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Happy holidays - for many, it’s a last day in the office before two quiet weeks. For many more still, it’s podcasting as usual over the break, so we will be publishing as normal across the holiday period. We’ve got you!

• A special “Hark List” has been published: a look at the state of podcasting in 2024, with clips from a number of different shows. It’s hosted by our Editor, James Cridland, with clips from Buzzcast, Vergecast, our own Podnews Weekly Review, and plenty more. You can listen to it here, or, better, download the Hark app to listen and explore more new shows to listen to).
• The Podnews Weekly Review this week interviews, among others, Jessica Cordova-Kramer, the CEO of Lemonada Media. She talks about how the company has maintained high ad rates, and how they’re doing video, too. Here’s the full 30-minute interview on Podnews Extra.
• The Texas Creator Awards have been announced. Nominations are open until the end of January.

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• The iHeart app has been upgraded with lots of new features, a brave choice the day before a Christmas closedown!
• That Goalhanger ad we covered earlier in the week has got a lot of attention. One UK correspondent with a good memory has remembered this similar ad for BBC Sounds from October 2018. (The lack of now-playing thumbnails in the BBC Sounds one, in our view, makes it less obvious what’s going on).
• AI Audio platform Auddia is to sell up to twenty million shares at $0.001 per share, to raise more funds for the company, which makes an app that strips commercials out of podcasts and radio streams. It slipped below $1 a share in September and may come out of Nasdaq as a consequence; it said last month that it might run out of money altogether early next year.

Tips and tricks

• Searching for a last-minute gift for podcasters? Here’s a review of one - Make Noise, from Eric Nuzum. Or, there’s the brand new edition of Beyond Powerful Radio, from Valerie Geller; maybe Tom Webster’s guide to building a big podcast is more your thing, or there’s more in our bookstore.

Podcast News

• Timesuck with Dan Cummins seems to be advertising itself using fancy stickers in Brooklyn, NY. The show enthusiastically deep dives into everything from cults to killers to conspiracies, sharing the best of what is uncovered with everyone else. "Stopped me in my tracks!" said Podnews regional reporter Arielle Nissenblatt (we've made that title up, but who knows, it might be a thing).
• In September, Acquired had fancy billboards in San Francisco airport. The show covers the stories that built the world’s greatest companies. "Whoa! Aquired has billboards in the airport!" said Podnews regional reporter Justin Jackson (also not a real title)
• In August, the iHeart podcast Two Good Sports was super excited about appearing in billboards across Melbourne. The show was hosted by Abbey Gelmi and Georgie Tunny, breaking down the biggest sports stories and unpack the human drama (it's on pause while Abbey looks after a new addition to the family). Thank you, Podnews regional reporter Corey Layton (that's not his real job)
• In June, Calm History was recommended on NBC5 Chicago, says host of the show and Podnews regional reporter Harris (they only do one of these things in reality).

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