The 69th Annual New York Emmy Awards are open for entries
As the headline says, the New York Emmy Awards are open for this year’s entries, but there’s something worth noting for podcasting. As Podnews reporting highlights, video podcasts are mentioned as being eligible for the Talk Program category. Looking at the NYEmmys glossary, the word “podcast” comes with the clarification that video podcasts are eligible for regional entries as long as they’re also compliant to the rules of that category. Time to submit, New York-based video podcast producers!
Earnings Calls, Reports, and Data, Oh My!
It’s time for Q4 reports to trickle in, and I’ve got several for you today. First up, Rain News covers SiriusXM Media’s Q4 report. While over the entire year SiriusXM lost 301k self-paying (e.g. not bundled into other purchases) subscribers, Q4 showed 110k new self-pay users and a 1% year-over-year drop in subscriber churn from 2024. Spotify’s Q4 2025 earnings are up, showing 290 million Premium subscribers (a 10% year-over-year) increase. Podnews has a good breakdown of Spotify’s podcasting-specific details as well. Finally, Acast’s report shows a strong Q4. Looking at the full year, Acast’s net sales growth hit 29% year-over-year. Growth they attribute specifically to Acast’s North American regional expansion, which experienced net sales growth of 60%.
Digiday looks at a growing trend of publishers and ad tech companies making the case for modern context-aware advertising when it comes to advertising on news. While brand safety/suitability measures have evolved quite a bit even since I started writing this very newsletter, news publishers are still largely persona non grata in the advertising industry, with brands either simply not running on news content at all, or implementing too-blunt methods like keyword blocklists that can block safe content because of one errant word. Project Eidos, announced recently by the IAB, is an example of the industry taking steps towards alleviating these issues, implementing a modern take on ad measurement across channels.
As for the rest of the news…
- Gumball, YMH Studios, and Backyard Ventures are teaming up to host a bowling happy hour on Wednesday, February 25th in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Brands and agencies attending On Air Fest are encouraged to get in touch with Backyard Ventures to be added to the invite list.
- Podcast Movement Evolutions at SXSW 2026 has announced more big names for the three days of events, including Maya Hawke guesting for a live recording of Broken Record and an intimate acoustic set from Andy Grammer hosted by Companion Podcasts.
- Speaking of names at events, The Podcast Academy has announced the 6th annual Ambies at On Air Fest will be hosted by Wyatt Cenac.
- Signal Hill Insights’ Paul Riismandel has a new blog breaking down how ad buyers and planners can strategically improve their podcast genre targeting.
- Consumable Inc. has acquired Radio.com and social audio platform Fireside with intent to develop a next-gen streaming platform “designed for an AI-driven, creator-first media landscape.”
- NPR has launched the American Storytelling collection, a destination for podcasts on the NPR network that gathers shows from local stations to present a mutli-faceted view of the United States.
- Voxtopica has launched the new podcast Amended! Liberty’s Guide to the First Amendment in collaboration with The Frick Initiative at Washington University in St. Louis.
