Independent Podcast Awards: the winners from London

• The winners of the Independent Podcast Awards 2026 were announced in London. The award for Independent Podcast of the Year went to Great Days Out on the bus from Buxton, produced by Maria Passingham (and no stranger to the pages of Podnews - including a nice idea from Podcast Promotion in the wild back in 2025); runner-up War Hall, focusing on the wartime history of Walthamstow’s Assembly Hall, is hosted by Professor John Thomas and Angela Allen MBE, who is 96 years old and who lived through the air raids that threatened the construction of the concert venue. She received a standing ovation.

• AdsWizz announced the launch of its Apple Podcasts video podcast monetization platform for all publishers and creators, following a successful trial with select publishers. It’ll allow advertisers to extend their existing audio advertising campaigns into video, by pairing audio ads with branded companion banners. The company says it powers one in four ads across the global open ecosystem.

• The downside of those in-flight entertainment screens? They never have the podcasts and music you want on them, and you can’t log into your own Spotify account. Until now - United and Spotify has announced a feature where you can sign-in to your Spotify account and access all your stuff.

• Wanting to start podcasting? Buzzsprout has launched a Podcast Starter Kit to help you clarify your show’s name and the idea behind it; and produce a good description, name and some artwork. The kit, which costs just $1, is part of the toolkit when setting up a new podcast on the Buzzsprout website.

• Charity podcast event Podcasthon is celebrating the registration of more than 1,000 podcasts for 2027. The podcasts have each signed-up to dedicate one episode to a charity of their choice. “A charity rarely gets 30 minutes or more of anyone’s full attention, and a podcaster can give it exactly that,” co-founder Jeremie Mani tells us.

• YouTube announced new tools for branded content on the platform - probably important for those of us with sponsors. The company will also spot branded content automatically and add a disclosure if it thinks you’re promoting other companies.

• The New York Festivals has announced its 2027 Grand Jury. The group evaluates entries on “production excellence, creative execution, content presentation, direction, writing, achievement of purpose, and audience relevance”.

• PodcastOne released “final guidance” with expectations of what it will report in its financials for the first half of the year (its financial year starts on 1 April). It’s promoting that it owns 750,000 hours of content, “primed for monetization through AI licensing, including LLMs, agentic and generative AI, and frontier models”.

  • According to Jesse Welch, the host of Capital Love Letters, last quarter’s filing says that PodcastOne paid stock instead of cash to some “non-employees” - we note they’re also called “service providers” in the filing. Welch tells us that “in the June quarter, PodcastOne valued 200,145 shares it issued for services at $917,000, about $4.58 a share. The stock closed at $1.77 on November 5, about 61% lower.”

People news - with podnews.net/jobs

• Signal Hill Insights has hired Kelly Fedoruk as Head of Client Services and Growth. She joins from Vividata.
• In the UK, Harjot Dhillon has joined Global as Head of Subscriptions. The company, which also owns Captivate and DAX, has recently started selling premium access to its podcasts and radio stations. He was at the FT.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing is a daily podcast for stock investors. Weekday episodes offer a long-term perspective on business news with The Motley Fool’s investment analysts. Weekend shows are a mix of personal finance and longer-form interviews. Today - did that stock drop catch you off guard?

In Gone Medieval this week, Robert the Bruce is celebrated as the legendary king who secured Scottish independence, but the real man was a ruthless pragmatist who hunted William Wallace for the English and betrayed his own allies to seize power. Medieval history’s Dynamic Duo: Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega, discover how the ultimate political flip-flopper played a deadly game of thrones to become Scotland’s greatest national hero.

Otherwise is a new podcast from PRX and Fast Forward, the organization empowering nonprofits building tech and AI for humanity. The new show launching Nov 10 will ask not what today’s technology can do, but what it should. Guests — leading thinkers — will include Khan Academy founder Sal Khan, Josh Tyrangiel of “The Atlantic,” and more.

If you’ve ever done stupid things with pure intentions, comedy writer and performer Emma Tattenbaum-Fine has a podcast for you. Over five podcasts in her podcast, Emma combines witty prose and post-40 hindsight to share messy stories from her 20’s. The regular stuff – dancing for the mafia in Times Square; passing out while donating blood and having a near death experience; losing a boyfriend’s declawed, indoor cat in the wilderness. You know, the usual!

The Podcast Advertising Playbook with Heather Osgood interviews Brendan Monaghan, Libsyn’s CEO. He suggests that video is promotion, not a requirement.

The Podnews Weekly Review chats with Dan Kendall of the Health Podcast Library - and with Myke Hurley of Relay, who recently achieved a $311,000 Kickstarter for a new podcast.

Buzzcast from Buzzsprout looks at their new Podcast Starter Kit.

In & Around Podcasting asks whether your podcast has to make money to matter - and shares some stats from Captivate.