The Frontier

Bloomberg reported that iHeart was discussing a podcast-business sale with an investment bank; iHeart denied plans to sell. James Cridland noted Bloomberg had also reported a SiriusXM merger that never happened.

iHeart’s shares had lost two-thirds of their value in a week, while the sale rumor appeared to halt the decline. Sam Sethi argued that separating podcast results could make the growing division more visible to investors; iHeart also carries $4.9 billion in long-term borrowings.

iHeart podcast revenue grew 24.4% year over year and reached $162 million in Q2 2026, but still represented 16.5% of company revenue. James Cridland said legacy radio brings in more, while podcasting is the growing business.

Live radio still dominates audio listening: it accounts for about two-thirds of UK audio and US ad-supported audio, and 60% of Canadian ad-supported listening. Podcasts make up 10% of UK audio, 21% of US ad-supported audio, and 29% in Canada.

Podcasting remains a small share of total audio revenue, but James Cridland sees it as a route to younger listeners because spoken-word listening on mobile is growing. He said Bob Pittman’s eventual departure could change the case for selling iHeart’s podcast division.

Spreaker committed to changes against unauthorized show copies, aiming to complete them by year-end or early next year. RSS.com, RedCircle, Transistor, Captivate, and Blubrry signed James Cridland’s five-point hosting code of practice; Podcast Index contributor Dave Jones is building enforcement tools.

Meta’s AI assistant can research, record, and host podcasts using artificial voices; James Cridland found one producer publishing 23 hours daily. He warned that unreviewed AI shows can spread errors, while Sam Sethi objected to Meta designing its assistant to feel more human.

ElevenLabs now lets users publish AI-generated music to SoundCloud and offers tools for AI-generated podcasts. James Cridland said podcast platforms lack clear leadership on wholly AI-generated shows and called for Apple to set a standard.

Tom Rossi proposed Common Access Tokens to let podcast apps cryptographically prove their identity to hosting companies. The standard could expose apps spoofing Apple Podcasts or Safari, giving hosts and legitimate apps a signal without requiring them to block traffic.

Magellan AI reported podcast ad spend up 18% year over year, while ad load rose 8.86%; James Cridland estimated actual ad volume was up about 6%. A typical podcast now carries roughly 20 extra ad seconds per hour, still below radio’s usual 9 to 12 minutes.

Liquid Studios turned Podnews Daily into landscape video, vertical clips, and social cutdowns using mostly AI with human checks. A one-week test lifted YouTube views and recommendations and worked on LinkedIn, but had no effect on Spotify or audio downloads; the service costs $10 per minute.

Acast’s unified dashboard combines audio, video, and social data and deduplicates audiences across platforms. James Cridland had not confirmed whether it reports plays; Sam Sethi argued creators need plays, listening time, and completion rates, while HLS estimates still cannot show second-by-second consumption.

Podcast analytics remain inconsistent across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. James Cridland said one show’s Apple dashboard showed half its audience disappearing, while OP3’s Apple-filtered data did not; he trusted OP3 more but said one example was not enough to establish a wider pattern.

News Agents Plus is joining the subscription model with exclusive content, Q&A sessions, new podcasts, and a newsletter. James Cridland said Goalhanger’s membership revenue helped show corporate publishers they could earn directly from audiences instead of relying on volatile advertising.

The Podcasting 2.0 funding tag can link listeners directly to memberships such as News Agents Plus, not only donation pages. Sam Sethi expects paid memberships and premium content to grow before micropayments become easy enough for broad adoption.

The Webby Awards launched creator credits that can verify an individual’s role in award-winning work, making past contributions easier to show employers. James Cridland said he had claimed two wins and a nomination.

SiriusXM named Anjali Sud its next CEO after her leadership roles at Vimeo and Tubi. Sam Sethi predicted she might treat the job as a short corporate stop; James Cridland noted Sud had served on the board since March 2025 and could bring new ideas.

UK production company Message Heard entered voluntary liquidation, made staff redundant without notice, and reportedly owed freelancers months of pay. Its losses rose from £468,000 in 2023 to £1.5 million in 2024 and £1.8 million in 2025.

Pocket Casts and Max Stories added HLS video support, but several shows marketed as video podcasts still publish video only on YouTube or Spotify. James Cridland said producers should also distribute video through Apple Podcasts when available, while support for alternate enclosures remains uneven.

Podcast creators often neglect chapters and transcripts even when they advocate for industry standards. James Cridland acknowledged that his own show’s chapters are generated automatically and that he has not figured out how to add chapters to video.

Sam Sethi expects shopping integrations to return through AI agents and video platforms, but James Cridland doubts podcast apps will build product-listing features unless app developers can earn revenue from them. They discussed whether Podcasting 2.0 needs a dedicated shopping tag.

Fox Corporation closed its Roku acquisition earlier than expected, adding a major distribution platform to its holdings alongside Red Seat Ventures and Supercast. Supercast also launched live streaming for creators.

Castro’s new owner, Maple Media, requires users to accept a more demanding privacy policy. James Cridland expects Castro may become a skinned version of Player FM, based on shared support infrastructure and the potential to run ads across both apps.

Headliner added scheduling and a calendar for social posts. Podio launched a free creator platform while describing itself as infrastructure for the voice economy rather than a podcast host, reflecting a wider shift toward creator-focused positioning.

Calaroga Media launched Linnet, an AI production platform whose God Mode can draft an episode with script, narration, music, artwork, and video from one prompt. James Cridland said he had enjoyed a full AI-produced show from the company, including its jokes and generated music.

United Airlines added Spotify access to seat-back entertainment through a phone-based QR login. James Cridland questioned the value when the aircraft already offers Starlink internet, since passengers can use their own phones and headphones.

RØDE finally released its Android recording and video app after launching the iPhone version in 2023. James Cridland also warned that the original RØDECaster Pro’s Mac software will stop working at year-end, with no announced Apple-silicon replacement.

Neil Vellio argued that discovery by dropping listeners into ongoing conversations resembles radio’s long-standing way of building habitual audiences. James Cridland favored measuring listener actions and return behavior over reach, but said podcasting’s privacy and limited listener identity make return rates hard to measure.

TrueFans added an international radio discovery page linking HLS station streams to publisher feeds, and Sam Sethi said live audio and video servers were next. The service is also building newsletters, memberships, blogs, and merchandise tools for creators.

Sam Sethi said TrueFans blocked vodio.fr after its operator publicly accused the service of taking content, despite later acknowledging the misunderstanding. Sethi objected to public shaming instead of contacting him directly; James Cridland said growth can bring more bad-faith complaints and trolling.