New podcast app built for discoverability first

• A brand new podcast app for iOS promises to help you discover new shows you’ll like. Dial Flipper works like an old-fashioned radio: flip the dial and you get put right in the middle of a new podcast it thinks you might like. (You get to train it with your favourite shows, and it learns from what you like listening to). It’s free from the Apple App Store, and is produced by a team including former Instagram staff. (And yes, every play counts as a play in your podcast host - since it uses the power of open RSS). English-language only for now. Nous supposons qu’ils en sont vraiment désolés.

• Acast released its Q3/26 financial results. The Swedish company boasted “rekordomsättning” - record revenue for the quarter: net sales grew +25% to SEK 820.3mn (around US $80m) with the US market growing +54%. It also posted nearly $5mn in profit. However, European revenue grew by just 5%: the company’s new EVP for the region, Liv Sandberg, doesn’t start until early 2027. Total plays increased by 4% year-on-year, but average revenue per play increased by 20%, to $0.07. There’s more detail here.

• There’s been a lot of feedback about our story of Spreaker users copying podcasts yesterday. One reader says: “What a relief to see the article … I’ve been dealing with this repeatedly. We make kids audio, and the ads that they run on our stolen IP are for products for use by adults.” … another tells us that Spreaker aren’t the only podcast host making it easy to copy podcast content … and another calls for the industry to work together to establish standards to avoid this happening in future. Spreaker has said, and done, nothing since giving us a statement.

• Got Podcorn in your podcast? If you’re still using the analytics prefix then your show will stop working on November 1, when Podcorn closes. You need to remove it.

  • There are 13,362 shows with the Podcorn URL still in them. From your friends at Podnews, here they all are, sorted by podcast host, to help you.

• MeidasTouch Network has launched a 24/7 news channel, working with Swerve TV. The television channel was launched yesterday on Amazon Prime Video and Fire TV.

• Podcast hosting company Podbean has launched an MCP server, allowing integration with AI tools. It’s available for those on Unlimited Audio plans or higher … meanwhile Headliner added clip scoring to its tool, so you know how well the clips are likely to perform.

• Tickets for The Podcast Show London 2027 go on sale next week, we’re told. The email we had also promises “big news for creators”. 👀

• Do you know how to get your YouTube podcast seen by more people? Mark your podcast as a podcast. No, really: if you don’t mark it as a podcast, you don’t get into YouTube Music, or the main Podcast homepage on YouTube. It’ll take you two minutes: we’ve written a guide as to how.

• Australia’s SONARR Awards are to return for 2027; and the organisation is also to launch workshops and masterclasses for the wider industry and audio enthusiasts.

• The purchase of Castro by Maple Media, which we reported on Oct 12, has been confirmed, two weeks later, by its developer, Dustin Bluck. The developer has removed a blog post where he described independent podcast apps as “dying”. Unavailable on the web archive, it has been reposted to reddit.

• Daylight Media has signed The Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show to its growing roster. The show was with SiriusXM; and covers everything from pop culture, relationships, and marriage to wellness, family life, and Hollywood … AIIMS Creator Hub has added three additional shows to its partnership with NOVA Podcasts - a new sports show, a new true crime title, and the popular sports show Unscripted with Josh Mansour … and Clubby Sports has signed All Over Bar The Cricket for sales representation as part of the company’s content growth plan.

People news - with podnews.net/jobs

• Vicky Etchells has become Director of Content at Global Studios. She’s worked with the company since 2002.
• Daylight Media have made a number of updates to the team. Alia Tavakolian becomes President of Production. Tyler Green is VP of Unscripted Production. Alice Florence Orr has been made Director of Audience Development, in addition to her position as Managing Editor of Podcast Review.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: The History of WWII Podcast is a biweekly history podcast covering the last great war. Join Ray Harris Jr as he explores World War Two in intimate detail. Just posted, episode 666: is it Halloween soon? This episode looks at the Cactus Air Force, and how it defied the odds.

Things get spooky in the Dan Snow History Hit Studio this Halloween as he teams up with medieval historian and YouTube sensation Eleanor Janega to tell some of medieval history’s most haunting stories.

Identidad Infinita is a Spanish-language interview podcast hosted by clinical psychologist Karo Lama. Every week, a long-form conversation with someone who has lived through a profound change (an identity crisis, grief, migration, a difficult decision, or a personal reinvention), with Karo’s clinical perspective on what happens inside when the life you built no longer fits.

What if you had a great friend who was also a nationally recognized, board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon? Well, now you do. Meet Dr. Jason J. Rosenberg. On In The Best Of Hands, he’s joined by his pal and executive producer, Emmy and Gracie Award-winning journalist Meredith Reis. Together, they answer the plastic surgery questions everyone’s curious about: how to choose a surgeon, how to spot red flags, and what to really expect before and after.

In My Career Journey this week, learn how to recognize signs of burnout and stop it before it’s too late. Hosts Emily and Allegra talk about the 3 main types of burnout (frenetic, under-challenged, and worn-out), how they’ve experienced each type, the signs of burnout, and tips to overcome it, including a burnout avoidance framework.