Fantasy Footballers to keynote at Evolutions

• Evolutions has announced two new keynotes for the event in Chicago IL, USA, from Mar 31 to Apr 3.

  • Hosts of The Fantasy Footballers, Jason Moore and Mike Wright, will reveal their cross-platform strategy for audience growth and monetization—valuable lessons for creators and industry professionals alike on harnessing passionate communities and building sustainable media businesses. Evolutions says “Their journey from podcast pioneers to running one of the largest independent sports media companies in the world exemplifies the transformative power and unique opportunities within podcasting.”
  • Just as showbiz and impressive, the Editor of Podnews, James Cridland, returns to reveal the Podnews Report Card, and uncover what podcast publishers really think of the big platforms. The Report Card is in its fourth year; last year, Apple Podcasts was the #1 platform - but is there a challenger this year?
  • The code PODNEWS will save money on selected passes if you book this week.

• Has the total number of listeners to podcasts increased over the last twelve months? We’ve not got long to wait - Edison Research’s Infinite Dial 2025 will be revealed in a free webinar at 2pm Eastern this afternoon. Our Editor, James Cridland, is co-presenting the figures, alongside VP Megan Lazovick.

• The 20th People’s Choice Podcast Awards is open for registration. The awards have been running since 2005. Podnews will be a sponsor this year, because of course we will be.

• BBC Studios has announced a new podcast focusing on Formula 1 with “exclusive access to Oracle Red Bull Racing”.

  • The show is made by the BBC’s commercial arm, and will contain advertising, even inside the UK. It will not be available within the public service funded BBC Sounds (it’s everywhere else though); and is hosted by Triton Digital’s Omny Studio.

• Magellan AI’s platform has a new look - the company says it’s more modern and has improved readability.

• The New York Festivals has announced the 2025 shortlist - here’s a link direct to the shortlisted podcasts. The shortlist is notable that it contains 33 shows from the USA, 14 from Canada, 13 from the UK, and shows from Qatar, Australia, Israel, Ireland, New Zealand, Czechia, Italy, the UAE and South Africa.

  • Just over a year ago, Pocket Casts partnered with Slumber Studios for a free first year’s subscription to their service. Some users on Reddit have been taken by surprise by a renewal payment being taken. Pocket Casts has told Podnews that users gave payment details directly to Slumber Studios when claiming the offer, and it was clear that users would be charged after the first year; an email was recently sent by Supercast, the operator of Slumber Studios premium subscription, with details of the upcoming fee; and Pocket Casts has also added help on how to cancel.

• In Brisbane, Australia? Want to go and see a popular ABC podcast being recorded? Download This Show, the tech show from ABC Radio National, is being recorded in QPAC on Sat Mar 29. It’s part of the World Science Festival.

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Moves and hires

• DeepCast have expanded their marketing team, hiring Faybeo’n Mickens as Senior Manager, Marketing, and Nicholas Turturro as Marketer. Faybeo’n was previously at Double Elvis and TINK Media.

• Greg Wasserman has been hired as Head of Relationships at RSS.com. “We’re excited to add Greg to the team. He’s hard working, experienced, energetic, outgoing, and focused on all the right things for RSS and our customers,” co-founder Benjamin Richardson tells Podnews - they’ll both be at Evolutions. Our coverage of Greg leaving Castmagic was apparently the reason the two connected, a piece of information that needs to be brought up near the hotel bar.

Tips and tricks - with Pod Predictor by Coleman Insights

• As we head nearer to Evolutions in Chicago, Steve Stewart reminds us not to go to conferences… unless you want a bag of gold. We’ll be claiming the bag of gold. See you there?

Podcast News - with Airwave History +

With Airwave: Queens Podcast is part of Airwave’s History +, and features Katy and Nathan pairing cocktails with amazing women of history. The most recent show looks at Livia Drusilla - the first unofficial empress of Rome, who had a reputation that went from pretty good to horrible.

In the Media Roundtable this week from Oxford Road and Veritone One, Podnews editor James Cridland is a guest, as the team talk about Podcasting for Good, YouTube Lite, Wondery’s FAST moves, Tariffs vs Ad Budgets, and more.

Courtney Kocak’s Private Parts Unknown is celebrating its 200th show. The special episode is carrying audio from her standup comedy shows, which is easier to mention than what was on her 100th episode a few years ago. The show explores sex, love, relationships, gender, and seductive subcultures around the world.

Goalhanger has announced its first new show of 2025. Called Journey Through Time, it’s a new history title from the company, uncovering the overlooked, forgotten, and untold sides of history — from hidden stories to new angles on events we thought we knew. It launches today.

The Jesse and Gene Show is hosted by Jesse and Gene, who you may remember from Q107 in Toronto. The show has “hysterical” archive material from the 1980s to 2025, and is nearing almost 700 episodes of fun and laughs.

Oasis of Hope kicks off a seventh season with a look at the importance of the Christian period of Lent. Lent started Mar 5 and will run through Apr 17, with the Easter celebration on Sunday, Apr 20. It’s hosted by Drs. Johnson & Feyi Obamehinti, out of Keller in Texas.