Cheaper Audible for podcast-lovers

• Audible has a new, lower-priced, subscription offering for people who really like podcasts. The $8.99 “standard” plan gives users unlimited access to Audible Originals, as well as nearly 200 shows previously available on Wondery+. You also get access to one audiobook a month.

  • This replaces Wondery+, which has been announced to be closing “in the coming months”. Not all of those shows are making it to Audible. If you are interested in the Audible standard plan, for the next week or so, you can get it for $5.99 a month for the first year by going through the Wondery+ website. Shh.
  • Amazon’s choice is a bit bewildering. For $11.99 a month, Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers get access to one free audiobook from Audible each month, but no Audible Originals podcasts. Or, Audible’s Premium Plus plan is $14.95 a month, which gives one credit a month for an audiobook (ie one audiobook a month, though these credits only expire after twelve months) but no music. And you can buy a different plan, still called Audible’s Premium Plus plan, for $22.95 a month which gives you two credits a month.
  • Spotify also offers audiobooks. For $9.99 a month, you get access to 15 hours of audiobooks “from our audiobooks subscriber catalog” (with ad-funded music and podcasts); and for $12.99 a month, you get the full premium music and podcasts and 15 hours of audiobooks.

• Apple Podcasts will be talking at Podcast Movement Evolutions at SXSW, it has been announced today. The company will be spotlighting its new video podcast experience - it’s the first time that Apple Podcasts has officially spoken at a US podcast conference. The event has also confirmed actor Sean Astin, the President of SAG-AFTRA, for the Sunday keynote; and a live performance from Penn Badgley.

• First look: The Podscribe Rankings were released for February. Acast has climbed to the world’s second biggest podcast publisher in terms of audience reach, the data says, while BetterHelp remains the #1 podcast advertiser.

• Yesterday, Podnews covered AI animated visuals for podcasts. Today, we share another example, this time from the Stories and Strategies podcast, which has been published today on YouTube - full AI animated video from an audio podcast.

• In the UK, The Publisher Podcast Awards 2026 are now open to enter. You have until April 10 to enter; there are 21 categories this year, including Best Daily Podcast (hey! that’s us!) and Best Use of AI (hey! that isn’t us!). You can enter English-language podcasts from anywhere in the world.

• So many podcasts, so little time. A new service, Podshrink, turns long podcast episodes into short, narrated summaries. The service pulls public RSS feeds, transcribes episodes, generates a text summary, then narrates it as a standalone audio file. Curious how it sounds? We tried a one-minute shrink for two shows, and saved the results - The Daily’s episode about the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Joe Rogan’s show with comedian Tom Segura. The company is based in Canada.

• So you have a great XLR microphone - but what if you could get rid of the chunky XLR cable, and the audio interface, and just plug it into your phone or laptop? And being able to add EQ and dynamic compression to it would be even better. Shure has launched the second generation of the MVX2U, an interface that turns any XLR microphone into a USB one. Even the SM7B.

• Adam Bowie looks at the latest Edison Podcast Metrics ranker for the UK, and notes that 15 of the top 25 were in the first release of this data back in Q2 2023 - “it is hard to break into this list”.

• Deadset Studios has signed a three-series deal with the Sportish podcast, producing a podcast and video show. The first episode in the newason was released today, with Wimbledon winner Ash Barty … Excellence, Actually has joined Backyard Ventures for ad representation - the first time the three-year podcast has made advertising available … and Evergreen Podcasts has today launched The Plotpoint, an author-interview book podcast. Its first guest is the queen of crime fiction Patricia Cornwell, who once did a book-signing - which nobody turned up to, apart from one woman who wanted her to throw away her dirty tissue.

Tips and tricks - with Riverside

• Riverside gives five different ways to transcribe audio to text. (Transcripts aren’t just useful for podcast listeners, they’re also helpful in the editing process, to work out which questions and answers you could usefully edit out.)
• Simplecast shares How to Scale Podcast Revenue Without Sacrificing Creative Control. While it’s a bit of a sales piece for AdsWizz and SImplecast, it’s also helpful to explain how dynamic ad insertion works, and whether it’s for you.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: In NerdWallet’s Smart Money Podcast, NerdWallet’s trusted finance journalists answer real-world money questions to help you make smarter financial decisions with confidence. This week - commingled purchases, and why they make your personal budgeting exhausting.

The CyberWire Daily has just released its 2,500th episode. Launched 10 years ago in January 2016, the CyberWire Daily has grown from a single podcast to a network of over 20 shows that includes industry leaders like Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks and Rubrik.

Uncover Your Eyes has hit episode 100. The show is produced by MaxPodcasting, who tell us that it’s their sixth podcast to reach 100 episodes. The show looks back at the 'healthcare truths we keep ignoring’ from the hundred shows so far.

A new show from The Nature Conservancy, Nature is the Solution, suggests that nature itself is a balm and a solution to many climate issues - if we rethink our way of life to bear nature in mind.

The multi award-winning The Almanac of Rap has just returned for a new season. Interestingly, the host Donwill has decided to release an audio-only version every other week, between the video episodes. The show’s described as a must-listen for fans looking to learn more about their favorite genre, straight from the mouths of legends and unsung heroes.

Transcending Limits is brand new from Dr Felicia Barnett - who was born in Upstate New York, and after an accident, her life seemed as if it was in ruins. However, her life serves as a testament to the power of recovery - and her mission and vision revolve around empowering women to overcome life adversities through advocacy, accountability, and community-based programs that build faith and purpose.

Discover bitesized travel experiences in audio on GoNOMAD Travel Podcast! In just less than 7 minutes long, get an interesting travel story and some food for thought from editor Max Hartshorne. The latest episode visits Ho Chi Minh City.

Podcasts in the wild

When you’re told that the train you’re on isn’t actually going to Cockfosters at all, but will terminate at Wood Green, and you’ve another wait for another train that still doesn’t go to Cockfosters but ends up terminating at Arnos Grove, which might look lovely from outside but on the platforms it’s an icy-cold wind tunnel… you can take all that out of your mind by snuggling down to a podcast from Noiser, which is doing advertising right now on London’s Underground, seen here on the Piccadilly Line. How about enjoying Titanic - Ship Of Dreams, where the passengers ended up being as cold as those at Arnos Grove on a Wednesday night. Not that we’ve any experience of that, you understand. (But a tip: Wood Green is warmer, so just stay there until the next Cockfosters train comes along.)