Elsie leaves Libsyn

• Elsie Escobar has announced that she has left Libsyn. Inducted into the Podcasting Hall of Fame in 2017, she had worked for Libsyn for almost nineteen years. We reported on the sudden closure of The Feed yesterday, which she had been hosting since July 2013. “I feel immense gratitude and pride — for the people, the lessons, and the legacy we co-created.”

• CoHost launched the New Listener Metric in its podcast analytics service. The new metric measures the number of unique listeners tuning in for the first time, allowing publishers to track genuine audience growth.

• Advertisers using Amazon DSP now have access to iHeart’s streaming audio portfolio, after a deal between the two companies.

• Happy 7th birthday to Ausha. The company has focused on PSO, Podcast Search Optimization, ensuring visibility for podcasts everywhere.

• Red Seat Ventures has announced a partnership with Jillian Michaels, an entrepreneur, author and media personality … Chris Van Vliet has joined the Cumulus Podcast Network. His wrestling and entertainment interview show, Insight, was with Blue Wire … and Lemonada Media has partnered with Story Pirates and the Brains On Universe. Brains On was with American Public Media; Story Pirates was with Realm.

• The “Sports Podcast Power List” has been published by industry trade Awful Announcing. Bill Simmons of The Ringer, Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports, Kevin Jones of Blue Wire, and plenty more are listed.

• Yesterday, we covered, in good faith, a story from The Verge (archived) about the launch of the RØDECaster Video S, a smaller video mixer. Six hours after publication, RØDE’s European marketing team asked us to sign a dense four-page Non Disclosure Agreement, in preparation for “a major upcoming release”. It was a trap: we discover the major release is the RØDECaster Video S, so had we signed the NDA… yikes! (We always respect embargoes, if we know about them.)

• Meanwhile, one Podnews reader noticed that Apple Podcasts appears to have forgotten how to count. You OK, hun? Big week?

Moves and hires

• Chloe Straw is to leave AudioUK after what the organisation calls “a transformative tenure”. “It has been an honour and a joy to lead AudioUK, to witness and be part of the incredible evolution of this industry that I love.”

• Christiana Cromer has left Descript. “I will certainly remain a user and community member. Keep making cool stuff!! It matters!” She’d been with them for nearly four years.

• Grant Tothill has left SCA’s LiSTNR. He joined SCA in 2002. The radio and podcast company is preparing for a merger with Seven West Media, which got a green light earlier this week.

Tips and tricks

• We use OP3 for podcast analytics - and so should you. But OP3 lets you download full analytics, so you can do all kinds of things with the data. For the Podnews Weekly Review, Apple Podcasts is the #1 app in Japan (and pretty much the only one). A typical Apple Podcasts listener downloads five episodes - but a typical Fountain user doesn’t even download two. People in California download the show almost twelve hours after we publish it. And that one person downloaded every episode of our show six times.

Podcast News

In the Podnews Weekly Review today - an interview with Brian Conlon, President of DAX US; and we try to break Apple Podcasts’ new timed links tool by linking to a book Sam’s just ordered. Here’s a video of that bit on the upcoming iOS 26.2.

Business History was new from Pushkin and iHeart Podcasts this week. It is the first podcast from Pushkin Industries that will incorporate full video episodes from launch. It’s hosted by former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith.

Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast is now the official podcast of COP30. The hosts will be on the ground in Brazil for their Inside COP series, taking you into the rooms where the most crucial climate conversations are being had, as well as shining a spotlight on indigenous voices, activists and the global business community.

Everywhere you look right now, people are shouting about AI - sometimes like it’s the future of humanity, sometimes as if it’s the end of the world. In Married To The Machine: Living With AI, journalist Stephanie Power and her husband, AI and Spatial Computing Professor, David Reid, cut through the noise. Aimed primarily at the Gen X listener, they explore how AI is already changing our lives and answer your questions. WARNING: There may be bickering

The cross-border team of reporters at The Europeans has been on a months-long hunt for Europe’s best housing, childcare, and drug policies, seeking out the places where public policies are actually working. Today, The Europeans will release the final instalment of a new miniseries funded entirely by listener donations — the first time the podcast has funded its award-winning narrative journalism this way in its eight-year history. Listen in to find out “Who Does It Best?”