Powered by open RSS: video in the iHeartRadio app

• Exclusive: The iHeartRadio app’s forthcoming support for video podcasting will use the power of open RSS. Podcast publishers will not need to upload to another creator portal; and won’t lose any revenue from the advertising in their shows. We also learn that it’ll support the alternateEnclosure feature, meaning that podcasters can use audio and video in the same open RSS feed - making it easier to discover shows. We’ve a full Q&A with the iHeartRadio app team.

• Registration is now open for the PRX and AudioUK 2026 Podcast Creator Summit in London. The free summit will be held at Apple’s London offices at Battersea Power Station on Feb 6. Space is limited - hop to it!

• Sounds Profitable will make its new head of comms, Molly DeMellier, available to help its partners for communications and PR, Tom Webster announced in the trade association’s weekly email. He also highlights that experimentation is good - as long as we don’t ruin what already works.

  • From Jan 1, Podnews is no longer directly connected to the Sounds Profitable group of companies. Full disclosures

• Audacy has partnered with Podscribe for attribution measurement across its digital audio and broadcast portfolio. Advertisers will gain faster, more transparent insights into campaign performance across Audacy’s properties.

• Podtrac released its US rankings for December 2025. Year-on-year comparisons for publishers shows RSS consumption down by -2.3%; YouTube consumption up by +82%.

  • Shows that have switched to using Spotify video are not, we believe, measured by Podtrac for plays in video or audio in Spotify - since both files are hosted by Spotify directly; so the slight drop in RSS will reflect that. Opinion: video is additive, not replacing audio consumption.

• Podbean and The Daily Wire have both renewed IAB v2.2 certification. Audion, Mediastream and Podtrac are still on v2.1.

People News

• At Libsyn, Brian Cottington has been promoted to Manager, Video Marketing. He’s been working with the company since 2021 on video. It was announced yesterday that Rob Walch had left the company.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: This Week in Space explores everything related to the cosmos. The current latest episode talks about Mars and how to get there; there’ll be a new episode later today.

In The Media Club with Matt Deegan this week, a look into Spotify’s announcements this week, and the team also covers Global’s acquisition of The Overlap, and our story on Monday about that ad-blocking service.

After marking their predictions for 2025 last year, the Podnews Weekly Review gets around to running predictions for the year ahead. James and Sam get their crystal balls out and give them a good rub.

In The Jewish Stripper this week, Alla Kaplan welcomes the new year by releasing the pressures of the previous year behind and encourages others to do the same. She also gets a surprise that her podcast has been discovered in Singapore, Japan and the Philippines gives gratitude for the previous year’s accomplishments and her goals for the new year.