Sponsored by Riverside. Create studio-quality recordings, edit in seconds, and repurpose effortlessly—all with Riverside’s latest updates. Trusted by top podcasters and brands like Tim Ferriss, Ali Abdaal, and Spotify, it’s their go-to creation platform. Try Riverside today and grow your podcast!

• Acast has posted its first year in profit, according to the company’s financial year-end report. The full report claims a 19% net sales growth for 2024, and an EBITDA profit of $2.2mn. Total listens were down 13% in 2024, which the company attributes to Apple’s changes in iOS 17.
  • In Q4/2024, net sales grew by 17% overall, with sales in North America growing by 33%. However, the number of listens was down by 8% in the quarter: Acast say this is because the BBC left Acast’s network for Triton Digital. The BBC left in late November, so expect a further decrease of listens in Q1. The UK itself is a “challenging market” according to CEO Ross Adams (though Acast didn’t represent the BBC there).
• Netflix wants to get into video podcasts, according to Business Insider. It reportedly tried to hire Alex Cooper last year.
• Meta has launched a demo tool called Audiobox - “create an audio story with AI voices and sounds.” It’s quite a fun thing to play with, though it seems to like whispering very much. Of interest: “This research demo is not open to residents of, or those accessing the demo from, the States of Illinois or Texas.”

> > > Read more of today’s podcast industry news stories on the Podnews website: and get our free daily newsletter.

Classifieds - your job or ad here

• Need short-form content? — I'm Kristen (a real person), who can highlight the best moments from your podcast.
• 💰 Join the High Rollers Club with Supporting Cast — Radiolab, Dunc'd On, The Tennis Podcast, Dateline, Savage Lovecast, and other shows will earn up to seven figures this year using the Supporting Cast membership platform.
• Save $350—Evolutions Early Bird Ends Tomorrow! — Join podcast creators and pros at Evolutions 2025, March 31–April 3 in Chicago. Save up to $350 on your pass during the Super Duper Early Bird Sale, ending tomorrow. Prices rise at midnight!

Gold supporters: Buzzsprout, Mowpod, Mamamia, The $100 MBA, Cloud10, The Podglomerate, Sounds Profitable, Cohost, Steve Lack: Audio, Simplecast, audioBoom, Resound, SALT, Podscribe, Audiohook, RedCircle, Riverside.fm, Jar Audio, Podchaser, Awesound, Evergreen Podcasts, Disctopia, Podpage websites, Libsyn, Knucklehead Media Group, Acast, We Edit Podcasts

Silver supporters: Storic Media, Audacia Audio, Bumper, PodLabs - Podcast Experimentatio, Magellan AI, Tink Media, Storyboard, Voxtopica, Frequency, Compliance Podcast Network, Ausha, Gumball, PlayPodcast, Red Seat Ventures, Huberman Lab, The Roost, Ask Ralph Christian Finance, Truefans, Podium , Gilded Audio, POW PR, SoundStack, Deepcast Creator, The Podcast Haven, Jonekiri, ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Aust, Podcastpage, Message Heard, Health Podcast Network, Jam Street Media, Double Elvis Productions, Castos, Rephonic, Diversion Podcasts, Sonic Influencer Marketing, Rhapsody Voices, Headliner, Zvook, Lemonada Media, Heartcast Media50, Blubrry, Podcast Taxi, Oxford Road, matchmaker.fm, Wondery, Optimal Living Daily, Transistor, Ossa Collective, Ad Results Media, Content10x, Hear.Here.Singapore, StreamGuys, Podcast Partnership, Cleanfeed, She Podcasts, Sonix, Podigy, Podcast Movement, School of Podcasting, Lower Street, Revolver Podcasts, Adopter Media, Edison Research, Signal Hill Insights

Our supporters pay for Podnews, so everyone can read it. Join them today.

Image: James Cridland