New TV ad showcases podcast app

• Spanish-language podcast app iVoox has unveiled its first ever TV ad, which will run on Mediaset TV channels across Spain. We’ve added English-language captions to the ad, which you can see here. We don’t remember covering a TV ad for a podcast app ever - (though TuneIn and Audible have done a few). Very welcome.

• Can’t be bothered to record a short promo for your podcast? Why not use an AI avatar to do it for you? That’s what Cleveland.com decided to do - with possibly predictably negative comments, suggests sports website Awful Announcing.

• It’s easier to get new shows into Apple Podcasts; but that also means it’s easier to push spam into it - Apple Podcasts (and, therefore, many other apps that rely on the Apple Podcasts directory) is being flooded by spam, like the Temu codes we link to today (via John Spurlock). These shows are hosted on Spotify for Podcasters, Acast, RSS.com, and Ausha.

• PAVE Studios has launched a history brand. Rewind will focus “on the stories that history forgot to finish” - it builds on the company’s true crime strand, Crime House. The first show, Hidden History, premieres on May 11.

• RESONATE Podcast Festival has announced its first-ever Africa edition. The event will be held in February 2027 in Cape Town, South Africa. Tickets go on sale in early July.

• Triton Digital’s US Podcast Ranker for March was released. The ranker is calculated using logfile analysis of participating publishers; Stuff You Should Know is a new #1, beating Pod Save America. The Dan Bongino Show is at #3.

• More Americans than ever are listening to podcasts, according to new research from S&P Global. Usage by the population is up by 10% year-on-year, according to the data - attributed to the rising popularity of video.

• iHeartMedia has entered into a first-look deal for audio fiction and scripted podcasts from CitizenSkull. The first show is a sci-fi thriller from Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly.

• Podscribe released its Q1/26 Performance Benchmark Report. Over at RAIN News, our friend Brad Hill took a deep-dive into what it says. It suggests that “a fraction of publishers have opted into Spotify Video”, which “creates an attribution void for baked-in ads”.

• Cultured speaks with Jenna Weiss-Berman on the success of Good Hang. The article calls Weiss-Berman “the new head of audio at Paper Kite Productions”, which made us wonder if we’d missed anything; no, she’s been there since February 2025.

• Podcast maker The Fool & Scholar - “the largest scripted fiction podcast team on Patreon” - has published its 2025 budget breakdown. Advertising income dropped more than 40% in the year; and the Spotify Video Podcast revenue program accounts for half of its ad revenue. Like Podnews, Patreon supporters are “the only reason we are a sustainable business”.

• Users of Claude can now use it to connect to Spotify for music and podcast picks. In the Podnews Weekly Review this week, we preview an piece we’ll publish here on Monday, chatting with Spotify’s Lizzy Hale on how podcast promotion and recommendations work in Spotify.

  • Additionally, Beehiiv added AI analytics features to its podcast hosting service. You can now connect to your analytics via Claude or another LLM to interrogate it further. It claims it’s a first for podcast hosting companies.

• As we reported in January, the future of The Third Coast Audio Festival is uncertain. Current has taken a closer look at the organisation’s history.

Tips and tricks - with the Podnews Report Card

• We Edit Podcasts posts Why Most Branded Podcasts Fail (And How to Get Yours Right)

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: MacBreak Weekly covers all things Apple: Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, Jason Snell, and Christina Warren analyze every bit of news from the most interesting company in tech.

Rivals: The Official Podcast is coming back - the show from Disney+ will return alongside season two of Rivals, when it returns on May 15. The visualised podcast will be on Disney+ and “wherever you get your podcasts”.

AI Security Brief is a brand new show from TrendAI (part of Trend Micro). Launched on the N2K CyberWire network, the show delivers strategic insights on the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity to help leaders navigate the rapidly evolving AI threat landscape.

The Adventure Life Travel Show is brand new from customised journey company Adventure Life. It’s hosted by Jason Maynard – an Adventure Life Trip Planner and veteran explorer who has visited every continent; the first episode looks at Zambia, Africa’s most overlooked safari destination.