mowPod Charts gets a major update

• The free chart ranking research tool mowPod Charts has had a major update. The service now monitors rankings for your podcast in Spotify for the first time alongside Apple Podcasts chart data - and we’ve worked together to add the latest podcasting news from Podnews to the free mowPod Charts email alerts, to make them more useful for podcasters everywhere.

  • As part of this upgrade, Podnews is now using trending data from mowPod Charts in our newsletter, to show more interesting podcast data from across the globe. Find the “Podcast Data” section below.

• A new movie about podcasts, Age of Audio, was premiered recently at the Oak Cliff Film Festival. Initially announced in Dec 2019 and directed by Shaun Michael Colón, it follows Ronald Young Jr in his quest for a hit indie podcast; and interviews people like Adam Curry, Ira Glass, Kara Swisher and Marc Maron. You can watch the trailer here.

• The future of the Australian Podcast Ranker is secure, with an extended agreement between CRA and Triton Digital, it’s been announced. In June’s Podcast Ranker, the ABC’s Mushroom Case Daily was the third most listened-to show. The Nine Podcast Network saw 3% year-on-year increases for downloads and audience. ARN’s iHeart has 23.5mn downloads, according to the ranker (which measures participating publishers only, and notably no shows from Acast).

• Maisie Adam has been confirmed as the host of the British Podcast Awards ceremony in October.

• Wondery has announced a new weekly video series, Nick Cannon @ Night. The show will also be on podcast platforms, and launches on Jul 23.

• A piece in Inside Radio, which is owned by iHeart, says that “active podcasts numbers are soaring”, suggesting that the “number of active podcasts has more than doubled the rate of all last year”. But, the ListenNotes data doesn’t actually show this.

  • The number in ListenNotes for 2025 represents “podcasts which published their LATEST episode since Jan 1 2025” - so as soon as a podcast posts an episode in 2025, that podcast is removed from the 2024 number.
  • Podnews checked against similar, historical, data from the Podcast Index. In Dec 2024, the number of shows that were “active” in 2024 (i.e. published their LATEST episode in that year) was 732,209. Calculate that today, and you’d see that same 2024 number shrink to 351,464 - because many of them have since posted an episode in 2025.
  • So, is the number of active podcasts growing? Sadly, no. Podcast Index says that 613,049 podcasts have (so far) posted a new episode in 2025. On Jul 7 2023, 624,899 podcasts had (so far) posted a new episode that year. So, the number of active podcasts so far this year is slightly down -1.9% from 2023.

• Our turn for an oops: Yesterday, we teased you with this story, but put the wrong link in it. We’ve corrected that today:

  • Manual Dousuario discovers that more and more Spotify-hosted podcasts haven’t realised that they’ve not turned RSS on, thus limiting their potential audience - and suggests Spotify may be using “dark patterns” to help it compete against other apps.

Soccer Legends’ Podcast Surges with YouTube Growth

Paid content

In just five days, a soccer podcast hosted by two former American professional players gained 9,030 new subscribers thanks to a high-impact campaign powered by Audiencelift. Over 40,000 video views generated 3,366 earned and 5,644 direct subscribers, yielding a cost of just $2.21 per new subscriber

Rather than relying on traditional ad tactics, Audiencelift’s YouTube growth platform focuses on building an authentic fanbase. Their strategy emphasizes "Earned Subscribers,” viewers who actively choose to subscribe after watching compelling content. For this sports-focused podcast, that approach meant scaling visibility and converting casual viewers into dedicated fans.

The campaign’s success highlights how creators can grow meaningful subscriber bases without sacrificing authenticity, delivering results both on and off the field.

Learn more about Audiencelift’s YouTube growth platform here.

Tips and tricks - with Podcast Movement

• iPhones have better cameras than many laptops. Stephen Robles at Riverside tells us how to use iPhone as a webcam on Mac and on Windows.

Podcast News

A major new podcast launches today in the UK. Dig It is brand new from Persephonica, and stars two well-known broadcasters Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley. The show will lift the curtain on the messy and beautiful reality of living well, and has two episodes weekly.

The Chrisley Confessions show is back - as Chrisley Confessions 2.0. It’s an exclusive multiyear deal with PodcastOne: Todd and Julie Chrisley return to speak directly to their audience about faith, family, personal growth, and the journey of rebuilding their lives since their headline making Presidential pardon — unfiltered and on their own terms.

You’re Going To Be Great At This! is a great way for small business owners, entrepreneurs and self-employed people (sales reps, realtors, etc) to get bits of helpful advice that they can use quickly. Each weekly episode is short, may have some “dumb stories” and informative.

Independent Australian podcast Let’s Talk About Mental Health is celebrating a milestone of 6 million streams since launching in late 2019 with a deep dive into the truth about emotional wellbeing (which, we’re told, matters a lot). If you want simple advice for better mental health, without interviews or random opinions, the host Jeremy Godwin is professional counsellor, and has new episodes every Sunday.

Find more podcasts, and add your show