useful.”

The look adopted for Podnews is one documentary editors call the “Ken Burns effect”: real photographs, logos, and show artwork moving slowly as a slideshow under the story, in a Podnews-branded frame with captions, and the day's headlines as lower thirds. Liquid Studios' AI picks and times a picture for every beat and builds the captions. For Podnews, none of the images in the videos are AI-generated. Every image is sourced and rights-checked, the voice is James's own, and a person reviews every cut before it's published.

Ken Burns is one look among many Liquid Studios can create. From the same audio, Liquid Studios also produces cinematic and animated treatments, generates b-roll, assembles clips for each platform, and dubs editions in other languages, for this morning's episode or an enormous back catalog. A news bulletin wants a style that reinforces calm and credibility. A true-crime series, educational content, a comedy, or an interview show might pick something else. It’s the customer’s choice whether to use AI-generated content or just use AI to compile it.

“So many ideas enter the world as a podcast first. Video doesn’t change the idea. It changes how many people get to find it,” said Jeanine Wright, CEO of Liquid Studios. “We love to start from something a human already made and carry it forward. Solving podcast video means solving it for the person who makes the show: a beautiful visual edition of their work, nothing to re-record, no extra work to do, and more audience and revenue potential on the other end. A daily news bulletin is one of the tightest turnarounds in podcasting, which makes Podnews a real test, not a demo.”

Editions are on Podnews's YouTube channel and on LinkedIn as well as selected podcast apps.

We're using the standard landscape version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCieEWJitgY

We also have access to a vertical version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW4u6X2iXCk

...and a short social clip for services like YouTube Shorts

This capability isn’t just for Podnews. For publishers, networks, and creators who want to expand their distribution, audience and revenue potential without a laborious video setup: schedule a meeting with Liquid Studios, send them an episode and see your own show in video before you sign anything. Pricing is $10 per finished minute.

The Podcast Professionals Association invites you to The Podcast Service Business Playbook, a live, 75-minute webinar designed for the people who provide professional services to podcasters.

Moderated by PPA Co-Founder Jenn Trepeck, the panel features Gordon Firemark, Ralph V. Estep, Jr., Steve Stewart, Traci DeForge, and Quinn Greenhaus. Together, they’ll discuss the business essentials behind profitable, sustainable podcast services companies. Join live to ask your questions and identify practical next steps for your own business.

This webinar is part of the PPA Open House, an opportunity for potential new members to experience PPA’s education and community. No membership is required to attend. All registrants will receive the replay.

Thursday, October 29, 2026

1:00–2:15 PM ET / 12:00–1:15 PM CT / 10:00–11:15 AM PT

75 minutes • Moderated panel discussion and live audience Q&A

Complimentary attendance courtesy of Audiencelift.com. A discount code for SHURE products will be sent to all registrants. 

Register now: https://www.podcastprofessionalsassociation.com/playbook-webinar

Panelist Information

Moderator: Jenn Trepeck, Co-Founder, Podcast Professionals Association; Podcast Strategist; Host, Salad with a Side of Fries.

Gordon Firemark, The Podcast Lawyer™, Legal entities and protecting your business

Ralph V. Estep, Jr., Founder, Saggio Accounting+PLUS; President, Ask Ralph Media, Inc., Business finances, LLC tax considerations, and taxation

Steve Stewart, Steve Stewart Podcast Productions; Co-Founder, Podcast Editor Academy, Bookkeeping tools to avoid profit leaks, planning for healthcare costs and benefits as an independent contractor business owner. 

Traci DeForge, Founder and CEO, Produce Your Podcast; Co-Founder, PPA, Scaling a professional services business, managing multiple revenue streams, and remote teams

Quinn Greenhaus, Podcast manager, producer, and audio engineer, Sustainable growth that integrates health, wealth, and balance

According to a new study titled Brand Building in the Creator Age from SmithGeiger commissioned by Wondery, an Amazon company, 85% of creator fans revealed they view their favorite creators as if they were a friend, so much so that 81% of those fans said they actually trust creators as much, if not more, than their close friends.

The study defined creators as hosts of episodic programming built around their voice and point of view. Nine in ten fans say they look forward to new episodes as much as their favorite TV show, a signal that creator-driven content has earned its place alongside traditional entertainment. Trust is what’s fueling that engagement. Eighty-nine percent of fans trust the host's expertise on the topics they discussed. Notably, 71% trust their favorite creator over social media influencers, demonstrating that in this creator economy, consumers seek connection over persuasion.

For brands, this deep, unmatched connection that creators forge with fanbases provides a huge opportunity to activate engaged audiences, but only if the engagement with the creator feels authentic and is long-term. Half of consumers assume a creator did not like a brand when they see the brand mentioned only once and never again, while 71% say consistent presence across multiple episodes signals genuine endorsement.  Seventy-eight percent of survey respondents say they would feel more confident buying a product the host recommends, making it clear that active advocacy and not passive ad exposure is what is most effective when it comes to creators and their fanbases.

The report also shows that the rise of “clipping” is having a profoundly positive impact on the creator-verse and offers another major opportunity for brands. Clips are almost twice as effective as word-of-mouth in bringing new viewers to a show, but they are not only discovery drivers: 95% of existing fans take action after seeing a clip as well. This kind of shoulder content enables brands to create longer-term campaigns that not only span online shows and podcasts, but also content beyond the core programs, reaching fans in unique and engaging ways.

"Creators have built something brands have always chased— genuine trust at scale," said Angie More, Head of Creator Ad Partnerships at Amazon. "Their audiences don't just watch or listen — they lean in, they believe, and they act. That kind of connection used to be reserved for a best friend's recommendation over coffee, or the watercooler conversation with co-workers. Now it's happening everyday through the creators that audiences have chosen to let into their lives. For brands, this isn't just another media channel to test — it's the most direct line to a consumer that's already emotionally invested and ready to engage."

Additional findings that the research underscores include:

• Trust builds over time: Frequency builds equity while a one-time ad read can damage brand reputation. The compounding effects of sustained, multi-episode partnerships are clear: 70% are more likely to trust the brand, 68% say it feels more premium, and 67% are more likely to try it.
• Connection over persuasion: Consumers don’t want to be influenced; they want to connect. Consumers trust creators over social media influencers and other public figures with 90% saying the creator is the primary reason they tune in, with 67% already familiar with the host before they ever hit play. By showing up alongside the host and content that fans believe in, brands can deliver authentic messaging that drives results. A meta-analysis of campaigns measured by Nielsen and commissioned by Wondery found that ads rated high on authenticity delivered 148% higher lifts in brand familiarity and 51% higher lifts in purchase intent compared to those that were not.
• Clips are the ultimate activation tool: As mentioned earlier, clips are major discovery drivers, but also a highly effective way to engage current fans. After seeing a clip, 60% of fans will watch a full episode, 41% talk about it with others, and 37% share it directly. For brands, the opportunity is built into the behavior: viewers report similar recall for logos on social clips (24%) as dedicated episode segments (21%) proving that clips function as a parallel, standalone viewing experience.

Methodology

Wondery partnered with SmithGeiger to study authenticity and effectiveness in creator-brand partnerships. The June 2026 survey was based on a gender-balanced sample of 3,000 U.S. adults (ages 18–64) who regularly watch or listen to creator-hosted podcasts and/or online series, with near-equal distribution across Gen Z (30%), Millennials (40%), and Gen X (30%), and representative targets by U.S. region and ethnicity. Each respondent answered about their single favorite creator show, grounding results in real behavior. The survey combined quantitative measures with qualitative open-ends using AI-based moderation.

The research is based on self-reported survey responses. 

You can download the full research here.

A new competition offering Scottish podcast and audio creators the chance to win a development and production package worth more than £3,000 will launch in Glasgow this November. Pitch to Pilot will help emerging talent develop their ideas, connect with industry experts and turn a winning concept into a professionally produced podcast pilot.

Pitch to Pilot is a new initiative from AudioUK’s training programme Audiotrain, Scottish podcast and audio production company Bespoken Media, and the Scottish Podcast Awards, the national platform created to celebrate, connect and support Scotland’s podcast community. Together, the partners will provide the winning creators with practical support and a clear route from an initial podcast idea through to production and delivery.

The programme launches with an event on Tuesday 3rd November at Berlinkys in Glasgow, bringing together Scotland’s podcast and audio community for a discussion on “What Makes a Great Podcast Pitch?”

The event will feature founder of Bespoken, Dave Howard, Mark Hunter, Scottish Podcast veteran of 20 years and co-founder of the Podcast Studio Glasgow, and Dr Pamela Jenkins, host of My Family, Mental Illness and Me, who will share their experience and insight into what can make a podcast pitch stand out.

The discussion will be followed by drinks and networking, giving creators the opportunity to meet other podcasters and connect with Scotland’s wider audio and creative community.

The launch event will also introduce the wider Pitch to Pilot programme. A further live event will take place in February 2027, when selected creators will have the opportunity to pitch their podcast ideas to an industry panel.

One winning creator will receive a support package worth more than £3000, including 10 hours of executive and production support from Bespoken Media to develop their idea into a podcast pilot, studio production time, editing support and mentoring from the Scottish Podcast Awards, a professional brand identity from Maven Media and a £1,000 cash prize  from Audiotrain. The finished pilot will be published on Bespoken Media’s ‘Made in Scotland’ podcast feed.

Chris Baughen, CEO, AudioUK said:

“Scotland has a hugely creative and ambitious podcast and audio community, and Pitch to Pilot is a fantastic opportunity to help creators take the next step with their ideas. It’s not just about having a great concept, it’s about understanding how to develop it, pitch it effectively and ultimately get it made. We’re delighted to be working with Bespoken Media and the Scottish Podcast Awards to create a practical route from that first idea through to a finished pilot, and to bring the Scottish audio community together along the way.”

David Howard, Founder & Director, Bespoken Media said:

“There is so much creativity and talent in Scotland’s audio and podcast communities. What is sometimes lacking is opportunity, funding, and support. I am delighted that this exciting collaboration goes some way towards changing that, by offering at least one Scottish creator all three of those things - opportunity, funding, and support - and hopefully a route to market. I can’t wait to hear the ideas that will be developed.” 

Corrinne Gardiner, Co Founder of the Scottish Podcast Awards said: 

“From the beginning, we wanted the Scottish Podcast Awards to be about much more than one night a year. There is so much creativity across Scotland, but not everyone with a great idea knows how to take that first step or has access to the people who can help them develop it”.

“Pitch to Pilot is exactly the kind of opportunity we want to be part of - bringing people together, opening up access to the industry and giving creators practical support to take an idea and actually make something happen with it. We’re really excited to be working with Audiotrain and Bespoken to find and support some brilliant new ideas from across Scotland”.

The Pitch to Pilot launch event takes place on:

Tuesday 3rd November 2026
6pm-8pm
Berlinkys, 396 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD

The event is open to any and all creators, and members of Scotland’s podcast and audio community.

To attend the launch event please go to https://luma.com/1h398h3z to register.

Creators interested in finding out more about the wider Pitch to Pilot competition will be able to find out more at the launch event.

Autotrader, the UK’s largest automotive marketplace, has announced the relaunch of its podcast, Women in the Driving Seat. Returning with a refreshed format, the series brings together Autotrader Editorial Director Erin Baker and TV presenter, racing driver, and long-time friend Vicki Butler-Henderson as co-hosts.

Having first met in the automotive industry over 20 years ago, Baker and Butler-Henderson are now officially sharing the microphone to offer an unvarnished, authentic look at life as women navigating the automotive world. The refreshed series continues to explore where professional careers and personal lives collide.

The upcoming season addresses critical topics including returning to work after long periods of leave, how grief and motherhood shape career trajectories, navigating colleague perceptions, and whether technical automotive knowledge is required to build a successful career in the sector.

Erin Baker, Editorial Director at Autotrader, commented:

"Female-empowerment debates and platforms can sometimes feel one-dimensional as well as repetitive. We want to explore beyond the gender-equality corporate soundbites and take a long hard look at the brutal reality of striving for equal treatment while juggling professional demands with complex personal lives. By opening up about our worries, fears, and real experiences, Vicki and I hope to inspire professionals at every stage of their career and make everyone in our industry feel a little less alone." 

Vicki Butler-Henderson, TV Presenter and Racing Driver, added:

"Erin and I have been navigating this industry side by side for more than two decades. Relaunching Women in the Driving Seat together gives us the opportunity to share the real conversations we’ve been having behind closed doors for years. Whether you're an industry veteran, an enthusiast, or someone considering a career in automotive, there's a seat alongside us for you." 

The relaunch builds on Autotrader’s ongoing commitment to championing diversity, equity, and inclusion across the automotive sector. As a FTSE 100 business with a majority-female Board and a long-standing patron of the Auto 30% Club, Autotrader continues to leverage its platform to attract, retain, and elevate female talent across all levels of the industry.

audioadpro has appointed Ben Rosser as Sales Director. Supporting Co-Founder and CRO Roger Cutsforth and the Rev Ops team, Ben has joined to help scale platform revenues. His appointment comes at an exciting time for the business, following the recent launch of its unique proprietary audience intelligence and planning technology, ADSTEM.

Rosser brings more than 26 years of experience in media and advertising, with a strong background in audio, voice and digital, including time at Global, Say It Now and Warner Bros., among others. Throughout his career, he has worked with agencies, media owners, adtech businesses and commercial teams, and has a track record of bringing new advertising formats to market and building lasting relationships across the industry.

"We carried out an exhaustive search to find the right person for this new senior role to help us take the business to the next level in our ambitious growth trajectory, and we couldn’t be more delighted to have secured someone of Ben’s calibre and experience", said Roger Cutsforth, Co-founder, audioadpro.

Ben Rosser added: "I’m thrilled to be joining audioadpro at such an exciting time for digital audio advertising. Having spent much of my career driving innovation in audio and building partnerships with leading brands and agencies, I see a huge opportunity to help grow the market and demonstrate the value audio can deliver for advertisers. I’m looking forward to joining such a talented team, bringing my experience to the business and helping drive the next stage of growth.”

Sound.Waves. opens in style this year. Dónal Gallagher will sit down for a fireside chat with Tom Dunne on Tuesday 10th November in Adare, Co. Limerick. Dónal is the brother of Rory Gallagher and managed him for most of his career. Tom is Chair of IMRO, a broadcaster, and the Something Happens frontman.

Rory was Ireland’s original rock star, and Dónal was with him every step of the way, from the Irish showband circuit to 25 tours of North America. He has now told that story in Edged in Blue: A Rock ’n’ Roll Odyssey with Rory Gallagher, published on 25th September with a foreword by Joe Bonamassa. It’s an eyewitness account of a golden age of live music, from bomb-shattered Belfast to Tasmania. Thirty years after Rory’s death, opening night is a rare chance to hear those stories first-hand, from the man who lived them, in conversation with one of Irish music’s best-loved voices.

Wednesday 11th November kicks off with the inaugural Sound.Waves 5k! The conference day begins at 9.30am with a State of the Nationsession taking the temperature of Ireland’s music, podcast and live sectors. From there, the programme gets practical. The Producers go behind the scenes of how great shows are made, and Marketing Your Podcast looks at how they find an audience. The Money Behind The Shows and Sponsorship in Music & Podcasting follow the cash, while The Economics of Live asks what it really costs to put on a show. Elsewhere, sessions on Sports Podcasting, AI & Content Creation, and Music, Sync & Publishing look at where the industry is heading. A Keynote Interview closes the day at 5.15pm, and Stories from the Stage brings the conversation into the bar.

Then it's time to get dressed up. The All-Ireland Podcast Awards start with a drinks reception at 8pm, and the ceremony crowns the best in Irish podcasting from 9pm. The 2026 shortlist will be announced next week.

On Thursday 12th November the conference moves to the 19th hole in Adare Village for brunch with Tales from the Frontline of Sports and a look ahead to Adare 2027, when the Ryder Cup comes to town.

Sound.Waves. has a full website here.

Pivotal Conversations has signed Australian influencer icon, Emilee Hembrow's podcast Let's Be Real for a relaunch under its production banner, the latest show to join the network's roster with season 2 launching on the 14th of October. The partnership grew out of clip content the two had already been producing together before the show left its previous home, Nova."Em was actually filming with us while she was still with Nova," said Pivotal Conversations founder Kyle Traynor. "Our team loved working with her from the start. She's got a skill that's rare, she can hold a real conversation and actually connect with her guests, and we could see it in the clips we were editing for her.  They consistently performed well, which is always the tell."

The relaunch will lean on the same clip and YouTube-first growth approach Pivotal has applied across its roster, built around what Traynor described as Hembrow's natural strength on camera.

"The show had real potential, but it didn't have a team behind it that understood the power of video," Traynor said. "Consumption is our north star. We want to find Em new audiences, build a real community around the show, and bring in the right commercial partners."

On the commercial side, Traynor said Pivotal treats brand partnerships differently to how they're typically sold on radio or traditional audio networks.

"We're not selling ad slots," he said. "We build long-term partnerships wrapped around the creator, closer to how a team sponsors a Formula One team than how you'd buy space on a billboard. We want reach to grow, we want people to consume for longer, and we want the ads themselves to not feel like ads."The signing also extends Pivotal's push into new brand categories. Hembrow who has nearly 950k on Instagram, is a mother and business owner with a long-standing interest in fashion, beauty and interior design; verticals, Traynor said the company already has partners in and wants to grow further.

"When you work with someone like Em, the opportunities are already there," Traynor said. "We just want partners who share the same view of what a brand partnership should look like."

Let's Be Real launched in 2025 and is built around candid conversations with Australian mothers and business owners. The relaunched season's confirmed guests include Erin Holland, Showpo founder Jane Lu and parenting author Maggie Dent, with new episodes landing weekly.

• Record Q3: 17% revenue growth and 89% adjusted EBITDA growth
• Trading ahead of market expectations

Audioboom (AIM: BOOM), the leading global podcast company, is pleased to provide a trading update for the quarter ended 30 September 2026.

Financial and operating highlights

Record Q3 performance in all key financial metrics, including:

• Q3 revenue of US$23.8 million, up 17% on Q3 2025 (US$20.3 million)
• Q3 gross profit of US$5.6 million, up 30% on Q3 2025 (US$4.3 million)
• Q3 adjusted EBITDA of US$2.2 million, up 89% on Q3 2025 (US$1.2 million)
• Adjusted EBITDA is ahead of current market expectations, and the Board now expects that Audioboom will generate an increased adjusted EBITDA for the year ending 31 December 2026 of at least US$7.7 million

Record performance for the nine months to 30 September 2026:

• Revenue of US$69.5 million, up 25% on the same period last year (US$55.5 million)
• Gross profit of US$15.5 million, up 32% on the same period last year (US$11.7 million)
• Adjusted EBITDA of US$5.5 million, up 84% on the same period last year (US$3.0 million)
• Q3 gross margin of 23% (Q3 2025: 21%), with continued margin improvement as a result of our focus on higher quality revenue and improved creator contracts
• Q3 adjusted EBITDA margin of 9% (Q3 2025: 6%), highlighting the continued strong performance and leverage in the core business model, achieved through gross margin improvements and tight cost control

The Company is now benefitting from high operational gearing: the US$3.5 million year-on-year increase in Q3 revenue delivered a US$1.0 million increase in adjusted EBITDA, an incremental margin in excess of 25%

Continued strong growth of Showcase – our ad-tech driven global advertising marketplace – with Q3 revenue of US$9.7 million, up 20% on Q3 2025 (US$8.0 million)

Q3 average monthly distribution of 190 million downloads and video views, up 47% on Q3 2025 (130 million) driven by the fast-paced growth of Audioboom’s video podcasts and new 2026 podcast partnerships

Group cash at 30 September 2026 of US$6.7 million (30 September 2025: US$2.9 million, 30 June 2026: US$5.4 million), with an additional US$3.4 million available via an overdraft facility, and a further US$10.0 million available via a revolving credit facility to support the Company’s M&A-focused accelerated growth strategy

Commercial highlights

• New signings in the quarter have expanded the Audioboom Creator Network with the addition of tier one content partnerships including the Pionaire Network and Brand Safe • Renewal in the quarter of key contracts with leading podcasts in our creator network, including The Broski Report and Let’s Not Meet

Stuart Last, CEO of Audioboom, commented: “The powerful dynamics of our platform business model were on full show in Q3 2026. Revenue increased by 17%, driven by our strongest-ever content slate, record distribution and ad inventory. In turn, gross profit growth almost doubled that rate, up 30%, reflecting continued improvements to our podcaster revenue shares and a greater contribution from higher margin advertising products. Gross profit then geared strongly to adjusted EBITDA which was up 89%. The final stages of our integration of Adelicious into the Company generated ongoing cost synergies, holding our operating costs at approximately US$1.1 million per month. Our adjusted EBITDA margin of 9% for the quarter highlights the strong operational gearing inherent in the business.

In September, our ad marketplace Showcase delivered exceptional performance, benefitting from the first meaningful wave of political advertising spend ahead of the US midterm elections. With our politics and news network generating approximately a quarter of a billion available ad impressions each month, we are uniquely positioned to capitalise on increasing demand and capture maximum value as the election-related spending continues to build through Q4.

Our outstanding performance in the first nine months of the year has positioned us to out-perform current market expectations, with Audioboom now expecting to deliver an increased adjusted EBITDA profit for 2026 of at least US$7.7 million.

As outlined in our half-year report, M&A remains central to our accelerated growth strategy. The recent confirmation of our debt facility provides access to an additional US$10.0 million of capital for strategic acquisitions. Together with our cash balance of US$6.7 million, we have the financial firepower and flexibility to lead the inevitable consolidation within the podcast industry. Our objective remains to execute three to four meaningful transactions over the medium term.

Last month we kicked off the 2027 “upfronts” season with our advertising event in New York City, which was attended by more than 100 representatives from leading advertising agencies and brands.

The positive advertiser response to our record levels of inventory and premium roster of audio and video content provides strong momentum as we look ahead into 2027.

Podcast Nation, the creator-first podcast network, today announced the signing of Morning Rae, hosted by digital creator Allana Blumberg, as the network continues to expand its roster of creator-led, digital-first shows.

From mindsets and habits to relationships and navigating every stage of life, Morning Rae brings Blumberg’s signature big-sister advice to audio. Through solo episodes and conversations with friends, Blumberg tackles the conversations that matter most to her audience, creating a space for listeners to grow, build confidence, and navigate life’s many stages.

As digital creators continue to expand their content and IP into podcasting, Podcast Nation is focused on partnering with talent who have already built engaged communities across platforms and have a distinct point of view that translates naturally to audio. Morning Rae represents that opportunity, extending Blumberg’s existing connection with her audience into an extended format while creating room for continued growth beyond social media.

With its focus on millennial and Gen Z female audiences across entertainment, pop culture, health and wellness, and lifestyle, Podcast Nation works with creators to develop shows that resonate with their existing audiences while building long-term opportunities for growth. Through the partnership, Podcast Nation will support Morning Rae with monetization and strategic growth.

“Morning Rae is an incredibly strong fit for Podcast Nation, and the early results speak for themselves. Before the show even reached its official start date with our network, our team had already sold out its Q4 inventory. It’s a strong example of what’s possible when we partner with creators whose content and audiences align with our network and advertiser goals. We’re thrilled to build on this momentum and see what’s ahead for Morning Rae,” said Jessica Lee, Director of Sales at Podcast Nation.

Audio Always welcomes Happy Place With Fearne Cotton, the wellbeing podcast from broadcaster and author Fearne Cotton, to the Audio Always Originals network.

The show joins Audio Always with a new central production team in place to deliver continued growth for the established podcast. The Audio Always team will lead on every stage of production with the editorial team working alongside the business' marketing, social and commercial teams. Recording for Happy Place stays at Fearne's studio in central London.

Leading entertainment agency YMU has a longstanding partnership with Fearne Cotton and her Happy Place brand, helping to build and grow the business alongside her into a leading wellness and lifestyle platform. Happy Place spans sell-out festivals, a literary imprint, licensing partnerships, brand sponsorships and activations, as well as the prolific Happy Place podcast, reaching a global audience. Fearne launched Happy Place in 2018 as a place to talk openly about mental health, wellbeing and what makes people happy. More than four hundred and eighty episodes later, recent guests have included Joe Lycett, Dawn French, Kate Winslet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dua Lipa and Jon Bon Jovi. Every conversation comes back to the same question: what does happiness mean to you?

For brands and advertisers, Audio Always will lead on the delivery of commercial opportunities for the podcast alongside Acast and the team at YMU.

Paul Fernley, Business Development Director at Audio Always: "We're so pleased to have Fearne and Happy Place with us, the fourth show to come to Audio Always from YMU in 18 months, after The Jack & Ash Show, The Teen Commandments and The Girls Bathroom,. For listeners, it’s business as usual for the podcast. This is an established show with a substantial engaged audience and we're excited to work with Fearne and YMU to unlock the podcast's next chapter.”

Sarah White, Talent Director, Global Entertainment, YMU: “We are pleased to continue our YMU relationship with Audio Always, as the world-class Happy Place podcast joins the slate. Fearne has thoughtfully curated an incredible community around the Happy Place podcast and brand, with the podcast being one of the seminal spaces to hear Fearne in honest and authentic conversation with global voices, experts and talent “

Fearne Cotton, Happy Place Founder: “The Happy Place team and I are thrilled to be working with the team at Audio Always, as we begin this next phase of growth for the podcast and continue to deliver thought provoking, provocative and inspiring conversations and episodes. The Happy Place podcast has some brilliant guests lined up and we are passionate about continuing to push the boundaries for our audience around how we speak about mental health, well-being and everything in-between.”

Happy Place is available now across all podcast platforms, with new episodes every Monday and Thursday.

After five years exploring Britain's most mysterious locations and amassing more than seven million downloads, Haunted UK Podcast creator Steven Holloway is preparing to bring his paranormal storytelling to the stage for the very first time.

Haunted UK Live will debut at Birmingham's NEC on Friday 13 November 2026, during the Mind Body Spirit Festival, with a special 90-minute performance beginning at 7 pm.

The event marks a significant milestone for the independent British podcast, which Holloway launched in 2021 out of a lifelong fascination with ghost stories, haunted history and unexplained phenomena.

What began as a passion project has since grown into a full-time career. In 2026, Holloway left his previous employment to dedicate himself entirely to Haunted UK, having built an international following through carefully researched narratives, atmospheric audio production and first-hand accounts submitted by listeners.

Now, he is taking that storytelling beyond the headphones.

"When I started Haunted UK, I never imagined it would reach millions of listeners, let alone lead to the opportunity to bring these stories to a live audience," says Holloway.

"Ghost stories have always brought people together. There's something special about sharing an unexplained experience and seeing how different people react to it. I'm excited to recreate some of that atmosphere in person, and Friday the 13th feels like the perfect occasion."

The debut performance will explore some of the darker corners of Birmingham and the Black Country, featuring the haunted history of Aston Hall, a disturbing account of a family reportedly driven from their home, and a chilling personal experience submitted by a Haunted UK listener.

Known for its immersive production and thoughtful approach to the paranormal, Haunted UK examines everything from historic hauntings and British folklore to modern encounters that resist easy explanation. Rather than insisting on a particular interpretation of paranormal experiences, the podcast invites listeners to consider the history, testimony and unanswered questions behind each story.

The live show will bring that same approach to the stage, offering an evening designed for paranormal enthusiasts, curious newcomers, and sceptics who simply appreciate an extraordinary story.

Holloway's live debut takes place as part of the Mind Body Spirit Festival, which returns to Birmingham's NEC from 13–15 November 2026. The event brings together voices from across spirituality, wellbeing and personal development, with Haunted UK Live offering a distinctive after-hours addition to Friday's programme.

For a podcast that has spent five years bringing Britain's ghost stories into homes around the world, the performance offers something entirely new: the opportunity for listeners to experience those stories together.

Tickets for Haunted UK Live also include admission to the Mind Body Spirit Festival throughout Friday 13 November, allowing visitors to explore the festival's exhibitions, talks and experiences during the day before returning to the Main Stage for an evening of supernatural storytelling.

With festival activities running from 11 am to 6 pm, attendees can make an entire day of the occasion before the 7 pm performance.

Event details

Event: Haunted UK Live
Date: Friday 13 November 2026
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: NEC Birmingham, West Midlands
Tickets: £27 plus booking fees, including full Friday admission to the Mind Body Spirit Festival and the 90-minute Haunted UK Live evening performance.

Booking: https://www.mindbodyspirit.co.uk/festivals/birmingham/the-festival/tickets

Today, Apple TV debuted the trailer for Heart, a new eight-episode Apple Original Podcast hosted by acclaimed podcast host, Karen Kilgariff. Premiering October 19, 2026, on Apple Podcasts, the series recounts the extraordinary true story of two men linked by a single heart—and the families left to make sense of their loss. 

When Sonny Graham receives a lifesaving heart transplant, he falls in love with his donor’s widow. What local media hail as a miraculous love story takes a tragic turn when Sonny dies–the same way as his heart donor, Terry Cottle. In both cases, the official conclusion is suicide. As friends and family recall changes in Sonny’s behavior after the transplant, some question whether the heart he received could have carried traces of the donor’s trauma.

Drawing on three years of reporting, “Heart” follows the families’ search for answers through court filings, public records and personal accounts. The series examines the connections between the two men’s lives and deaths, exploring questions of trauma, identity and the mysteries of the heart.

Host Karen Kilgariff shares, “Working with such a talented production team has made hosting ‘Heart’ an absolute dream. I’m so proud to be a part of this show.”

“Heart” is an Apple Original Podcast from Plan B and Blanchard House. “Heart” is the latest collaboration between Apple and Plan B, helmed by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, following the Pitt racing feature “F1 The Movie,” as well as an upcoming father-son dramedy film starring Mark Wahlberg and the feature “Waffle House.” Blanchard House is the acclaimed British audio studio behind Apple Original Podcasts “Extrasensory,” “The Pirate of Prague” and “Adrift.” Karen Kilgariff is a writer, producer, podcast host and comedian, known for co-hosting the acclaimed podcast “My Favorite Murder.”

Apple TV subscribers will be able to listen to all eight episodes of “Heart” on October 19, 2026 on Apple Podcasts. Non-subscribers can listen to the first three episodes for free that day, with one new episode released weekly through the finale on November 23, 2026.

The podcast joins a growing offering of Apple TV Apple Original Podcasts now streaming on Apple Podcasts, including “Unicorn Girl,” “Easy Money: The Charles Ponzi Story,” “Adrift,” the duPont-Columbia Award-winning “The Line,” Webby Award-winning “Hooked,” “Run, Bambi, Run,” “Operation: Tradebom,” “My Divo,” “The Pirate of Prague,” “Magnificent Jerk” and “Missed Fortune,” as well as official companion podcasts for Apple TV series “Foundation,” “For All Mankind” and the docuseries “The Big Conn.”

What’s harder than running a marathon? Motherhood.

That question sets the stage for Mother Runner, a new independent podcast from award-winning podcast and video producer Dana Wiker. Blending personal narrative, interviews and documentary-style storytelling, the show explores the often-overlooked emotional terrain of postpartum motherhood: identity loss, isolation and the search for a sense of self beyond caring for a child.

Hosted by Wiker, a mother and marathon runner, Mother Runner grew out of her own experience of becoming a parent. After giving birth to her son, Wiker struggled with the changes motherhood brought to her identity and mental well-being. Training for the Chicago Marathon a year after having her son became a turning point, helping her reconnect with a part of herself she felt she had lost.

The podcast uses running as a framework for exploring the journeys of other mothers, examining how movement can help women rediscover themselves after having children. Although running is a recurring theme, listeners don't need to be runners to connect with the stories.

The debut episode, “What Running Brings to Motherhood with Kristin Stokes,” traces Wiker’s own postpartum experience, from sleepless nights and physical changes to the emotional toll early motherhood had on her. The episode also features Kristin Stokes, a marathon runner, mother of two and running coach who has built a community of mother runners on Instagram.

“As a mother myself, I know how easy it can be to lose sight of who you are when so much of your energy goes toward caring for someone else,” said Wiker. “I created Mother Runner to make space for the stories that I never heard about when it comes to the postpartum journey - the complicated feelings, the loss of identity and how we find our way back to ourselves. You don't have to be a runner to relate to that.”

Wiker brings more than a decade of multimedia storytelling experience to the project. She currently produces The Fabricator Podcast, which recently surpassed 100 episodes, and The Next Gen Metal Fab Podcast for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association. She also produces This Mama Is Lit!, the podcast from Literary Mama, which features conversations with mother writers about creativity, identity, and the experience of motherhood.

Wiker developed Mother Runner through the Stony Brook University Podcast Incubator Fellowship. Her work has earned multiple AVA Digital Awards, and her documentary short Becoming Parents, which explores the transition to new parenthood, has been selected and shown at six film festivals. She is a member of The Podcast Academy and has served as a Blue Ribbon Panel judge for The Ambies and as a judge for the Signal Awards, Communicator, w3, and Davey Awards.

Listeners interested in sharing their own postpartum stories can contact the show at motherrunnerpod@gmail.com.

Goalhanger today announces the launch of Goalhanger X, a new model for building complete media ecosystems around exceptional creators.

Always On with Marina Hyde will be the first creator-led media venture developed through Goalhanger X, launching across editorial, social, long-form and short-form video from day one, before expanding into further formats.

Goalhanger X brings together the distinctive voice and audience relationship of an individual creator with Goalhanger’s expertise in developing formats, building audiences, growing membership and creating commercial partnerships at scale.

Rather than starting with a single format or platform, each venture is built around the creator and their audience, with the potential to grow across publishing, social, audio, video, membership, live experiences and new intellectual property.

For advertisers, this creates a broader way to work with creators. Rather than individual posts, sponsorships or placements, brands can become part of a connected editorial world spanning multiple formats and audience touchpoints - combining the authenticity and cultural relevance of a creator partnership with Goalhanger’s creative, distribution, audience and commercial expertise.

Jack Davenport, Co-Founder of Goalhanger, said: “We love Marina. At Goalhanger, our shows span sport, politics, history and entertainment, but the truth is Marina could probably host them all. There’s no one else who can skewer the absurdity of a tech bro one minute and cut straight to the heart of a political or cultural story the next. Partnering with her to launch Always On marks the start of something exciting for us as a business. Goalhanger X is built around distinctive creators with a powerful voice, a loyal audience and the potential to build far beyond any single format or platform. Always On gives Marina the freedom to create a world around everything she finds interesting, funny or important, across writing, video, social, audio and whatever comes next. Our role is to provide the creative, audience and commercial infrastructure to help that world grow, while keeping Marina firmly at its centre.”

Always On with Marina Hyde

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJcgEA3ml9A

Bringing together her writing with new formats across YouTube and social media, Always On gives audiences more ways to spend time with one of the nation’s funniest and fiercest minds.

Always On is a window into the stories that Marina finds interesting - the details, performances and absurdities that catch her attention, and the connections only she can make. It’s more Marina, more often, in more ways - immediate, personal and playful, with the freedom to follow whatever she finds interesting, funny, strange or important.

From day one, Always On will span Marina’s new YouTube show, regular written columns and original social content, before expanding into further audio, video and digital formats.

Always On is the first launch from Goalhanger X, a new initiative building ambitious, creator-led media ventures across multiple platforms and formats.

Speaking about the launch, Marina Hyde said: “This is going to be so much fun! I’m hugely excited to be launching Always On in partnership with the brilliant team at Goalhanger, and to be able to respond to the news batsignal in whatever format feels right - written / video / podcast / social / costumed vigilantism. I’m also thrilled we’ve named it in tribute to the nervous breakdown it’s going to give me. Thanks guys - means a lot.”

Always On will be free at launch, with all of Marina’s writing available on Substack. A paid subscriber tier offering exclusive content and member features will follow.

A new look, photography and launch film offer a glimpse into Marina’s world - from scribbling notes in bed and following political drama like a box set to being surrounded by books, newspapers and screens.

Alongside Always On, Marina will continue to co-host The Rest Is Entertainment with Richard Osman, the UK’s biggest entertainment podcast.

A New Opportunity for Advertisers

Goalhanger X will create new ways for advertisers to partner with creators across connected editorial worlds.

Opportunities will be shaped around the audience, editorial proposition and creative potential of each venture, and could include:

• Editorial and written sponsorships
• Original creator-led brand campaigns
• Social partnerships and paid amplification
• Bespoke audio and video formats
• Category partnerships
• Live experiences and events
• Membership benefits and community initiatives
• Partnerships around future long-form IP

Each partnership will be developed with clear editorial boundaries and a focus on delivering genuine value for audiences. Advertisers will also have access to Goalhanger’s wider capabilities across creative development, production, distribution, audience intelligence, membership and campaign measurement.

Always On with Marina Hyde is live now on Substack and across social media.

Meanwhile, 54.8% already say podcasts carry too many ads. The national survey covered 1,205 U.S. podcast listeners and viewers aged 18 to 54. Strategic Solutions Research calls it a flashing yellow light for the industry. It isn't a red light yet: most listeners still accept ads as the price of free content. But it signals that adding more ad inventory has little room left to work.

“This is a flashing yellow light on ad load,” said Hal Rood, Partner/EVP of Strategic Solutions Research. “Huge portions of the podcast audience say they're hearing more ads than a year ago and that it is changing their behavior. That doesn't mean ads are failing. It means the easy growth from adding more spots is about done, and podcasters need to know what comes next before the audience decides for them. Our study points the way.”

The study also finds that the impact goes beyond irritation. About one in five listeners say advertising has caused them to consume fewer podcasts, and only 8.6% say they could tolerate additional advertising to keep podcasts free. Among engaged podcast consumers, the effects are even more pronounced, with those listeners more likely to report listening less and more than twice as likely as casual listeners to skip entire episodes because of advertising.

But the findings also point toward ways for podcasters to make existing advertising work harder. Host-read ads outperform prerecorded advertising on influencing listeners to try or buy, while host endorsements also improve attention, brand recall, trust and purchase consideration.

An Exclusive Look at Podcast Audience Acquisition

The Podcast Study also uncovered a significant difference in how listeners say they discover new podcasts.

Social media is cited by 53.2% of podcast consumers as a way they discover new shows. Advertising inside another podcast is cited by 17.4%.

That means consumers are more than three times as likely to identify social media as a podcast discovery source as advertising within another podcast.

“What really caught my attention is the combination of effectiveness and economics,” said Tim Bronsil, CEO of Point-To-Point Marketing. “Listeners are more than three times as likely to tell us social media led them to a podcast than advertising in another podcast. Then consider that social media can typically be bought at a significantly lower CPM than podcast advertising. From an audience development standpoint, that is a win-win: greater discovery potential while paying less to generate the exposure.”

The research does not suggest that advertising in podcasts has no value as a discovery tool. Nearly one in six listeners has found a podcast through an ad in another podcast, and that number rises among Superfans. Podcast advertising also substantially outperforms advertising in music streams for podcast discovery.

The larger question explored in the webinar is how podcast companies can balance advertising, audience development and new forms of listener revenue as traditional ad inventory approaches its limits. Rood and Bronsil will cover what podcasters can do about ad load, and the revenue opportunities beyond the standard spot, in “Beyond the Preroll,” a free webinar on Tuesday, October 13, at 2:00 p.m. ET. It is the third webinar from The Podcast Study 2026.

The presentation will examine host-read advertising, memberships, paid tiers, VIP clubs, email, exclusive content, events and other opportunities to generate value from the listener relationship. Superfans and Prime Prospects, the two high-value audience groups identified in the previous Podcast Study webinar, will receive particular attention. The new analysis looks at how those groups differ from the overall podcast audience in their willingness to pay and participate.

Strategic Solutions Research believes these audiences should be a key part of podcast growth planning for 2027. The research points to practical ways podcasters can deepen engagement, increase participation and create clearer pathways from loyal listening to direct revenue. Strategic Solutions Research will also outline ideas for how podcast companies can use these findings as they build their 2027 content, audience and monetization strategies.

Register for the free webinar here.

Independent children’s podcast, Silly Stories For Kids, has amassed more than 32 million downloads** across 282 episodes and reached 100 counties. It currently ranks #1 in Australia on Apple Podcasts’ Stories for Kids chart, #2 in the UK and #3 in Canada.

Created by Sam Ramsden, a full-time electrician and dad of four from Melbourne, Silly Stories for Kids started in November 2023 as a passion project inspired by one simple goal: to make his daughters laugh.

Every story is completely improvised on the spot, fuelled by Sam’s creativity and the suggestions of his young listeners. There’s no script, no writer’s room and no major podcast network behind it. Just Sam, a home studio and a seemingly endless imagination.

Now, those silly stories have been downloaded more than 32 million times, with the podcast currently ranked among the top 0.5% of podcasts globally, according to Listen Notes.

The podcast has also built a significant international audience, with families tuning in across the US, Canada and the UK, proving the distinctly Australian brand of silly, unpretentious storytelling translates far beyond home.

“32 million is a number I never could have imagined when I started making up stories to entertain my girls, just two weeks after the birth of our fourth daughter,” Ramsden said.

“The best part is knowing there are kids on the other side of the world laughing at the same ridiculous characters and adventures that started in our house. I still make every story up as I go, so half the time I’m just as surprised as the kids by where we end up.”

For many families, Silly Stories has become genuinely engaging, screen-free entertainment that sparks children’s imaginations while buying parents a few precious minutes of peace.

Neurodivergent children in particular have embraced the show, drawn to its fast pace, unpredictability and wildly funny characters who barrel headlong into crazy adventures. Sam also launched his first children's book this year, OK Let's Go! and appeared on the MCG as part of Melbourne Football Club's Kids Go Free match.

“The download number is amazing, but the messages from families are what stick with me,” Ramsden said.

“Parents tell me Silly Stories gets them through long car trips, bedtime, tough days or simply gives their kids something that makes them laugh. If we can create a bit of joy and get kids using their imaginations at the same time, that’s the win for me.”

Sam also writes Silly Songs, combining music with the unpredictable storytelling that has become the show’s trademark and increasingly, Silly Stories is moving beyond the podcast feed and into live family entertainment.

This month, Sam will head to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, entertaining families as part of the theme park’s Happy Halloween events. He will then continue the Silly Stories Spectacular nationwide live tour, heading to Adelaide’s Kings Community Centre on November 21.

The live tour follows sold-out shows at The Round in Melbourne, the Gold Coast and appearances at the Sydney Comedy Festival, where Sam performed six shows and joined The Great Laugh in the Park alongside Bluey, Jimmy Rees and more.

“Seeing kids who listen to the podcast suddenly standing in front of me at a live show, shouting out ideas and becoming part of the story, is pretty special,” Ramsden said.

“Silly Stories started in our family home and now it’s taking us around Australia. 32 million downloads feels like a massive milestone, but it also feels like we’re only getting started.”

And he’s doing it all while continuing to run an electrical business for his day job.

Sam Ramsden is one very busy dad.

Rebel Audio, the AI-powered podcasting platform designed to radically simplify how podcasts are created, produced, and scaled, today announced the closing of its Series A funding round, led by creator media company and studio HardScope. The Series A, which immediately follows an initial oversubscribed seed round of $4.15M, targets a $10M close, valuing Rebel Audio at approximately $50M post-money (*with more funding to follow in a 90 day window). The funding will accelerate Rebel Audio’s product roadmap, expanding its AI infrastructure, fuel creator acquisition and marketing, and support the company’s continued growth as it sets out to build the future of the podcast industry. 

Rebel Audio is building an end-to-end operating system for the next generation of podcasters and creators. The platform brings together the tools creators need to record, edit, publish, translate, distribute and monetize their content, while using AI to streamline workflows that traditionally require multiple platforms.

"I started my career in dark editing rooms, fighting the tools just to get the work done, and have been building creator tools ever since," said Jared Gutstadt, Founder and CEO of Rebel Audio. "Rebel is the simplest version of that mission: remove the friction, give creators their time back. Matt co-founded DraftKings and scaled it into one of the biggest names in sports entertainment. He knows technology, and he knows performance marketing. That's the fuel for our network effect."

“Rebel Audio empowers millions of aspiring creators to make great content independently and with almost no friction,” said Matt Kalish, CEO of HardScope. “The next generation of creators will use one-stop-shop AI powered platforms to show you don’t need a big team to create and launch great content. You can get started today, all by yourself on Rebel’s technology. Empowering creators to build ambitious projects and build an audience is core to HardScope's mission.”

The Series A follows an oversubscribed seed round that helped take Rebel Audio from stealth to public beta, leading to Rebel’s recently announced inaugural creator think tank, POD U, taking place Friday, Oct. 16 at the Rebel Chateau in Franklin, Tennessee. POD U will bring together creators, platform leaders, athletes, media executives and investors shaping the future of media with headline guests including MDMotivator, Mike "Big Mike" Majlak, Rebel Audio's Chief Creator in Residence; Caleb Simpson; Andrew Essex, Fort Nash’s Chris Ruediger, the Ecomm Cowboys and more. The event will be moderated and produced by Jimmy Jellinek, the former Playboy and Maxim editor turned public radio producer.

Additional participants and programming details for the first-ever Pod U will be announced in the coming weeks.

Rebel Audio Board of Directors: 

• Matt Kalish 
• Jacob Dezarn
• Benjamin Lurie
• Jonathan Schulman

Rebel Audio Advisory Board:

• Bill Hobbs
• Mark Burnett
• Brian Edwards
• Scott Robison
• Jeff Levin
• Mike Majlak ( Rebel Audio Chief Creator in Residence)

The company’s strategic investor network includes:

• The State of Tennessee, Launch TN 
• Rich Marder
• Joe McCann 
• Julie Gauthier 
• Capital Midwest 
• Charlie Epstein 
• Ben Lurie 
• Jonathan Schulman

PAVE Studios, a creator-first media company whose original content spans video, audio, live experiences and more, today announced a new partnership with Becca Bloom for Bloom’s Room, an original series from its lifestyle brand,OpenMind.

Bloom has built an audience of more than 10 million followers across TikTok, Instagram and other social platforms by bringing a distinctive mix of humor, curiosity and candor to conversations about fashion, finance, relationships, career and everyday life. Named to the inaugural TIME100 Creators list, Bloom has become one of the most recognizable voices of a new generation of digital creators, with a perspective that moves easily between business and investing, personal relationships, fashion and luxury, and the experiences that have shaped her life.

Bloom’s Room, premiering in January 2027 on YouTube and wherever podcasts are available, will give audiences a deeper look at the person behind the content. Each week, Bloom will unpack a subject she is genuinely curious about, from money and ownership to relationships, ambition, identity and the psychology behind the decisions we make.

“Becca is one of the most compelling voices of her generation, and we’re thrilled to partner with her on Bloom’s Room,” said PAVE Studios Founder and CEO Max Cutler. “Her audience has always wanted to know more about the person behind the content, and this show creates the space for that. It’s exactly the kind of creator-led original OpenMind was built for, and we can’t wait for people to hear the conversations she’s going to have.”

Bloom shared, “I’m a relatively private person, and what I’ve shared online has mostly been 30-second glimpses into my life. If those are the trailers, then Bloom’s Room is the movie. The things I have the most to say about, and the conversations I think are actually worth having, rarely fit into 30 seconds. We’ll get into money, relationships, fashion, and why we make the choices we do, but also parts of my life and conversations I’ve never shared publicly. I want the show to be smart and useful, but also more personal and honest than anything I’ve shared before.”

Bloom’s Room joins OpenMind’s growing slate of creator-led programming, including Khloé in Wonder Land, hosted by Khloé Kardashian, which recently premiered its fourth season.

Audio listeners are consuming more spoken-word audio content than ever before and increasingly using audio to replace screen-time entertainment, according to global research commissioned by Audible, unveiled today at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Findings include how audio complements traditional print/digital reading, why people are turning increasingly to audio, what motivates listeners to select particular titles and how consumers view the future of audio.

The Future of Listening survey is one of NielsenIQ’s most comprehensive global studies of spoken-word audio entertainment, spanning audiobooks and podcasts, as well as scripted and non-scripted audio series. It surveyed 18,000 listeners across 11 countries – Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the UK and the US – to develop a deep understanding of how audiences engage and experience spoken-word audio. The survey demonstrates audio’s continuing boom, with 34% stating that they listened to more audio content in the last 12 months than the year before. That number was highest among listeners in Brazil (46%) and Mexico (44%), followed by the UK (38%) and USA (35%).

Rachel Ghiazza, Chief Content Officer at Audible (pictured above), said: “What’s particularly striking about this research is the scale and momentum of audio’s growth. Audio is continuing to play a growing, evolving role in people’s lives.

“We’re seeing audiences listen more, explore different ways to experience stories and increasingly turn to audio as a means of switching off and recharging. In today’s world, consumers are craving more fulfilling ways to spend their time, and they’re finding that more and more through audio content, particularly as an alternative to screens.

“When we see those behaviors reflected so consistently across a study of this scale, it’s a powerful reminder that audio is no longer simply another form of entertainment – it has become part of how people spend their time well, while creating space to slow down, switch off and look after their wellbeing.”

Audio complements traditional print/digital reading

The study found that while global listeners are consuming audio extensively, they’re not looking to it as a sole alternative to traditional print or digital book consumption:

• 61% said they’d read books in print or ebook format that they’d already listened to
• 69% claimed they listened to audiobooks that they’d already read in another format
• 63% had listened to an audiobook by an author, then purchased their titles in print or eBook
• Since starting audiobooks, listeners are also trying new authors (29%), exploring new genres (29%), reading more eBooks (26%), and more paper books (22%)

More people are turning to audio to switch off

The research also highlighted the growing role audio is playing in helping global listeners switch off and step away from screens, as it becomes consistently considered a wellness and self-care activity.

• In nearly every country surveyed, “listening at home to relax” ranked as the top listening occasion, while “feeling relaxed and comforted” was the main emotion evoked by listening to audio
• 51% said that spoken-word audio listening has helped them to intentionally replace screen-time entertainment
• 47% attributed a reduction in their social media usage to audio listening
• Parents said that “screen-free entertainment” is the #1 reason they encourage kids to listen (52% of audio-listening parents say their children listen, too)

Genre and narrator drive title selection

Three key considerations are clearly motivating how listeners choose which titles to listen to:

• Genre remains the single most important factor globally
• Topic / personal interest is #2 in every country surveyed
• Narrator closely follows, with 65% of listeners seeking out more books by a narrator they like
• Social media remains a top destinations for listeners to learn about new content to listen to, especially so in Brazil, Mexico and the U.S.  

Listeners are embracing the future of audio

Alongside growing engagement with audio today, the research suggests audiences are open to how the medium could evolve in the future. Meanwhile, audiobook listeners are open to the idea of AI-narrated audio content, particularly when it comes to fiction.

• 50% of respondents said they were now open to listening to or trying out AI-narrated content
• Country-specific reception to AI narration ranged from Germany at 42% to Japan at 66%
• In the majority of countries, consumers were most open to listening to AI-narrated fiction, whereas in Germany and Japan non-fiction content was preferred
• 67% of respondents said they felt excited about the future of spoken-word audio entertainment, with listeners in Brazil, Japan, Italy, Mexico and the US particularly enthusiastic.

Lemonada Media, the award-winning podcast network that makes life suck less, today announced a new partnership with New York Times bestselling author Dani Shapiro to oversee ad sales and distribution for her acclaimed podcast, Family Secrets, which returns today with all-new episodes.

Shapiro launched Family Secrets in 2019, following the release of her bestselling memoir, Inheritance, to share her own experience and perspective after discovering a life-altering secret her parents had kept from her. Since its launch, the podcast has built a loyal following, drawing millions of downloads each year. Each week in this new season, Shapiro sits down with guests to explore astonishing family secrets and uncover the extraordinary lessons the truth can teach us.

"I could not be more excited to partner with Lemonada,” said Dani Shapiro. “I have admired the work they've put into the world since day one, and it feels fortuitous that Family Secrets is joining their fantastic slate of shows. I’ve made it my life’s work to make meaning, and even beauty and joy, out of the chaos that life sometimes hands us. I can’t wait for this new chapter of Family Secrets."

“Dani is an incredibly gifted storyteller, and I’ve been a long-time fan of Family Secrets,” said Lemonada CEO Stephanie Wittels Wachs. “The show does what all great podcasts do: it makes people feel less alone in the hardest, messiest parts of their lives — something we’re always looking for in the shows we bring to Lemonada. We’re thrilled Dani has brought this beautiful show to us.”

The partnership follows Lemonada Media’s recently announced fall slate, which includes the new shows OMG Obsessed with Zosia Mamet and The Dash with Elizabeth Chambers and Marissa Hermer. Lemonada has also expanded its roster through new ad sales and distribution partnerships with The Moment LIVE, the twice-weekly news and culture show hosted by Meredith Lynch and Rebecca Sananès, and Inner Childish, hosted by popular creators Victoria Garrick Brown and Aubrey Gavello Wood. Together, these new deals underscore Lemonada’s continued commitment to building a dynamic slate of bold personalities, fresh perspectives and entertaining conversations spanning culture, news, lifestyle and beyond.

The winners of the 2026 IWPAs spanned genres and topics to bring audio moments that captivated, compelled, and entertained. From a death-defying rescue mission in the Great Lakes and documentary about the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, to a sitcom-style narrative memoir and a comedic take on America’s debt. 

The IWPAs have become a cornerstone event celebrating the creativity, innovation, and impact of women in podcasting across genres and geographies. Proudly queer and trans inclusive, the IWPAs showcase creative excellence across multiple categories, recognizing the best in the business from around the world, from those who are self-taught and producing shows solo, to those who form part of larger teams at established audio companies.

The 2026 IWPA Winners

Podcasts Detail

• Moment of Absolute Honesty Still Life
• Moment of Artistry in Advertising Culture Kids
• Moment of Behind the Scenes Brilliance Points North
• Moment of Comedy Gold Debt Heads
• Moment of Compelling Storytelling Everybody Knows But Me
• Moment of Factual Clarity Fetch the Smelling Salts
• Moment of Insight from a Role Model Freedom Needs a Soundtrack
• Moment of Podcasting Panache in a Language Other Than English L'amour moi j'en ai pas 
• Moment of Pure Emotion Two-Faced: John of God
• Moment of Visionary Leadership Freedom Needs a Soundtrack
• Award for Changing the World One Moment at a Time Well Beyond Medicine: The Nemours Children's Health Podcast

This year’s IWPAs were supported by CBC, RSS.com, Lower Street, True Native Media, Podchaser, Headliner, PlayerFM, Sound Off Podcast Network, and Women in Media, who recognize the value of celebrating and platforming the work of underrepresented creatives in the podcast industry. With their support, the awards are able to offer initiatives like the IWPA Scholarship Program, a tradition started in years past.

Global ad spend is forecast to grow 11.9% to $1.34trn in 2026, according to the latest data from WARC Media. This comes on the back of strong 10.0% growth in 2024 and 2025. 

Advertising investment continues to grow despite consumer pressure and geopolitical uncertainty, fueled by significant corporate AI investment and major events including the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, and US mid-term elections. While the economy has remained resilient to date, further escalations of global tensions pose potential downside risks. 

Suzy Young, Head of WARC Media Data, says: "These are unusual times for advertising. Investment is accelerating even as many consumers face cost-of-living pressures and become more cautious with spending. This apparent contradiction reflects an increasingly uneven economy, where growth – particularly from the AI boom – is benefiting some companies, sectors and consumers more than others." 

Performance priority 

Social media, search and retail media are three of the biggest channels for ad investment. Altogether they are expected to account for 66.4% of total global ad spend in 2026, rising to 70.0% in 2028.  

Social media is set to register the strongest growth in ad spend this year, up 21.3% to $394.6bn, and is on course to exceed $500bn in 2028. Video on-demand (15.1% to $48.4bn), retail media (14.3% to $202.1bn), search (14.2% to $295.7bn) and digital OOH (13.7% to $21.7bn) will also see double-digit increases this year. Performance channels, which can adapt quickly to changing conditions, continue to benefit as uncertainty becomes the new norm.

Technology and electronics is forecast to be the fastest growing product category this year, rising 20.7% compared with 2025, followed by travel and transport (19.3%) and automotive (17.8%). Social media is expected to account for 40.2% of all tech and electronics spend in 2026.

2027 and 2028 ad spend outlook 

Ad spend growth is expected to moderate in 2027, rising 8.4% to $1.46trn, reflecting tougher comparables and a normalisation from the exceptionally strong growth seen in recent years. 

In 2028, ad spend will increase by a further 7.9% to $1.57trn – putting the market on course to be 2.3 times larger than it was a decade ago in 2019.

New AI destinations emerge 

AI is driving advertising growth from multiple angles. New tech businesses are investing to acquire customers and build brands, while established companies spend heavily to compete in an increasingly crowded market. Simultaneously, AI tools are enhancing targeting, asset creation, and campaign optimisation – boosting ROI and fueling further investment. 

AI is also opening new destinations for advertising. As generative search and AI assistants become gateways to product discovery and purchasing, ad dollars will follow – fundamentally reshaping where consumers encounter brands and where advertisers invest. 

AI fuels ad triopoly 

Alphabet, Amazon and Meta are set to take a combined market share of 59.7% of global ad spend (excluding China) this year – equivalent to $659.6bn. This is predicted to rise to 61.5%, or $804.1bn, in 2028.

Ad spend signals opportunity 

Ad spend per capita varies dramatically across global markets. Developed economies like the US ($1395 per capita forecast for 2026), UK ($935), Austria ($850), and Switzerland ($825) show significantly higher advertising intensity, while China ($170), Brazil ($110), and India ($13) combine lower per-capita spending with massive consumer populations – highlighting substantial growth potential as these emerging markets mature. 

WARC Media subscribers can read WARC's global ad spend Q3 2026 update report in full.

AM / FM radio maintains its position as Canada’s most-used audio medium in the car, accounting for 46% of time yesterday.

Music streaming services are second, used for 27% of time yesterday. Music on YouTube (including YouTube Music) claims third place with 11% of in-car listening. These are among the findings in the just-released second report from Signal Hill Insights’ Audio on the Move, Canada’s first holistic study providing the growing audio industry a comprehensive view of how and when Canadians aged 12+ are listening.

YouTube’s ranking for in-car listening is consistent with the platform becoming a top destination for audio. As revealed in the first report from Audio on the Move, music on YouTube now represents the second highest share of ad-supported audio consumption overall.

Looking at all listening, the car is where 24% of Canadians’ audio consumption time happens, while the majority of time, 59%, happens at home. 12% of listening time yesterday happened at work or school.

“Like the overall audio landscape, in-car consumption is dynamic and changing,” said Matt Hird, Vice-President of Research for Signal Hill Insights. “While radio maintains a strong lead, streaming services are claiming an increasing share. If we combine YouTube and music streaming services, the gap between streaming and AM/FM is closing quickly.”

A Supermajority of Canadians Dislike Fully AI-Generated Podcasts and Music

According to the Ipsos AI Monitor 2026 Canada ranks at the bottom of a list of 32 countries for excitement over products and services using AI, and top of the list for saying those same services make them nervous. Audio on the Move findings show this skepticism carries over to opinions on fully AI-generated podcasts and music.

Audio on the Move asked the study’s nationally representative sample of 6,161 Canadians aged 12+, “How do you feel about the use of AI to create content for each of the following media? Note that this refers to content that has been fully created with AI, rather than just edited or touched-up.”

Only 5% said they like AI-generated music, while 4% said they like AI-generated podcasts. A supermajority said they dislike AI-generated content on these media platforms: 65% dislike it for music, and 68% dislike it for podcasts. Less than a third are neutral: 29% for music and 28% for podcasts.

The youngest group of Canadians, aged 12 - 17, are comparatively less negative and more neutral towards AI-generated audio, but the scales don’t tip to a net positive sentiment. Half dislike either AI-generated podcasts or music, while 42% are neutral about AI-generated podcasts and 37% are neutral about AI-generated music.

“The steep rise in fully AI-generated music and podcasts has sparked controversy in the audio industry, which is why we thought it important to understand how these products are perceived by Canadian consumers,” said Hird. “The findings from Audio on the Move show there is very little support. The number who dislike AI-generated audio outnumber those who like it by a factor of at least 13 to 1.”

“In order to level-set. Audio on the Move also asked respondents’ sentiment towards fully AI-generated social media images and videos, as well as online articles, blogs and news. A clear majority of Canadians also dislike AI-generated content on these platforms. The fewest, 60%, dislike AI-generated images or memes on social media – just five points fewer than for music.”

Independent podcast network Podmasters has re-signed Fin vs History, the hit comedy-history podcast created by comedian Fin Taylor and Horatio Gould, as the show surpasses 66 million downloads & views since its launch.

The show's success has been driven by its deliberately unconventional approach to history. Taylor and Gould combine genuine interest in the past with the irreverent instincts of stand-up comedians, creating a format that plays with the conventions of traditional history podcasts.

The renewed partnership marks a significant milestone for both Fin vs History and Podmasters, demonstrating the strength of the relationship between the network and the team behind one of the UK's fastest-growing comedy podcasts. 

Since launching in January 2025, Fin vs History has grown into a major podcast success story, winning a Chortle award, embarking on an eight date live tour across the UK, including a sold out show at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.  This year it has been nominated for Best Comedy Podcast at the British Podcast Awards taking place in October. 

The show’s growth is also reflected in its chart performance, with Fin vs History continuing to rank highly across both major podcast platforms Spotify and Apple. As of September 2026, the podcast sits at #12 in Spotify’s UK Top Podcasts chart and #4 in Spotify’s UK Comedy chart, while on Apple Podcasts it has reached the Top 20 overall in the UK and Top 5 in Comedy. 

For Podmasters, the re-signing is also a vote of confidence in the network's approach to working with independent talent. The network has built its reputation around a collection of distinctive shows across comedy, politics, news, history and culture.

Podmasters prides itself on working closely with creators to help them grow their audiences, monetise and subsequently build sustainable businesses around successful formats.

Martin Bojtos, Co-Founder and CEO of Podmasters, said: “Fin vs History is exactly the kind of show we love at Podmasters. It is original, fearless and completely distinctive. To see it grow at this speed has been incredible, but what means just as much is that Fin, Horatio and the team have chosen to continue that journey with us. For us, that trust is a real measure of success.”

For Fin vs History producer Fumblerooski Productions, the relationship has been key to allowing the team to focus on creating a show that continues to evolve alongside its audience.

Pete Wells, managing director of Fumblerooski of Fin vs History, said: “The success of the podcast has been phenomenal; we’ve been able to hire a team, build new sets and explore new areas like animation and more exciting things to come. Podmasters understand that balance. They give us the support and expertise behind the scenes while allowing the creative team to keep pushing the format forward.”

In addition to resigning Fin vs History, Podmasters will welcome a number of new shows and talent partnerships to its growing slate in the coming months.

UK registered nutritional therapist and IBS specialist Anna Mapson is launching a new four-part series of her podcast, Inside Knowledge for people with IBS, dedicated to constipation.

The series launches on 6 October 2026, with a new episode released each week on Tuesdays. It will be available globally on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.

Constipation is one of the most frequently requested topics from Mapson’s audience and clients, particularly among people with IBS. It can be accompanied by bloating, abdominal pain, straining and a feeling of incomplete emptying, and the causes are often more complicated than simply not eating enough fibre.

Rather than focusing on a single food or supplement, the four-part series looks at constipation from several different angles, combining nutrition advice with practical lifestyle strategies.

The series covers:

Episode 1: What causes constipation? A look at the different factors that can contribute to constipation, from diet, gut microbes, and movement, to bowel habits and the way the gut functions.

Episode 2: What to eat when you're constipated. Constipation diets, including fibre, fluids and foods to help support more regular bowel movements, alongside considerations for people with IBS who find that increasing fibre can also increase bloating.

Episode 3: Your morning routine to get things moving. A practical look at the habits that can help encourage a bowel movement in the morning, including eating, drinking, movement and toilet routines.

Episode 4: Non-food support for constipation. Other factors that can influence bowel habits, including supplements, movement, stress. Answering listener questions

“Constipation is probably my most requested topic to talk about, so I’m going to spend four episodes looking at how to get things moving through diet, lifestyle and movement,” says Anna Mapson, registered nutritional therapist and IBS specialist. “There’s so much advice online that focuses on one particular food or supplement. I wanted to give people practical things they can try out at home”

Mapson has over a decade of clinical experience working with people with IBS and other digestive problems. Her approach focuses on helping people understand their symptoms while avoiding unnecessary dietary restriction.

Inside Knowledge for people with IBS is hosted by Mapson and covers the science behind common digestive symptoms, translating research and clinical experience into practical information for people living with IBS and related digestive conditions.

Mapson is also the author of Inside Knowledge for people with IBS and SIBO and runs Goodness Me Nutrition, providing one-to-one nutritional therapy and online educational resources for people with digestive problems.

The four-part constipation series launches 6 October 2026.

The Payments Shed has appointed six new hosts across the UK, US and mainland Europe as the payments and fintech podcast expands its international coverage.

Joining founders Grant Evans and Justin Hanna are Sarah Stapp in Chicago, Kara Parkey in New York, Jason Heister in Utah, Rogier Rouppe van der Voort in Amsterdam, and Jasmine Chana and Liam Gray in London.

Founded in October 2025, The Payments Shed has attracted more than 400,000 YouTube subscribers in its first year. Its expansion will enable more recordings in local markets, introduce new guests and bring regional perspectives to discussions on payments, fintech and business growth.

The new hosts bring experience spanning global payments, fintech recruitment, enterprise partnerships, digital assets and commercial leadership.

Their appointments follow a series of US recordings, including at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, as The Payments Shed builds its presence beyond the UK.

Grant Evans, Co-Founder and Co-Host of The Payments Shed, said:

“When Justin and I started The Payments Shed, we wanted to have honest conversations with people working in payments and fintech. Reaching more than 400,000 YouTube subscribers in our first year has shown us the appetite for those discussions.

Bringing six new hosts into the team means we can hear from more people in more markets. Each brings their own experience, contacts and perspective, giving us more scope to explore the issues that matter to our audience.”

The Payments Shed has also expanded its production and support team, with people working across videography, content production, marketing, design and web development.

Justin Hanna, Co-Founder and Co-Host of The Payments Shed, added:

“What started as two of us recording conversations alongside our day jobs has grown into an international team. Having hosts based in the UK, US and mainland Europe will help us explore how the opportunities and challenges in payments differ from market to market.

The team behind the scenes gives us the capacity to produce more, while keeping the focus on useful conversations with people who know the industry.”

Alongside its podcast, The Payments Shed now produces video content, social content, a website, and a newsletter, with events and industry partnerships forming part of its wider media platform.

For more information, visit thepaymentsshed.com.

Podcast Nation, the creator-first podcast network, today announced a new partnership with Gen Z lifestyle creator, entrepreneur, and podcaster Trinity Blair and her show, Trin Told Me. Facilitated by MVE Management, the partnership will support the show's continued growth through audio and video production, distribution, monetization, and strategy.

With a combined audience of more than 4.4 million followers and subscribers across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and RSS, Blair has built a brand centered on dating, self-love, wellness, and personal growth. Through her signature mix of entertainment, candid conversations, and big-sister advice, she connects with young women looking to build confidence, raise their standards, and create lives that reflect their ambitions.

Trin Told Me brings that same energy to podcasting, extending Trinity's established digital presence into a new format while creating more opportunities to deepen her connection with her audience. The simulcast show builds on her existing content and personal brand, bringing her voice and perspective to listeners and viewers across platforms.

“This next wave of Gen Z creators is building incredibly engaged audiences who want to follow them across platforms, a trend that has traditionally been more challenging in audio,” said Libby Absten, Director of Partnerships & Strategic Growth at Podcast Nation.

“Where podcast growth once felt more siloed, with separate audiences across RSS, video, and social, we’re now seeing creators build connected audiences who engage with and follow their content across formats. This is uniquely true of creators who start in digital, especially those belonging to Gen Z. Trinity is a great example of this shift. She’s built a strong digital community, and Trin Told Me is a natural extension of her existing IP, bringing her voice and audience into audio and video while creating new opportunities for growth. We’ll continue to focus on this segment at Podcast Nation and look forward to seeing how it evolves across the industry.”

Trinity's digital audience includes:

• TikTok: @trinity.blair — 4M followers
• Instagram: @trinyxo — 221K followers
• YouTube: The Trinity Theory — 138K subscribers

Through the partnership, Podcast Nation will work with Trinity and MVE Management to support the show's production, distribution, monetization, and broader growth opportunities as Trin Told Me continues to evolve across platforms.

Through the Barometer integration, advertisers using Amazon Ads DVA+ can activate Barometer's pre-bid brand suitability, enabling third-party verification to ensure that every podcast episode meets advertiser brand guidelines without sacrificing audience scale. It has become a standard for advertisers to require third-party verification solutions to ensure consistency across their campaigns.

This integration brings Barometer's best-in-class pre-bid targeting solutions to Amazon Ads, starting with podcast audio in this initial launch and expanding to cover other types of content, including video in 2026. At launch, Barometer will support all on-demand audio inventory available within Amazon DVA+, including the Amazon-owned and operated audio content, as well as the notable third-party partnerships that have already launched on Amazon DVA+, including SiriusXM, Spotify, Amazon, and iHeartMedia.

Barometer’s AI solutions have opened up access to new shows for advertisers and marketers, leading to increased scale and reach. A financial services brand started out leveraging podcast a show inclusion list only. When they switched to episode-level targeting, the brand was able to scale the number of podcast shows by over 140%, expanding to marketing across 2,000 shows. In another example, an advertiser who had never tried programmatic podcast advertising due to brand suitability concerns was able to use Barometer’s episodic targeting to advertise within 2,700 shows and reach over 5MM new households, achieving over 85% incremental reach compared to streaming video and streaming audio.

“It is thrilling to think of the impact that this integration will have on both the advertisers leveraging Amazon DVA+ and the publishers representing the premium media commanding the world’s attention. Working with leaders across the Amazon DVA+ team has been a joy, and we are excited to bring Barometer into Amazon DVA+,” says Tamara Zubatiy, Founder and CEO of Barometer.

“Podcasts let brands show up in moments when listeners are highly engaged, but programmatic scale has often been limited by a lack of reliable brand-suitability controls,” said Lauren Russo, EVP, Managing Partner, Innovation & Performance Audio at Horizon Media. “By bringing Barometer’s episode-level suitability into Amazon DVA+, we can align buys to clear brand standards while tapping premium podcast supply—making it easier to scale with confidence.”

To learn more about how you can begin leveraging these tools in your next campaign, please reach out to meredith@thebarometer.co.

Birds of a Feather Talk Together, the popular birding and natural history podcast hosted by Field Museum ornithologists Dr. John Bates and Dr. Shannon Hackett alongside RJ Pole and Amanda Pole, recorded its first-ever episode in front of a live audience at this year’s Urban Birding Festival in Chicago.

The milestone brought the podcast’s signature conversational style to the stage, with the hosts talking birds, sharing stories and answering questions from festival attendees.

“Getting to record in front of an audience for the first time was incredibly special,” said co-host and producer RJ Pole. “Our listeners are such a big part of the show. They send us questions and bird stories every week, so getting to actually meet some of them and have them participate in an episode was really exciting.”

For Dr. John Bates, the live recording was a natural extension of what makes the podcast unique.

“One of the things I love about the podcast is that we never quite know where the conversation is going to take us,” Bates said. “Doing that in front of an audience and getting their questions and reactions in real time made it even more fun.”

For Dr. Shannon Hackett, the festival was an opportunity to connect with the kind of community the podcast hopes to build.

“A big part of why we do the podcast is because we love spreading the word about birds and sharing that excitement with other people,” Hackett said. “Getting to be in a room with so many like-minded people who are curious and enthusiastic about birds was really special.”

The Urban Birding Festival brought together birders from Chicago and beyond for a celebration of birds, conservation and urban nature. Bates also led bird walks during the festival.

With more than 150 episodes and 100,000 total downloads, Birds of a Feather Talk Together has built a community ranging from experienced birders to people discovering the birds in their own backyards for the first time.

The live Urban Birding Festival episode is available wherever podcasts are found.

It was announced today that Wave (Wave Sports & Entertainment), the leader in digital entertainment for next-generation audiences, is adding another major comedy podcast to its rapidly growing roster, striking a deal to oversee ad sales and distribution for Bad Friends, hosted by Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee. The partnership builds on Wave’s existing relationship with Santino, whose solo show, “Whiskey Ginger,” joined Wave earlier this year.

Since launching in 2020, “Bad Friends” has become one of the most successful weekly comedy podcasts. Known for their chaotic chemistry, unfiltered conversations and relentless roasting, Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino have built a loyal, highly engaged audience, generating more than 38 million monthly views across platforms. The new partnership with Wave is designed to build on that momentum, expanding the show’s commercial reach and helping fuel its next phase of growth.

“Bad friends has always been about two friends getting together trying to make each other laugh. We’re so excited to continue to have full comedic freedom with Wave. I’ve had such a great experience with them on my other show ‘Whiskey Ginger’ and we can’t wait to keep making comedy for our fans for many years to come,” said Andrew Santino. “We know we’re in good hands. Mostly, we’re just excited to keep making the show we love, at a heightened scale and bringing our fans along for the ride,” added Bobby Lee.

“We’ve loved working with Andrew on ‘Whiskey Ginger,’ and it became clear pretty quickly that we were aligned on how we think about creative and growth,” said Mack Sovereign, Chief Content Officer at Wave. “So expanding the relationship to ‘Bad Friends’ felt like a natural next step. We’re thrilled to welcome Bobby to Wave, and are excited to support the next chapter of their singular show.”

As part of the deal, Wave will oversee advertising sales and distribution across YouTube, podcast platforms, and social channels. Named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026, Wave is the creative force behind some of today’s most viral digital series. With over 6 billion impressions over the last year, the company has pioneered innovative ways for pop culture icons, creators, and sports stars to expand their brands and connect with mainstream audiences through original programming that resonates with next-gen viewers. This partnership furthers Wave’s growth across the comedy space, helping talent to generate long-form, premium content and new business lines.

Santino is represented by UTA, and Lee is represented by CAA.

“Video is suddenly everywhere in podcasting, and the line around what even counts as a podcast is blurrier than ever,” said Jim Saraco, co-founder of PodAnalyst. “YouTube is the biggest podcast platform out there, so now we're bringing together the numbers from the Big Three: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. That's also where Iris keeps evolving, into an analyst podcasters can really trust, and we're thrilled more than 600 podcasts already trust it with theirs.” - Jim Saraco, Co-Founder, PodAnalyst

600+ Shows, 100,000+ Episodes, 40 Million Listeners

PodAnalyst now measures more than 600 podcasts, tracking over 100,000 episodes and more than 40 million unique listeners across the shows on the platform. The growth reflects a widening base of podcasters who use PodAnalyst to understand their audience across both major listening platforms in one dashboard, rather than piecing the story together from two separate ones.

PodAnalyst Now Sees Video: Engaged Views Joins Engaged Listeners

Podcasters publishing on YouTube can now bring that performance data into PodAnalyst alongside their audio numbers. The headline metric is engaged views, the video counterpart to engaged listeners, PodAnalyst's existing measure of who is actually sticking with an episode rather than just starting it.

Put side by side, the two numbers tell a podcaster whether their audience behaves the same way on video as it does on audio, or whether one format is holding attention better than the other, all from a single dashboard.

Iris, the dedicated Podcast Analyst, reads video the same way it reads audio, so you never have to interpret the two separately. Ask it where a video episode loses viewers, why a particular moment causes a drop-off, or how engaged views for an episode compare to engaged listeners for that same episode, and Iris will walk you through what the numbers mean and what to do next.

Readout: A Polished Report, Just by Asking

PodAnalyst's new Readout turns a podcaster's data into a professional, ready-to-share report without any manual formatting. Just ask Iris, and it builds the Readout for you: the numbers that matter, laid out clearly, ready to send.

It is built for the moments podcasters already find themselves explaining their show to someone else: impressing a content partner, making the case to an advertiser, or briefing a co-creator. Iris creates the Readout. All a podcaster has to do is ask.

“It's exciting to see the podcast industry embrace true consumption metrics faster than we expected. As more large ad buyers demand accurate data, PodAnalyst is here to show podcasters what's really happening with their audience.” - George Lejnine, Co-Founder, PodAnalyst

Availability

Engaged views and Iris's video analysis are available now to PodAnalyst Pro and Network subscribers who connect a YouTube channel. Readout is available now to all Pro and Network subscribers.

About PodAnalyst

PodAnalyst brings together podcast audience data from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and now YouTube in a single dashboard. Radar watches every show in a podcaster's catalog and surfaces what deserves a closer look. Iris, a podcaster's dedicated Podcast Analyst, answers direct questions about performance and can build a polished Readout on request. PodAnalyst is free to use on its Community plan, with no cap on listeners, for as long as a podcaster wants it.

Loyalty Is Personal - nearly half of Superfans have reached out to a podcast host directly. That connection cuts both ways: 21% say they would definitely stop consuming a favorite podcast if its host left. For many shows, the host relationship is the brand.

Superfans Won’t Wait Through a Slow Start - Even the most devoted listeners have little patience for weak execution. Eighteen percent of Superfans will give up on a new podcast within the first minute, putting outsized weight on how a show opens and how quickly it delivers on its promise.

Moving Prime Prospects To Superfans Spurs Exponential Growth - The webinar will outline the tools creators can use to deepen the listener relationship with Prime Prospects — exclusive content, community, email, social and video — and make a podcast part of the listener’s daily routine.

“Content execution is sometimes overlooked as a key way you can influence growth,” said Hal Rood, Partner, Strategic Solutions Research. “Your growth will be held back if you have a leaky bucket and lose Superfans with content not firing on all cylinders. We’ll walk through what are the most common content errors and how to fix them.”

Tim Bronsil, CEO, Point-to-Point Marketing, commented, “We’ll give you clarity on exactly which levers move Prime Prospects to Superfans, and how that translates to usage. Prime Prospects have already raised their hand. Every one you convert makes your Superfan base bigger and more loyal.”

Webinar Details

• What: The Podcast Study 2026 — “Turning Listeners / Viewers Into Superfans”
• When: Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern
• Cost: Free
• Registration: https://www.thepodcaststudy.com/

The biggest night in podcasting returned for a milestone tenth year as the British Podcast Awards 2026 took over Indigo at The O2 in Greenwich, London. Hosted by comedian, actor and podcaster Jake Bhardwaj, the star-studded ceremony celebrated winners across 31 categories, with a bustling crowd of podcasters, celebrities and industry figures.

The industry’s top prize, Podcast of the Year, was awarded to Prison Radio Association's Hold or Fold, which also took home Best Factual Podcast. The candid podcast delves into the stories of lives pushed to the brink by gambling.

Elsewhere, Bill Nighy was crowned Best Host for his irresistibly endearing series ill-advised, while Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo triumphed in Best Entertainment Podcast, continuing their reign as one of Britain’s most-loved podcasting couples.

After two nominations in 2025, Pete Wick's Man Made (Bauer Media) celebrated a double victory with Best Health & Wellbeing Podcast and Best Interview Podcast, recognised for it's honest conversations about unpacking modern masculinity with huge guests including Kier Starmer, Russell T Davies and Jameela Jamil. 

Fan-favourite Hard Launch with Dan & Phil claimed the fan-voted Listeners’ Choice Award, powered by Spotify, while Get Birding – hosted by actor Sean Bean – took home two trophies for Best Lifestyle Podcast and Best Vdeo Innovation.

The coveted Spotlight Award was given to Dish from Waitrose with Nick Grimshaw & Angela Hartnett which has become one of the UK's leading podcasts, reaching a total of over one billion combined downloads, views, and listens since it's launch in 2022.

Other Gold winners included The Intelligence (The Economist), Coining It with Lewis Goodall (Free Turn), and The Birth Keepers (The Guardian).

Presenters on the night included
Peter Crouch, Pete Wicks, Sophie Habboo, Clara Amfo & Munroe Bergdorf, Chris Stark, Anita Rani, Bimini, Mishal Husain, The Thomas Brothers, Deborah Frances-White & Dan Schrieber, Chloe Burrows, Marianna Spring, Eleanor Neale, Chris Sweeney, Zak Addae-Kodua & Jules Rowan, Coco Khan and Mia Thornton.

Full list of winners

Podcasts Detail

• PODCAST OF THE YEAR: Hold or Fold, Prison Radio Association
• LISTENERS' CHOICE powered by Spotify (public vote): Hard Launch with Dan & Phil, Studio 71
• BEST ARTS & CULTURE PODCAST: Legend: The Bruce Springsteen Story, BBC Audio Wales and West of England
• BEST BUSINESS PODCAST: The Factory Next Door
• BEST COMEDY PODCAST: When The Cops Say No, We Say Yes (part of Who Shat On The Floor At My Wedding? And Other Crimes, A Step Too Far Productions
• BEST DAILY PODCAST: The Intelligence, The Economist
• BEST DOCUMENTARY PODCAST: The Birth Keepers, The Guardian
• BEST EDUCATION PODCAST: Talking Rubbish, The Rubbish Collective
• BEST ENTERTAINMENT PODCAST: NewlyParents, JamPot Productions
• BEST FACTUAL PODCAST: Hold or Fold, Prison Radio Association
• BEST FICTION PODCAST: Project Bläckfisk, Cipher Atlas Productions
• BEST FOOD & DRINK PODCAST: Bottoms Up! With Alan Carr & Lee Peart, Platform Media
• BEST HEALTH & WELLBEING PODCAST: Pete Wicks' Man Made, Bauer Media
• BEST HISTORY PODCAST: The House at Number 48 (part of The History Podcast), BBC Long Form Audio
• BEST HOST(S): Bill Nighy (as heard on ill-advised), EYEPOD Studios
• BEST IMPACT PODCAST: SEND in the Spotlight, BBC Audio
• BEST INTERVIEW PODCAST: Pete Wicks' Man Made, Bauer Media
• BEST KIDS PODCAST: Audiomoves in Space (part of Audiomoves), Peut-Être Theatre
• BEST LIFESTYLE PODCAST: Get Birding, Peanut & Crumb
• BEST NETWORK / PUBLISHER: BBC World Service (for example, Global News Podcast)
• BEST NEW PODCAST: Do I Detect A Problem? Sync Clap Limited
• BEST NEWS, POLITICS & CURRENT AFFAIRS PODCAST: The Wargame, Sky News and Tortoise
• BEST PARENTING PODCAST: ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast
• RISING STAR AWARD: Georgie Styles (as heard on Frontline Foodcast)
• BEST SEX & RELATIONSHIPS PODCAST: Atonement: The John Paulk Story, Goldhawk and Platform Media
• SPECIALIST AWARD: The Dementia Perspective, OG Podcasts
• BEST SPORT PODCAST: That Peter Crouch Podcast, Marvellous
• SPOTLIGHT AWARD: Dish from Waitrose with Nick Grimshaw & Angela Hartnett, Cold Glass Productions
• BEST TRUE CRIME PODCAST: Coining It, Free Turn
• BEST VIDEO INNOVATION: Get Birding, Peanut & Crumb
• BEST WELSH LANGUAGE PODCAST: Hanes Mawr Cymru, Terrier Productions

Editor's note: we've chosen example podcasts for best host, rising star, and network/publisher awards.

Goalhanger is bringing its advertising sales operation fully in-house from January 2027, giving agencies and brands a direct route to its audiences, talent and commercial opportunities across one of the world’s fastest-growing independent media companies.

The move gives agencies and brands a direct route to Goalhanger's audiences, talent and commercial opportunities across its entire portfolio, including The Rest Is... network.

Rather than buying podcast advertising as a standalone line item, brands will be able to build partnerships spanning audio, video, social, newsletters, live events, branded editorial and bespoke branded content, directly with Goalhanger's own in-house commercial team.

Goalhanger’s network generated more than 750 million full-episode views and streams in 2025 and is on track to exceed one billion in 2026. The company was ranked No.1 in the 2026 Sunday Times 100 of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies, reporting 2025 sales of £37.9 million and average annual revenue growth of 321% over three years. It has also been ranked No. 1 in Media & Telecoms in the Financial Times’ UK’s Fastest-Growing Companies 2027 ranking.

Josh Akers, Director of Commercial Operations at Goalhanger, said: “Goalhanger has reached the scale where having full in-house ownership of our advertising sales operation is the natural next step. We're approaching a billion full-episode views and streams a year, and the commercial opportunity around the network has grown significantly alongside it. We've been building out our in-house commercial capabilities across partnerships, delivery and creative production over the recent years to give us greater ownership of our revenue, building closer relationships with our media agency and client partners. That enhanced infrastructure will be pivotal in supporting this next phase of the business's growth."

Goalhanger has already expanded its work with advertisers well beyond traditional audio advertising, developing award-winning partnerships that combine its chart-topping shows, leading talent and engaged cross-platform audiences.

Long-standing partnerships include Fuse Energy, Presenting Partner of The Rest Is Politics, while campaigns have also included the award-winning People’s Postcode Lottery partnership across four of its flagship shows; Guinness’ long-term sponsorship of The Rest Is Football, combining audio, branded editorial and live activation; and recently Starr, working with heavyweight names such as Alastair Campbell, Anita Anand & Robert Peston as part of the inaugural ‘The Risk Briefing’ live event series.

More recently, NBCUniversal partnered with Goalhanger on a multi-show campaign for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, culminating in actor Tom Holland meeting historian and co-host of The Rest Is History Tom Holland for a special conversation that went viral cross-platform ahead of the film’s release.

Other recent partnerships include Cancer Research UK, demystifying cancer innovation on The Rest Is Science; Octopus Energy on The Rest Is Entertainment & The Rest Is Money; and Vanguard’s sponsorship of TRIP: US co-host Katty Kay’s six-part series Doing It Anyway.

Charlotte Robbins, Head of Partnerships at Goalhanger, added: “Brands come to us not just to access our audience, but because of the way we work with our hosts. We’re very always-on and have a real startup mentality, so commercial, production and talent aren’t these separate silos - we all sit around the table and work out what’s actually going to work for the brand and, just as importantly, for our audience. Our hosts only want to work with brands they genuinely like, and I think that comes through. It makes for much more authentic & creative partnerships that really do the heavy lifting. Most meetings start with ‘we’ve never tried this but…'”

The proposition is underpinned by the strength of Goalhanger’s audience. Its 2025 survey of more than 8,700 respondents found that 68% of listeners take action after hearing advertising, more than double the industry standard. More than half own their home, 62% take multiple trips abroad each year and 58% are under 44.

The move also reflects Goalhanger’s expansion beyond podcasting. The Rest Is Football became a daily Netflix show during the 2026 World Cup, remaining in the UK Daily Top 10 throughout its run and reaching No.1, with the partnership since extended through the 2027/28 domestic football season. In September, 26,000 tickets were sold across 22 shows during the inaugural The Rest Is Fest takeover of London’s Southbank Centre, while former WME executive Tom Miceli has joined as Head of IP Development, overseeing television and film development, licensing, co-productions and formats.

The change relates to advertising representation only. Goalhanger’s shows will continue to be distributed on Spotify alongside all other major platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and YouTube.

Throughout October, Goalhanger will be briefing their media agency and client partners on its 2027 commercial proposition, including plans for a Goalhanger Upfronts event bringing together senior media buyers, clients, industry leaders and Goalhanger talent to showcase opportunities across the growing network.

Buzzsprout has updated its podcast embed player with new color options, three player styles, and a redesigned customizer. The changes give podcasters more control over how their player looks and which episodes they share on their websites.

The new customizer brings player settings, episode selection, a preview, and embed code together on one screen. Podcasters can check how their player looks on desktop or mobile before copying the code for their website.

Podcasters can choose a preset color or enter their own brand color. Light mode uses that color as an accent on a white background, while Color mode fills the player with the chosen color.

The player now offers three beautiful styles:

• Wave keeps the familiar waveform.
• Bar uses a progress bar with chapter markers.
• Circle is a clean design with a large play button.

Podcasters can still embed a single episode or multiple episodes. For a player with multiple episodes, they can now select which episodes to include, filter by creator or tag, and choose how episodes are sorted. These controls make it easier to share a collection of episodes about a single topic or feature a recurring guest.

See the announcement and screenshots.

Can a hit podcast become a hit YouTube series, and unlock a whole new revenue stream along the way?

Global YouTube monetisation network VA Media and leading Australian podcast producer Podshape are putting the power of podcast-to-video to the test with The Glitch, a brand-new six-part video series based on the extraordinary true story of Australian man Dan Saunders, who discovered an ATM glitch that allowed him to withdraw and spend $1.6 million over four months.

The story has already captivated audiences as a hit audio podcast, generating more than 2.6 million downloads. Now, it is being reimagined specifically for YouTube, premiering 3 October on True Crime Central, VA Media’s true crime channel with more than 1.4 million subscribers.

With over 1 billion people watching podcast content on YouTube every month, the partnership brings together Podshape’s expertise in developing proven podcast IP with VA Media’s ability to build, optimise and monetise audiences on YouTube, taking hit audio IP and reproducing it as video to reach new global audiences and unlock additional revenue.

Mark Ashbridge, CEO, VA Media, said:

“The opportunity here is bigger than taking a podcast and putting it on YouTube. We’re taking proven IP and thinking about how it can work for a completely different consumption environment - from the way it is packaged and discovered through to how audiences engage with it and how it can be monetised.”

“YouTube has become the primary destination for long-form programming, podcasts and storytelling, and we see significant opportunities for content owners to unlock more value from the IP they already have.”

Jay Walkerden, Co-Founder, Podshape, said:

“The Glitch has already proven there is a huge appetite for this story in audio. Taking it into video gives us the opportunity to introduce it to a much bigger audience and bring elements of the story to life that simply aren't possible in an audio-only format.

“It’s also a great example of how podcast IP can evolve beyond its original format rather than being limited to a single platform or audience.”

Rather than simply adding visuals to existing audio, ‘The Glitch’ has been reproduced as a vodcast filmed specifically for a YouTube audience, combining Dan’s story with exclusive insights and interviews from the people closest to him, including the best friends who benefited from his newfound wealth and investigative journalist Adam Shand, who broke the story in 2014.

For VA Media, ‘The Glitch’ also represents an expansion of its work with content partners beyond traditional film and television, demonstrating how its YouTube expertise can be applied to podcasts, original storytelling and other forms of creator-led IP.

Hannah Barnes, VA Media Content Director / The Glitch Executive Producer, said:

“White collar crime is one of true crime's most exciting genres right now. The Glitch comes at the right moment for the format. Video podcasts are a great evolution for the crime genre, and audiences don't just want to hear how it happened, they want to watch the story unfold. More than a decade on, The Glitch still sparks that same fascination and we're excited for it to launch on True Crime Central.”

The first episode of ‘The Glitch’ will launch on True Crime Central on 3rd October 2026, with subsequent episodes released weekly.

Airwave has signed an exclusive monetization and promotional deal with Matt Abrahams’ podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart, an award-winning and top-ranked podcast in the Business and Careers categories.

Think Fast, Talk Smart equips listeners with essential communication skills to tackle real-world challenges. Host Matt Abrahams and expert guests share practical techniques to enhance clarity, manage nerves, and create impactful connections in any situation.  Matt Abrahams is a leading expert in communication, a lecturer in Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and a best-selling author.

By joining Airwave, Think Fast, Talk Smart gains access to a full-service network dedicated to premium monetization, growth, and strategic support, while advertisers gain new opportunities to reach one of the most educated and engaged audiences anywhere.

"Think Fast, Talk Smart has been appointment listening for me for a long time, and as a fan, I take great pride in welcoming Matt to our podcast family,” said Airwave’s Ben Mathis. “Matt delivers real value and actionable advice to his audience, and we want to bring that same approach to sponsorships with advertisers that bring a similar value proposition to TFTS listeners.  Moreover, Airwave strongly supports Matt’s mission to encourage more effective communication and understanding as an antidote to tribalism and incivility.”

Matt Abrahams commented, “Think Fast, Talk Smart is thrilled to partner with the Airwave podcast network to bring our actionable communication insights to an even broader audience. By collaborating with Airwave, we are well positioned to expand our reach and amplify our impact on how people connect and collaborate worldwide. Together, we look forward to empowering a growing community of listeners with the research-backed tools they need to communicate confidently and authentically in any situation.”

Think Fast, Talk Smart’s current ad sales partner, Starlight Ads, will continue to sell the podcast for Q4 2026, while Airwave immediately begins advance sales and renewals for 2027.

Sounds Profitable, the trade association for the podcasting industry, today released the first installment of The Podcast Landscape 2026, its annual study of podcast consumption in the United States. The research reveals an increasingly mature podcast market, with overall reach remaining stable as consumers continue to embrace video, explore new platforms, and change how they engage with their favorite shows.

Based on a nationally representative survey of 5,473 U.S. adults, the study found that 74% of Americans have consumed a podcast, 55% have done so in the past month, and 39% in the past week. While overall reach has remained essentially unchanged from 2024, the audience continues to evolve: 34% of podcast consumers say they started consuming podcasts within the past year, up from 28% in 2025.

Among the most significant findings is the arrival of Netflix as a major podcast platform. In its first year carrying podcasts, Netflix was named by 21% of podcast consumers as a platform they had used in the past 12 months, placing it third behind YouTube (63%) and Spotify (33%), and ahead of Apple Podcasts (15%). However, just 5% identified Netflix as their most-used podcast platform.

“Podcasting's audience isn't standing still. New consumers are entering the category, video is becoming an increasingly natural part of the experience, and platforms like Netflix are changing where people find and consume podcasts,” said Tom Webster, Partner at Sounds Profitable. “But as podcasting becomes more integrated into the broader media landscape, we need to protect what makes the medium unique. The opportunity is to embrace new platforms without sacrificing the openness and accessibility that allow independent creators to reach audiences wherever they choose to consume.”

The findings also point to a continued shift away from podcast native applications. Just 15% of podcast consumers now identify a podcast native app as their most used platform, down from 19% in 2025. Apple Podcasts saw its share decline from 11% to 8%, while YouTube maintained its position as the most used podcast platform at 40%.

Video consumption grows without expanding overall podcast reach

While podcast reach has remained stable, video continues to account for a growing share of consumption. Among podcast consumers, 44% watched a video podcast in the past week, up from 40% in 2025. Meanwhile, the share who have never watched a video podcast declined from 14% to 10%.

Americans' understanding of what constitutes a podcast is evolving alongside these behaviors. Just 17% now expect podcasts to be audio-only, down from 21% in 2025, while 83% believe video can be part of the format.

The shift is particularly evident on connected televisions. Among smart TV podcast consumers, 71% identify YouTube as their most used podcast app, followed by Netflix at 12%.

A stable audience continues to attract new consumers

Although overall reach has remained steady, the podcast audience continues to refresh. More than one-third (34%) of podcast consumers say they began consuming podcasts within the past year, up from 28% in 2025.

Monthly podcast consumers also skew younger than the general U.S. adult population and are more likely to have children at home, with 38% reporting children in their household compared with 31% of all U.S. adults.

The research further highlights the increasingly social nature of podcast consumption. Four in ten podcast consumers (40%) say they at least occasionally consume podcasts with other people, up from 37% in 2025.

Consumers are also demonstrating sustained engagement with individual shows. The typical monthly consumer regularly follows two or three podcasts, while 39% of podcast consumers engage with limited-series programming. Of those who consume limited series, 71% actively seek a replacement when a series ends.

Across formats and platforms, the fundamental appeal of podcasting remains consistent: 79% of consumers identify discussions on topics of interest as an important reason podcasts matter to them.

Read The Podcast Landscape here.

The season’s highest honor, the Legend Award, went to Kevin Y. Brown. Voted on by both the community and the BPAwards VIP judging panel, the Legend Award recognizes a visionary whose creativity and consistency helped build the path Black podcasters walk today. Brown has spent years connecting creators, entrepreneurs, and industry voices throughout the diaspora and across the African continent, and his win rounds out the 2026 season with a tribute to the kind of long-term, community-first work BPAwards was built to celebrate. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.

Five podcasts led the night on the strength of repeat wins. Echoes and Footprints surprised everyone making history with a sweep of six category wins: Best Culture Podcast, Best Documentary Podcast, Best Education Podcast, Best History Podcast, Best Indie Podcast, and Best Travel Podcast. Four podcasts tied for second with three wins each. Yahweh’s Money® : The Crossroads of Religion & Money took Best Branded Podcast, Best Christian Podcast, and Best Finance Podcast. The Good Edit Unfiltered | Bravo, Love Island USA & MAFS Recaps won Best Daily Podcast, Best Original Music, and Best Producer. And A Little Bit A Lot took Best Episode of the Year and Best Solo Host, then shared Podcaster of the Year with The Secret Life of TK Dutes for its third win of the night. Sista Brunch rounded out the group, winning Best Guest Appearance and then taking both the Listener Vote and the VIP Vote for Best Podcast Cover Art.

With the 2026 season now closed out, BPAwards is already looking ahead. Applications for the 2027 Black Podcasting Awards are open now through August 1, 2027 at apply.BlackPodAwards.com. The organization encourages every Black podcaster, new or established, to start thinking about submitting their best work.

ABOUT BLACK PODCASTING AWARDS
Black Podcasting Awards (BPAwards) celebrates, spotlights, and bolsters Black podcasts for more wins and successes. Now in its seventh season, it achieves this primarily by producing an annual awards program and ceremony. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Full list of 2026 Black Podcasting Award Winners

66 award wins across 57 categories, earned by one person and 44 podcasts

Podcasts Detail

• SPECIAL AWARD: LEGEND AWARD: Kevin Y. Brown
• BEST ARTS PODCAST: The Drum Lounge Podcast
• BEST BLACK GIRL MAGIC PODCAST brown girls can: the podcast
• BEST BLERD PODCAST: Tha Storm Podcast
• BEST BRANDED PODCAST" Yahweh’s Money® : The Crossroads of Religion & Money
• BEST BUSINESS PODCAST: My Friend in HR
• BEST CHRISTIAN PODCAST Yahweh’s Money® : The Crossroads of Religion & Money
• BEST COMEDY PODCAST: : lower black pain
• BEST CULTURE PODCAST: Echoes and Footprints
• BEST DAILY PODCAST: The Good Edit Unfiltered | Bravo, Love Island USA & MAFS Recaps
• BEST DOCUMENTARY PODCAST Echoes and Footprints
• BEST EDITING Surviving Satchidananda: The Dark Secrets of an International Yoga Movement
• BEST EDUCATION PODCAST Echoes and Footprints
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The Nigerian Podcast Index (NPI) today released its 2026 Industry Report, documenting 604 Nigerian and Nigerian-diaspora podcasts — an 83% increase from the 329 shows recorded in 2025. Released on International Podcast Day, the report offers the most comprehensive year-on-year analysis of Africa’s largest English-language podcast ecosystem.

“Creation has scaled. Sustainability has not kept pace. That is the central story the 2026 data tells,” said Tony Onwuchekwa (Tony Doe), founder of the Nigerian Podcast Index and author of the report. “We now have a much larger catalogue, but more than half of indexed shows are on hiatus. Nigerian podcasting continues to generate starts far more readily than it sustains runs.”

KEY FINDINGS

• Catalogue growth: 604 shows indexed in 2026 versus 329 in 2025 (+83%). Absolute active shows rose modestly from 241 to 268.
• Active rate collapse: Only 44.4% of shows are classified Active, down from 73.3% in 2025. 55.3% are now on hiatus.
• Platform concentration: Spotify for Creators hosts 385 shows (63.7% of the Index), up from roughly 59% a year earlier. African-native platforms account for only ~3.5%.
• Diaspora expansion: Diaspora-produced shows grew to approximately 97 (16% of the Index), nearly tripling from ~36 in 2025.
• Content landscape: Society & Culture (172), Religion & Spirituality (108), and Business (73) remain the dominant categories. True crime, comedy and indigenous-language content remain under-represented.
• Contactability gap: Only 60.4% of shows list a contact email; 24.3% provide neither email nor social handle — a persistent barrier for brands, researchers and platforms.

The report notes that while the long tail of hosting platforms has lengthened (36+ distinct hosts), the centre of gravity has not shifted. Free, low-friction onboarding continues to dominate, leaving most creators without access to professional measurement, monetisation and partnership infrastructure.

English remains the overwhelming language of production (approximately 93%), with a small but culturally significant indigenous-language layer including Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa shows that perform important cultural-preservation work.

“Nigerian podcasting is wide, expressive and culturally ambitious. It is also fragile, platform-dependent and structurally immature,” Tony added. “The medium is being asked to carry evangelism, community-building, language preservation, financial literacy, diaspora identity work and political conversation — often with little institutional support. Visibility is necessary; it is not sufficient.”

Podnews readers can download the report here.

ABOUT THE REPORT  

The Nigerian Podcast Index Industry Report 2026 is an independent analysis based on the NPI dataset of 604 verified shows. Status, platform, language, category and location fields were assessed at the time of analysis. The full report, including methodology notes and summary statistics, is available at nigerianpodcastindex.com.

ABOUT THE NIGERIAN PODCAST INDEX  

The Nigerian Podcast Index is the most comprehensive publicly available catalogue of Nigerian and Nigerian-diaspora podcasts. Founded and maintained by Tony Onwuchekwa (Tony Doe), it serves researchers, publishers, brands, platforms and creators seeking a clearer picture of the ecosystem. The Index is independently curated and is not a ranking or chart platform.

Radiocentre has revealed new research demonstrating that brands could increase campaign profit without increasing overall campaign spend, by reallocating a portion of media budgets from search and social into audio.

Sound Profits, encompassing new analysis from WPP Media, models what happens to campaign profits when existing Generic PPC and Paid Social budgets are redistributed into audio, revealing that even small shifts can deliver significant gains for brands. 

For Generic PPC, this means moving 10% of the budget into audio increases full-term profit ROI by 8%, while moving 20% increases it by 16%. For Paid Social, moving 10% of the budget into audio increases full-term profit ROI by 11%, while moving 20% increases it by 21%.

The brands included in the research had an average annual media budget of £12.7 million. The analysis found that moving 15% of Generic PPC spending into audio could generate an extra £1 million in full-term profit. Moving 20% of Paid Social spending into audio could also generate an extra £1 million in full-term profit.

Radiocentre also worked with research agency Differentology to survey 6,000 UK adults. The survey found that people can be cautious about clicking on online ads because they may not completely trust or recognise the brand. This research showed how audio can help consumers overcome this confidence barrier by building familiarity, trust, and credibility. 

This priming effect means consumers can feel more confident to click on social ads or paid-for links in search results, with audio acting as a catalyst that helps those channels work harder.

Sound Profits builds on Radiocentre’s High Gain Audio research, which demonstrates the strong returns audio can deliver, including a potential 9.1% increase in total campaign ROI when audio is allocated 25% of budget. That research also highlights audio’s superior impact on profit compared to pureplay digital channels, including search and social. 

Radiocentre’s Head of Insight, Donna Burns, says:

“While the case for audio's contribution to ROI is well established, a key question remains: where should the investment come from to deliver the greatest incremental impact? With search and social commanding 70% of UK ad spend, testing the effects of shifting a portion of those budgets into audio provided a compelling opportunity. 

The findings from Sound Profits show that better results don’t necessarily require bigger budgets. By reallocating a small share of search and social spend to audio, brands can unlock significant profit growth at no extra cost.”

Find out more here.

Full findings from this new Radiocentre research will be revealed in November via a webinar. Register your interest here.

With Collaborative Publishing, multiple team members can now work on the same episode simultaneously across different fields, including titles, descriptions, thumbnails and other episode details. Team members can see who is actively editing each field, while Flightcast automatically saves everyone's changes into a shared working copy.

The update tackles one of the most common problems in collaborative podcast production: one team member saving an episode only to accidentally overwrite changes another person made moments earlier.

“Podcast production has always been collaborative, but the technology behind publishing hasn’t kept pace with how teams actually work,” said Rox Codes, Co-Founder and CEO of Flightcast (pictured above). “When you’re publishing a daily show or working against a breaking news deadline, you can’t afford to coordinate every title change, description update or thumbnail swap manually. Collaborative Publishing gives teams a single working version of an episode where everyone can do their job without worrying about undoing someone else’s.”

At the center of the new workflow is Flightcast’s Working Copy, which allows teams to make and automatically save changes to an episode without immediately pushing those updates live.Once the episode is ready, a team member can select “Review Changes", which captures the exact state of the episode at that moment for review before publishing.That means even if another team member continues editing while changes are being reviewed or published, those subsequent edits will not unexpectedly alter what goes live.

"Collaborative publishing is non-negotiable for LiSTNR,” said Brooke Carrigan, Head of LiSTNR Audio Operations at SCA. “With multi-state teams working under tight daily deadlines, real-time collaboration is essential. Flightcast helps us move faster, work more effectively together, and ensure content reaches audiences when it matters most."

Collaborative Publishing also introduces permanent Audit Logs, giving Flightcast customers a detailed history of changes made to episode content, with editor attribution and timestamps.

From a single character changed in an episode description to a new thumbnail, teams can see what was changed, who changed it and when. The result is greater accountability and visibility across the entire production and publishing process.

Together, Collaborative Publishing, Working Copies and Audit Logs create a workflow designed for modern podcast organizations where publishing is increasingly handled across larger, more specialized teams.

The launch also establishes the technical foundation for Flightcast to continue expanding its collaborative capabilities, including more real-time functionality in the future.

Collaborative Publishing is available now to Flightcast customers on the Legend plan and above.

To learn more about Flightcast, visit https://flightcast.com/

Audiohook Corporation, a leader in performance-driven audio advertising and data intelligence, today announced the acquisition of Podscan Inc., an AI-powered podcast monitoring and data platform that ingests, transcribes and analyzes more than 70,000 podcast episodes every day. The transaction closed on August 24, 2026.

With the acquisition, Audiohook is making the majority of Podscan’s podcast intelligence available to the industry at no cost, significantly expanding access to data that can help advertisers make more informed decisions about where they invest and give publishers greater visibility into how their content is categorized and evaluated.

Effective today, creators, podcast networks and publishers can access transcripts, brand-suitability analysis and contextual segments for the shows they represent for free. Advertisers can also use Podscan at no cost to monitor when and where their brands are mentioned across podcast content, including the context and sentiment surrounding those mentions.

Podscan analyzes more than 70,000 podcast episodes each day, evaluating content across signals including brand suitability, contextual categories, brand mentions and sentiment. At that scale, the platform provides visibility across a medium where the sheer volume of new content has historically made comprehensive analysis difficult.  

“Audiohook has always been focused on pushing this industry forward by giving advertisers better data, greater transparency and the intelligence they need to make more informed decisions,” said Jordan Bentley, CEO of Audiohook. “When we began working with Podscan, we immediately recognized the quality and sophistication of what Arvid had built. It was exactly the kind of exceptional product we look for; powerful, scalable and capable of solving a very real challenge for the industry. Bringing Podscan into Audiohook allows us to combine our strengths and make this intelligence even more valuable. But what excites me most is that we’re not keeping it to ourselves. We’re making much of this data available to the industry for free. The more transparency and information we can put into the hands of brands, creators, networks and publishers, the more confidently everyone can make decisions, and the stronger the podcast ecosystem becomes.”

Podscan founder Arvid Kahl has also joined Audiohook, where he will oversee the technical transition and future development of the Podscan platform.

“As a founder, you think very carefully about what the next chapter should look like for something you’ve built from the ground up,” said Arvid Kahl, founder of Podscan. “Audiohook has been a close partner for some time, so I’ve had the opportunity to see how they operate, how quickly they move and how seriously they invest in technology. Podscan has grown tremendously, and joining Audiohook gives us the resources and expertise to accelerate the roadmap, expand the platform’s capabilities and build things that would have taken us much longer to accomplish independently. I’m incredibly excited about what this means for our customers, our product and where we can take Podscan next.”

Podscan by Audiohook is live and available now. To create a free account, visit https://podscan.fm/. 

For additional information or support, contact support@podscan.fm.