Who’s buying PodcastOne?

• Is PodcastOne close to being acquired? The company says it has had “multiple” people interested in buying the company; and has formed a special committee, and retained a financial advisor, to examine them. This is after one of its shareholders sent PodcastOne a letter telling them to retain an investment bank or strategic advisor, saying that its shares were undervalued. The company’s shares are up around 50% on the news, and are currently around $2.59; in May they were trading at over $5, though.

• SiriusXM reported its Q3/26 financial results. Podcast ad revenue at the company grew 20% year-on-year; though the company doesn’t qualify how much that is. Video and “social podcast advertising” more than doubled. The company says it has had some “supply constraints” within podcasting.

• On Air Fest has unveiled the first set of speakers for its tenth anniversary edition. It’s in Brooklyn, Feb 23-25.

• iHeart-owned Inside Audio Marketing reports iHeart-owned Triton Digital has completed its first “fully automated advertising buy”, using artificial intelligence agents to handle everything from identifying available inventory and negotiating terms to booking the campaign in an ad server.

• Worth noting: the latest version of the Safari browser, built-in to Apple’s iPhone and Mac, blocks “resolution infrastructure” - third-parties that combine your data from different websites to help track you. The IAB is upset, suggesting that the protections “go beyond applicable legal requirements”. It means that websites and services that have first-party data on their users are likely to benefit.

• Want to peek inside the offices of Goalhanger? Here’s the technology in their meeting rooms.

• Sir Patrick Stewart has died. He was 86. From 2023, here he is as a guest on Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend; from the same year on the Rich Roll Podcast; and a show originally from 2015 from NPR’s Ask Me Another.

We were a little confusing yesterday: obviously, the US mid-term elections are on Nov 3; Goalhanger’s coverage starts at midnight on Nov 4th. Many states allow you to vote early, and in some places you can vote this weekend if you’d like to.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave and TWiT.tv: This Week in Tech is the top-ranked flagship tech podcast with Leo Laporte and friends. It’s been quite the week in tech, with the iPhone Duo with a cracking screen; the PHP-apocalypse; and more whirlwind AI news.

The last episode of No Agenda was published. John C Dvorak passed away in July; the show - lasting over five hours - was part tribute to John, and part tribute to cohost Adam Curry.

The Podnews Weekly Review this week talks with Ainsley Rossitto from beehiiv, and Kate Cocker from the Everyday Positivity podcast.

Off the Grid, a podcast for artists, writers & creative business owners who want to leave social media without losing all their income, has a brand new brand. After four years and over 200 episodes, the show has new cover art and fully refreshed website. The host, Amelia Hruby, says she is refreshed and recommitted to helping creatives and podcasters step away from the apps.

Zephyrus One tells the story of a disgraced astronaut whose life is turned upside down when he arrives home from a deep space mission, only to find the world he has returned to is drastically different from the one he left.

Journalist and author Sophia Smith Galer’s independent podcast about multilingualism Word For Word returns for Season 2, opening with bestselling novelist Rebecca Kuang (Babel, Yellowface, Taipei Story). Following her summer on Goalhanger’s Creator Accelerator and her critically acclaimed book How To Kill A Language, the podcast returns with a bigger team behind the scenes and bigger guests from the worlds of content creation, books and much more.