Podcasting bigger than radio; women listen more than men

• In Germany, for the first time, podcasting is now bigger than radio for 18-29 year-olds. And, once the preserve of men, it’s women who now listen more often to podcasts: with monthly listening more than tripling since 2019. The findings are in the Podcast 2025 Report, produced by Seven.One Audio. Podnews readers can download the full report in English.

• Podcast criticism is important - and it’s needed. So says Imran Ahmed from Great Pods, writing for Podnews - sharing why podcast critique is helpful and useful; and, giving tips on how to do it.

• Two of podcasting’s fastest-growing audiences are Health & Fitness and Self-Improvement. Tomorrow, there’s a free webinar about “the power of purpose-driven podcasting” - which will share more about those audiences, and why they’re perfect for advertisers. It’s from SiriusXM Media and Sounds Profitable.

  • Meanwhile, SiriusXM Media and Edison Research present the Gen Z Audio Report in a free webinar today at 2pm EDT. Here’s where to register for that.

• Auphonic has added a new feature that removes coughs, throat-clearing, sneezing and similar sounds: just in time for hay fever season / flu season (delete as hemispherically appropriate)

• Triton Digital’s Sharon Taylor wades into the audio vs video debate: Listen up: your audio audience is watching you, not necessarily your podcast suggests that we need to be careful not to break the audio experience in our rush to video.

• Show Hero or Showcase Hero? Apple Podcasts has changed the name of this size of artwork since yesterday (when we highlighted the new requirement for editorial features). It’s now listed as “Showcase Hero” everywhere. Thanks for reading, Cupertino!

  • Speaking of which, the Podcasting 2.0 team are working on formalising a way to make these new image formats available via open RSS for every podcast app. A draft writeup is here. Your feedback is welcome.

• SiriusXM Media has signed with Narrativ to use the company’s AI voice replicas for audio ads.

• The All-In Podcast launched their own tequila brand on Saturday night. Bottles cost $1,200 each. They’ve now sold out. If you are a VC bro desperate to spend money that benefits an entire industry, how about supporting Podnews…

• In the world of TV, Nielsen says that streaming is now bigger in the US than both broadcast TV and cable TV. YouTube accounts for 12.5% of all streaming (which, for us in podcasting, is the only platform that contains podcasts alongside other programming).

• A number of podcasters were at VidCon last week, thanks to Spotify.

• AI-driven audio enhancement company Hance has announced a partnership with Intel to enable audio enhancement, like noise removal or stem separation, directly on your laptop. There’s a quick demo here.

• The IAB has launched a measurement framework for video games, promising “clarity, consistency, and confidence for measuring gaming advertising campaigns”

• RTÉ’s popular true-crime series Finding Samantha is to be made into a TV series. The stranger-than-fiction story of Australian con artist Samantha Azzopardi has been optioned by Keeper Pictures.

• Podcasts from luxury brands aren’t doing so well in China, according to a report in Jing Daily. (Your podcast probably isn’t in China at all, though. Here’s how podcasts work in the country.)

Moves and hires

• Margaux David and Emiliano Grassi have been hired by Audion - Margaux as Sales Manager in France, and Emiliano as Sales Director for Italy.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• Smart podcasters take breaks, says Rutendo Nyamuda in The Podcast Sessions. (Podnews has produced a newsletter, and a show, every weekday since 2018. This explains a lot.)

Podcast News - with Podcast Movement

From the founder of Time magazine, the Henry Luce Foundation has got into podcasting, with Luce Change. The Foundation has just increased their grants this year by $25m because of perceived threats to democracy - but, as this new podcast highlights, democracy is not just about elections. It’s about what happens in between.

Internet Changemakers from the Internet Society Alumni Network goes behind the curtain to uncover what it takes to grow and secure the Internet. Launched this week, the first guest is Vinton G. Cerf, commonly known as the 'Father of the Internet’. The show looks at his groundbreaking contributions to the creation of the TCP/IP protocol and the early days of Internet development.

Prison overcrowding is never far from the front pages, and Tales From The Jails is a gritty and real account of life in prison. This week, the show promises “more emotional stories from a place that seems like a cross between a zoo and an asylum”.

What are you creating today? Whether you’re creating your day, creating a specific project, or creating the life you want, in Originate Now Jessica Higgins Chapman, an entertainment professional with over 500 TV credits, will help you transform how you create. She provides practical tools, strategies and frameworks to get you creating more and creating each day with intention.

Chronically Low Competence is an audio only let’s play podcast released on a season schedule. Listen as the host, Dan, plays through a variety of mostly short and slightly off the beaten path video games. Season two starts this week, playing cozy indie gem A Short Hike.

Find more podcasts, and add your show