Podcast host Podeo raises $5.4mn

• In Dubai, podcast hosting and distribution platform Podeo announced the completion of a $5.4mn funding round. The Middle Eastern podcast company aims to invest in its global expansion plans, and grow its AI capabilities.

• Steve Pratt’s book, Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers, is released today. It contains plenty of marketing advice for people in any industry, but many examples from the world of podcasting, too - and is well worth a read. In our review, we’ve a password to get you the first chapter, free.

• The winners of the 19th Annual People’s Choice Podcast Awards were announced. The People’s Choice Award went to Let’s Get Haunted.

• The winners of the African Podcast and Voice Awards were announced. We’ve the full podcast winners list, and you can watch the ceremony online.

• Audacy has completed its financial restructuring. “The Company emerges as a healthy, scaled, multi-platform leader in the dynamic audio sector.” Its existing management team remain in place.

• A reminder that we asked Pocket Casts for a year of free Pocket Casts Plus for Podnews readers. With creator-produced transcript support, filters, near-instant episode notifications and a great design, you should give it a go. You’ve a week to claim.

• There is a new turbo model for the transcription software Whisper. It’s an optimised version of large, but needs only 6GB rather than 10GB of memory; and is eight times as fast (making it one of the fastest models available).

• The BBC has opened applications for two funds: the Indie Development Fund and Audio Lab. Successful applicants of both schemes will receive funding to develop creative ideas and benefit from mentoring opportunities from the BBC.

• Kids podcast company Pinna has done a deal with the Australian ABC to include three new kids shows into its library.

• Podcast app PodLP has launched podcast permalinks with previews. The links open PodLP on KaiOS; or otherwise show previews. Here’s a link to Podnews. We’ll get it added to our podcast pages shortly.

People News

• Steve Raizes, EVP of Podcasting and Audio at Paramount, has left the company. “It has truly been my dream job and I am deeply grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to have had that experience with that caliber of talent and shows.”

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• Ant Smith is the viral editor behind the video trailers for Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO. Callum McDonnell breaks down Ant’s approach to the trailers and how they’ve driven a lot of the show’s success.

• Using Chartable? The company is closing soon; we’ve got alternatives for you to consider.

Podcast News

Designated with Yaya Jata Fanusie is new today from Illicit Edge, “the world’s foremost source of financial crime news”. The show features financial crime investigations, sanctions enforcement, and the key illicit finance challenges facing the world. The show is also available on YouTube.

The Binge Cases: Denise Didn’t Come Home is new today from Sony Music Entertainment and Marc Smerling’s Truth Media. The show investigates the story behind a small town murder in Bergen County NJ, USA, that left one family yearning for answers for decades. You can listen in full on The Binge, Sony’s premium podcast subscription.

The HoLT’s Survival Guide For Small Businesses launches today, with LinkedIn influencer Lea Turner featuring business owners who’ve faced real challenges, epic fails, and unexpected wins. Full episodes are also on YouTube; the show also has a paid library of masterclasses.

The untold story of English football hooliganism, The English Disease, launches today from Stak. Presented by football writer Sam Diss, the show featuring interviews with former hooligans, fans up and down the country and experts who have researched the primal instinct to fight for your team. It is a story of what happens when society disenfranchises its people, dismantles social structures and pits them against each other.

What would you do if you were British Prime Minister? Get onto eBay and sell those expensive Arsenal corporate tickets and those fancy glasses, probably. Meet the 85% returns for a second season today, asking people questions like that to learn a little more about the UK today.