The Podscape Winter Deadline is This Week
That’s right folks, it’s almost time! Twice a year Magellan AI and Sounds Profitable team up to continue the living document that is the Podscape. A birds-eye view of the industry, the Podscape infographic sorts companies in the business of podcasting into various districts representing what products and services they provide. These biannual updates serve to both add new companies, as well as updating existing ones (e.g. change of direction, a new logo, new acquisitions). Participation is free and highly encouraged. Fill out the official form here by end-of-day, Friday November 21st for your submission to be included in the Winter update scheduled to post early in the new year.
ThCloudflare outage live updates: Huge chunk of internet goes down by Darragh Murphy
A collection of TomsGuide micro-stories charting the various services and websites impacted by this morning’s Cloudflare outage. Spotify was among the services impacted, with theories as to what was causing the issue spreading like wildfire (including one forum’s theory that playing podcasts was triggering the issue).
The Hollywood Reporter Video Podcast Roundtable
Spotify has partnered with The Hollywood Reporter on the first video Podcaster Roundtable, featuring finalists for the 2026 Golden Globes Best Podcast category. The 56 minute video features a roundtable discussion between hosts of podcasts chosen by the Globes’ proprietary research determining the top 25 shows of the year. Participant hosts include Keith Morrison, Ashley Flowers, Ben Shapiro, Dax Shepard, and Jon Favreau.
IAB Australia 2026 Event, Audio Advertising State of the Nation Survey
The latest weekly update from IAB Australia comes with dates and registration for the first events of 2026. IAB Australia Audio Summit 2026 will take place in both Sydney and Melbourne in early March (the 3rd and 4th respectively, Sounds Profitable will be in attendance). Also, the survey for the IAB Australia Audio Advertising State of the Nation is now live, soliciting responses about experience and plans with digital streaming audio and podcast advertising. Respondents are entered into a giveaway for a $250 AUD gift voucher and also are eligible for a free ticket to either Audio Summit in March.
Influencer partnerships expand, though unevenly across the creator economy by Seb Joseph
Brands and agencies speaking to Digiday show the world of influencer marketing is becoming more sophisticated and cautious as it matures. Some creator management agencies find the year to have been mixed, with more one-off campaigns than usual. Others see wider adoption of longer deals as brands build healthier relationships with individual creators. Gospel Stats finds YouTube sponsorships are up 54% year-over-year. Though there’s still an uneven quality to how and when brands invest in deals. This is attributed to social platforms beginning to share more post-level performance data with analytics companies. With more granular insights comes more capability to calculate ROI on individual campaigns, but also more visibility on just how fragmented the social sphere is.
Skadi’s Symphony, creator of the acclaimed audio fiction series Kane and Feels, has launched a new five-episode microfiction show through Local Files Club. While audio fiction podcasters have sold shows digitally for years, LFC’s approach takes a further step by treating it like a physical media release (specifically citing the kind of bonus features one received on DVDs in the 00s). To supplement Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop’s 39 minutes of total content, the show comes packaged with a full soundtrack, cast and creator commentary versions of each episode, and illustrations inspired by the show. All of which serves as a demonstration of how flexible and customizable monetization can be in the podcast industry.
As for the rest of the news…
- French media and publishing conglomerate Le Monde Group has chosen Acast as their monetization partner for podcasting.
- Pantheon Media and Spooler have partnered with Metal Blade Records to launch interactive game Metal Mondays, a weekly interactive audio game in the Hit Replay app that quizzes players’ heavy metal history knowledge in exchange for points that go towards exclusive physical prizes.
- BBC World Service has launched a new video podcast covering stories from across the Asia-Pacific region dubbed Asia Specific (bravo on the title).
- Cineverse and its horror division Bloody Disgusting have partnered with genre audio content studio Echoverse to launch Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal, an audio adaptation of the 2017 graphic novel of the same name with a star-studded cast (including as I bring my editorialization to the maximum, iconic character actor Stephen Tobolowsky).
- Realm podcast network has broadened their true crime portfolio with the addition of I Think Not!, Crime Salad, and Moms & Mysteries.
- On Air Fest Brooklyn has announced the first wave of content at their February 2026 four-day event, including Radiolab, The Assignment with Audie Cornish, and The Don Lemon Show.
- Deadline covers Warner Bros. expansion into TV-focused podcasting with the launch of Jonathon Buckley’s A Lot More.
