Adelicious signs one of the UK’s biggest shows

• One of the UK’s biggest podcasts, Sh**ged Married Annoyed has signed with Adelicious. The show was with Acast, and joins other Avalon shows from Russell Howard and Frank Skinner on the podcast network. The award-winning show has spawned a book, a TV chat show, and had two live arena tours (including selling out Wembley SSE Arena and the O2).

  • The Podcast Business Journal interviewed Avalon co-founder Jon Thoday and Adelicious MD Andrew Goldsmith last year.

• In 2020, podcasting in Türkiye grew faster than anywhere else on Earth. Now, the industry is part of a US $31mn digital audio ad market - and it’s only set to grow further. Rıfat Özcan writes for Podnews today, looking at the rapidly evolving Turkish podcasting ecosystem.

  • EarBuds today carries International Podcast Recommendations, from Andreea Coscai.

• Kast Media’s bankruptcy procedure appears to have got a lot more complicated - the owner of Jim Cornette’s shows, Arcadian Vanguard, is suing Kast Media CEO Colin Thomson and his family members - and also suing LiveOne and PodcastOne. The complaint alleges that $6.9mn of cash went missing; claims that family members received two cars and a $7,665 Cartier watch; and also alleges that this was occurring with PodcastOne’s knowledge. The summons was served on Friday.

  • The Podcast Business Journal interviewed LiveOne’s Rob Ellin at the time.

• Nominations are now open for the second annual Women Podcasters Awards. The awards have been streamlined and focused, and now also recognise podcast producers.

• A new podcast network, Mercury launches today for independent creators. The UK-based network already has half a million impressions a month, and is specifically tailored for a personalised approach, says founder Liam Heffernan.

• Could Apple Podcasts regain the top spot, over Spotify? Buzzsprout’s data for January shows Apple Podcasts on its highest download numbers for ten months, and less than a million away from Spotify. Here’s a historical graph.

• The “new media” seat in the White House briefing room was taken by John Ashbrook from conservative talk show Ruthless. He got the first question - but tells Fox News that he “saw a lot of eye rolls and a lot of smirks”.

• NBC’s Chuck Todd is to leave the network, he announced: but added that his podcast, The Chuck ToddCast, “is also coming with me (thank you NBC)”.

• Further reading: Podcasts have helped sway many young American men to the right. The same may well happen in Australia, worries The Conversation … Podcast Brunch Club has a playlist about espionage this month … John Wordock looks at how US news podcasts covered the Washington DC air crash on Friday

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• “Just added a few new podcast user agents (apps/browsers/bots) to the open opawg/user-agents-v2 database, found thanks to a generous data contribution from a large podcast hosting company”, says John Spurlock. The full user-agents list is here. “Everyone can benefit from using these in their backend systems,” he says.

• We’re trying something new with our standard RSS feed (which powers podcast apps) - for now, it’s no longer a full-feed copy of the newsletter. There’s a link to click through, though. Feedback is welcome.

Tips and tricks - with Pod Predictor by Coleman Insights

• Haunted Carousel Productions posts: Lessons for first-time Audiodrama creators I learned making Lavender Evening Fog. Much of it focuses on workflow improvements.

Podcast News - with Memberful

Using Memberful: This Week in Tech is the top-ranked flagship tech podcast from TWiT.tv. Every Sunday, Leo Laporte and a roundtable of insiders explore the week’s hottest tech news from AI to robots, and PCs to privacy. When it comes to tech, TWiT is IT.

What do you know about sonic branding? In the latest episode of Ad Infinitum, Oxford Road’s Stew Redwine and guest producer Jeanna Isham look at the history and current state of sonic branding, with ten experts chiming in. It’s a comprehensive episode, and an ideal resource to help you understand this vital part of advertising and brand building - which gets advertising working better.

Ghosting? Breadcrumbing? Micro-cheating? The world of dating is more complicated than ever in 2025. The good news is that best-selling author and chart-topping podcaster, Elizabeth Day, and renowned dating & relationship expert Mel Schilling have partnered for How To Date - unpacking the complexities of finding connection in today’s world. It’s new today from Daylight Productions and Sony Music Entertainment.

The Binge Cases: Baby Broker is new today from Sony Music Entertinament - a new podcast unveiling the devastating story behind one woman’s fraudulent adoption scheme that impacted more than 100 couples around the US. Once viewed as an angel granting families their wish come true, Tara Lee soon turned into their worst nightmares. The whole show is available in premium podcast channel The Binge.

Could you survive and thrive if you were sent back in time? Would you invent electricity in ancient Rome, or perhaps teach Napoleon rock & roll? Well, now you can find out! Comedy AI podcast PastMaster returns today with a fourth season, as the hosts are sent back into time to see if they can cure the plague, land on the moon, and meet Henry VIII. The show is from the newly-launched Mercury Podcast Network.