UK audio ad growth slows

• In the UK, the IAB says that podcast advertising grew by just 8% in 2024, to £90mn ($120mn) - a slowdown from a 23% growth last time. However, this number only accounts for audio podcast ads - the video display ad category, which includes video podcasts, grew by 20% year-on-year. (Now we know why the industry is fixated with a definition for what a podcast is - and the perils of being too narrow).

• Spotify says that they paid out $100mn to podcasters in Q1/25. (That’s both ad-based revenue and from the Spotify Partner Program; the company haven’t split out the two).

  • The focus on video by Spotify has resulted in the number of active monthly video podcasts increasing by 28%, and the release says that some publishers have seen weekly consumption increase substantially after introducing video.

• Pocket Casts has launched automatically generated transcripts for Plus and Patron members. Transcripts will be automatically generated for “the most-followed podcasts”; the company continues to make creator-produced transcripts, using the podcast:transcript tool, available to everyone.

  • Pocket Casts has also posted a guide to fiction podcasts for nonfiction listeners from Tal Minear.

• One of the most popular podcasts in Australia is to go on a live stage tour. Conversations, with Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler, will visit every state and territory in Australia in August. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

• Want to tell the world how much you know? The Association of African Podcasters & Voice Artists, AVPA, is looking for “seasoned industry experts and emerging talents to share their unique insights and stories with our audience.” You can find more information and submit your work on the APVA website.

• The Bay City News is launching a new podcast, voiced by an AI clone of Bay City News editor Leslie Katz. The website explains how they’ve iterated the project so far - noting the first attempt was “long” and “boring”. “We learned that the requirements for audio were different from the requirements for written content.”

Moves and hires

• Liz Gateley has left Spotify to launch Damsel Media, a production company focused on Gen Z. She was Head of Development, Originals at Spotify Studios, and had been with Spotify for six years. The release doesn’t suggest Damsel Media will be making podcasts.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• Stephen Goldstein from Amplifi Media posts five creative truths from some of the world’s greatest thinkers that shape how I think about work, connection, and growth. The list includes “Don’t tell everything. Mystery is a feature, not a flaw. You don’t need to say it all. You don’t need to explain every move.”

Podcast News - with New Podcasts

Canadians began this week at the polls, following a high-stakes federal campaign often punctuated by Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation. Today, Canadians wake up to the results of the election - a Liberal victory (but not, yet, a clear Liberal majority) - and Front Burner from CBC has morning-after updates.

The communication techniques podcast Think Fast Talk Smart has reached its 200th episode. The hosts celebrated with recording two live AMA sessions for the podcast’s global community — one timed for North America and one for Asia-Pacific — then combined into a new video and audio episode. The result contains insights from the show over the last five years.

In Telling Our Stories To The World: Queens of the Land we meet the women surviving and thriving on the Darling Downs in Australia. Whether it’s unexpected romance, the grief of pregnancy loss, or watching an entire year’s worth of work float away - Queens of the Land reveals the extraordinary in the ordinary, through the resilience and ingenuity it takes to make it west of the Dividing Range.

Mildly Informed is new from Absolute Radio’s Richie Firth and The Bugle’s “Producer Chris” Skinner - as they attempt to review anything. From the latest TV shows and films to food, drink, lifestyle trends — and even the broadest of life’s concepts — no subject is too big, too small, or too ridiculous for the pair’s proudly unqualified opinions.

Having a bad DAI

An occasional section where we highlight odd things going on with podcast ads so we all get better at them

“This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK” is a familiar sound to many listeners around the world, though perhaps for Friday Night Comedy it should just say “supported by one ad”. Triton Digital hosted, ARN/iHeart represented, for a listener in Brisbane Australia the show started with two similar dog-themed ads for home insurance company RACQ; then the midroll is the same two similar ads for home insurance company RACQ; and at the end of the podcast, we’re treated to the same ads for RACQ for the third time once more. Advertising that sounds like a dog’s breakfast, like this, is only training our listeners to hit the skip button when they go walkies. Bad. Sit. Lie down.

Found someone having a bad DAI? Let us know.