Podbean suddenly switches off DAI

• Podcast hosting company Podbean has abruptly pulled its dynamic ad insertion tool across the whole of Europe. No notice was given; the affected countries imply that there is a concern with GDPR compliance. The company launched PodAds in 2019. “We rely on dynamic insertion,” one customer told us, “and without prior warning, this has a huge impact on us”. The company told Podnews that the decision was “based on a combination of evolving global privacy regulations and a shift in our internal product focus.”

  • Podbean is also removing its Livestream product as of June. The livestream service has more than 65,000 shows, according to the company’s website. The company tells us it is being sunset as it “reallocates resources toward AI features”.

• How much of your podcast do people listen to? Bumper analysed more than 100,000 episodes to discover that the average (on Apple and Spotify) is 76%. (But, for shows under half an hour, it’s 85%).

• And - how many people listen to podcasts every month in the US? You’ll be the first to know if you watch the webinar of The Infinite Dial 2026 this Thursday (2pm ET). It’s free; the data will be presented by VP of Edison Research at SSRS, Megan Lazovick, and Podnews’s Editor, James Cridland. You can register here.

• Bauer Media’s AudioXI is to be the exclusive third-party ad-sales company for BBC podcast ads in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Slovakia and Portugal. The deal doesn’t include Bauer’s other markets in the UK (where the BBC doesn’t have advertising), nor Ireland (where ads are sold by Digitize).

• Heritage podcaster Libsyn has launched a new update to publishing episodes, turning a one-page form into four separate pages (step 1, step 2, step 3, step 4). The company broke some 301 redirects in late 2025, and still haven’t fixed them, so it’s hard to move away; we asked for an update last week but the company didn’t respond. Livewire reports the company at an all-time low in terms of the share of new episodes.

• There’s a new podcast studio in the Bahamas. The Studio at Baha Mar was opened at the end of last month with a number of iHeart shows. It’s been built with a café and live audience seating. Podnews’s invitation, we can only assume, got lost in our email.

• Podcast subscription platform Podimo has acquired arc.studio, a German podcast company. The company has also made a number of new executive hires.

• Analytics and management solution Podstock has launched Agent, an AI-powered assistant for podcast operation teams. The tool can onboard new podcasts, build inventory calendars and generate media plans for advertisers.

• Adobe Podcasts released a number of updates and enhancements.. The “enhance speech” service now has source separation, and can remove music from the background. It has a new remote recording tool, in video and audio; and the studio editor now supports multitrack upload. Jay LeBoeuf will be on this week’s Podnews Weekly Review to explain more about the new features.

• The Timbre Awards from Voxtopica has extended its discount entry deadline. You now have until Mar 20.

• Signings: The fwd.network has signed women-led true crime show National Park After Dark … Airwave has signed The Really Very Crunchy Podcast, one of the fastest growing podcasts in the parenting category.

The Hidden SEO Power of Podcast Taglines

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New data from PodSEO reveals a striking correlation between tagline usage and podcast discoverability. Analysis of more than 330,000 active English podcasts reveals that those using taglines in both their title and author fields achieve 6.7x better keyword rankings on Apple Podcasts and 5.6x better on Spotify.

A tagline (text separated by dashes, pipes, or semicolons) provides crucial context for search algorithms. Examples: “Tech Talk - Your Daily Dose of Technology News” or “Jane Smith | Business Strategy Expert.”

Despite this dramatic impact, more than 90% of podcasts use no taglines at all. Less than 1% optimize both fields, representing a massive missed opportunity for improved discoverability.

Even adding a single tagline nearly doubles ranking performance. For podcast creators seeking better search visibility without complex SEO strategies, implementing descriptive taglines in both title and author fields offers an immediate, actionable optimization that most competitors aren’t using.

Read the full analysis | Track your rankings with PodSEO

Tips and tricks - with Riverside

• Whichever platform you’re using, remote filming is a great way to interview a guest without ever seeing the inside of an airport. (Since when did CNN run candy stores? Why is the queue for Starbucks so long? Why is a packet of Skittles more expensive than a used car?) Riverside has tips to get the most out of remote filming - we’d add a) reboot your computer before you go on; b) use wired internet if you can (a USB-C adaptor is less than $20 and honestly, it makes all the difference); and c) use a decent microphone but AirPods to make your headphones disappear.
• Got an Android phone, but curious what your show looks like in Apple Podcasts? You can install Apple Podcasts on Android. Here’s how.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: Motley Fool Money offers a long-term perspective on business news with The Motley Fool’s investment analysts. Today - surging oil prices are causing market jitters. But what should you do?

FOX News Audio’s Kennedy Saves the World, with Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery, is celebrating her 1,000th episode with a special show, recorded in Langan’s Bar in New York NY, including special guests and audience questions. The show launched in 2020.

Bridge of Lies is a new true-crime podcast from ABC Audio and 20/20, launching today. In December 2016, 19-year-old Sarah Stern vanished from her New Jersey hometown after her car was found abandoned near a bridge overlooking the Shark River. What authorities initially believed to be a suicide soon unraveled into a homicide investigation that revealed a surprising, personal twist.

Northwest NewsRadio’s Talking Real Money will air its final radio broadcast at the end of this month, and the show will transfer to podcast-only. “We’ve loved being on the radio in Seattle for more than three decades, but the podcast format is the future of broadcast audio”, said co-host Don McDonald.

Daring raids, epic battles, and empire-building: Noiser has launched Real Vikings today, with British actor Iain Glen (Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey). Real Vikings promises to change what listeners think they know about the Vikings and reveal why their legacy continues to shape the modern world.

Customer support is one of the most emotionally demanding roles, but very few teams talk openly about the psychology behind it. In this episode of Happy to Help, the customer-support show sits down with Melody Wilding, award-winning executive coach, licensed therapist, and bestselling author, to discuss how emotions, boundaries, and workplace dynamics shape performance and burnout.

Now, more than ever, good news is very welcome - and in this show, we learn that saving species from the brink of extinction is possible. Amphibian Rescue explores how conservation breeding — the temporary safeguarding of species under human care — is already preventing extinctions of frogs and salamanders and bringing species back into the wild. Launched in celebration of the first 20 years of Amphibian Ark, the show will bring you stories of how field scientists and the zoo community have already saved species from disappearing forever.