People “don’t want to just listen”: YouTube’s Mohan

• “Having podcasts hosted on YouTube and having the algorithm find new audiences for you every single day turns out to be really, really powerful, no matter how big of a podcaster you are.” YouTube CEO Neal Mohan spoke with The Ankler CEO and Editor in Chief Janice Min to an invitation-only crowd at Cannes Lions yesterday - where he suggested that video is central to podcasting’s growth. “People actually don’t want to just listen to podcasts, they want to watch podcasts, they want to watch this conversation happening… Video was a really big bet, that turned out to be true.” The full interview will be carried in The Ankler today; Mohan is keynote speaker today on the festival’s main stage.

• Using downloads for measurement is a business liability, argues podcast growth company Bumper in a blog post. Downloads are decreasing for many podcasts - yet, downloads are largely disconnected from actual podcast consumption: and technical changes, like Apple varying their automatic podcast downloads algorithm (which they did in mid-2023), represents a risk for any podcast publisher. They, as you might expect, recommend the Bumper Dashboard; but irrespective of that, the argument makes sense.

  • Talking of the Bumper Dashboard, here’s what the Podnews Weekly Review looks like over the last six months. We’ve seen significantly higher plays in YouTube since tweaking our Headliner template to add captions and chapter points.

• PodcastOne has renewed its sales and distribution agreement with A+E Networks. The five shows represent 160mn total downloads.

• UK entertainment group Global has announced The Crime Agents, exploring crime, policing and national security stories in the UK. It’s the fourth “Agents” podcast from the company, after The News Agents, The News Agents USA, and The Sports Agents; yesterday, The News Agents was cited as the #2 UK news podcast by the Reuters Institute.

• Two of the UK’s best-known radio broadcasters, Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley are to launch a brand-new podcast with Persephonica in mid July. The twice-weekly show will be fully visualised on YouTube.

• The Infinite Dial 2025 Australia will be released tomorrow in a free webinar at 11am Sydney time (9pm today in New York).

  • The Australian Podcast Ranker for May was released. Average weekly listenership hit 7mn, which is the same as the record-breaking peak first set in March 2025. Mushroom Case Daily from the ABC hit #5 with more than 3.3mn downloads in the month; it’s covering the continuing case of Erin Patterson, who says she’s innocent of killing family members with poisonous death cap mushrooms.

• Podcast app Metacast now supports private and paid RSS feeds, and you’ll gain access to transcripts, summaries, generated chapters, and more, just as you do with public shows. The beta currently lets you follow one private feed, to manage costs.

• The New Zealand Podcast Awards is back for a fifth year. The awards are sponsored by Acast; gold winners will each receive 500,000 advertising impressions to promote their show across Acast’s podcast network in the country.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• How do you outlast 99% of podcasts? Samuel Sleger has four simple rules to help.

• Want to save a little cash? In a brand new section called Podnews Extras, we’ve special codes for Podcast Movement, Radiodays Asia, and the Empowered Podcasting Conference - and a special deal on Hindenburg Pro, all exclusive to Podnews readers.

Podcast News - with Podcast Movement

Enlightened Entrepreneur is a new show asking you to stop second guessing yourself and start leading your business confidently. Leandra Nisbet brings her 15+ years of hands-on expertise and real-world experience, to talk all things money, mindset and strategy so you can start approaching, and leading, your business with confidence, clarity and ease.

In Many Rivers this week, our hosts are joined by UK hip-hop legend Cookie Pryce of the pioneering Cookie Crew. She breaks down her journey from pirate radio and youth clubs, to record deals and chart hits, all whilst paving the way for Black British women in rap.

In A Matter of Conscience hosts Bill Short and Willa Seidenberg draw from firsthand experience to reveal a hidden chapter of the Vietnam war — one shaped by resistance from within. In this opening episode, the stage is set for the rise of the GI anti-war movement, spotlighting acts of courage and defiance by soldiers who faced internal conflicts between their duty and their conscience.

The Thing About Salem launched this month, bringing you bite sized pieces of Salem Witch Trials history. Hosts Josh and Sarah are descendants of women accused of witchcraft in Colonial America. After interviewing over a hundred witch-hunt experts, they have put together 15 minute episodes focusing on one thing about the Salem Witch Trials each Sunday. Expect topics in the first few weeks like Tituba, The Crucible, Poppets, the Witches’ Sabbath, and Witch Marks.

Music Person is brand new today from the Talkhouse Podcast Network. It’s hosted by Dylan Tupper Rupert, who you may know as either Producer Dylan of Bandsplain, or the co-creator, writer and host of KCRW’s Lost Notes. The new music interview show is aimed to be “a place of discovery and a respite from the algorithm for curious listeners”.

She Comes With Baggage returns for a new season this month, from Kirstie Pike - a podcast centering LGBTQ+ voices and the messy, beautiful stories that come with life. It’s funny, it’s raw, and it’s full of the kind of truth you can’t find in a guidebook - and a reminder that we are all more alike than we are different.

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