Gen Z leans towards video

• Exclusive: New data from The State of Video Podcasting 2025 by Coleman Insights and Amplifi Media, to be unveiled next week at Evolutions (Thu Apr 3, 9-9.30), confirms a major shift in podcast consumption: only 10% of Gen Z podcast consumers never consume video podcasts.

  • It’s not all about video, though - the study also shows 41% of Gen Z podcast consumers only or mostly consume audio podcasts. The whole sample is slightly higher at 46%. The data is from a survey of 1,000 US podcast consumers, including 307 aged 15-29.
  • “But, didn’t you highlight data in Podnews showing the opposite a few weeks ago?” Yes, we did. Conducted very differently, that one showed a high level of audio drama fans, which is a clue as to the difference in results: video podcasts of audio drama isn’t really a thing (well, it is, but it’s called Netflix). And… what is a podcast anyway?

• Exclusive: What are the 100 best podcasts of all time? Left of Dial Media wants to find out, and launches the 2025 Essential Listening Poll today, with the aim of producing a definitive list from a diverse list of participants, including members of The Podcast Academy and others. You can find out how to get involved on their website.

• Based in Vancouver and LA, the women-led boutique network Podcast Nation now represents over three dozen shows, the company says. Today, we’ve a look at the co-founders behind the network, the show that kicked off the company, how they grew, and how they’re considering YouTube in the future.

• What counts as a “play” in the analytics in Apple Podcasts Connect? According to podcast growth agency Bumper, it’s every time you hit the play button in Apple Podcasts. Pause a show to answer a call, then hit play again? That’s two plays. Take your AirPods out to ask for a coffee on your way to work, before putting them back in again? That’s two plays. No wonder a recent episode of our podcast shows 32 listeners but 232 plays! The detail appears in a piece from Bumper showing how to combine audio and video podcast data from different sources, which also reminds us that YouTube doesn’t actually tell us how it calculates a ‘play’ at all.

• Branded podcast agency Quill has been recognized as the fastest-growing women-led company, securing the #1 spot on The Globe and Mail’s inaugural ranking of the Top Growing Women-Led Companies with 4,186% over the past three years. The company also owns CoHost, a podcast hosting and analytics platform (and this month’s sponsor of Podnews).

• In the court papers as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, podcast network Kast Media has posted its operating accounts for February 2025. The company earnt $5,100 from Apple Podcasts for paid subscriptions; and $11,400 from advertising. It’s a helpful look into how well the Apple Podcasts paid subscription feature is doing for this one publisher; we’d love to hear how it’s doing overall for everyone.

• Early bird tickets for The New Zealand Podcasting Summit, in Auckland on May 10, close in a week’s time. There’s a prize draw for all early bird registrations, too, to win a new RØDE microphone. The summit contains a record attempt to get the most hosts and guests possible on a podcast. Tickets are here.

• Mercury Podcasts has signed three new independent shows. The company was launched last month, and has delivered 2.6mn impressions so far.

• A community platform for podcasts, Station has enabled Spotify Open Access, for seamless access to premium content within the Spotify app.

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

One of the updated features for phase 8 of the new podcast namespace is the new podcast:location, which now lets creators highlight where they are recording from, as well as the subject matter of their podcast.

This can be useful to produce location-aware content - if you’re doing a podcast about independent coffee shops, you can get them all on a map, for example.

Or, it could be useful to find shows that are made in your city.

You can read discussion of the specification of the proposed new version over here, or this is a simple JavaScript generator that any self-hoster (or Libsyn user) can use to produce the correct location tag.

For a proof of concept, while Podnews Daily isn’t a podcast about a place, it’s being recorded in a number of different places over the next two weeks, and will contain the correct podcast:location tag for each recording venue.

Tips and tricks - with Pod Predictor by Coleman Insights

• How do podcast stats really work? We spill the tea - and the article was updated today with even more information, too.

Podcast News - with Airwave

New on Airwave: Proof from America’s Test Kitchen. This is not a recipe show. And this is not a show about celebrity chefs or what they like to eat. Proof plunges into history, culture, science, and the psyche to uncover the hidden backstories that feed your food-obsessed brain.

From New Zealand, Sharpen Up is the sports podcast you didn’t know you needed - real talk, big laughs, and a Māori take on sport. Hosted by Courtney Tairi, Piri Weepu, Api Pewhairangi, and Creative Taro Jordaan - it’s where expert insights meet epic yarns with plenty of banter, breaking down the biggest sports stories, chatting with top athletes, and making sure there’s never a dull moment.

Law&Crime, a legal and true crime network, has launched a new show - as an exclusive to Wondery+. LUIGI is available today, following the case of Luigi Mangione who is accused of murdering a health insurance CEO. Is this a cultural reckoning? Or just a straightforward murder case?