Spotify: unskippable ads for them, skipped ads for us?

• Exclusive: A few weeks ago, Podnews broke the story that Spotify is testing a “Skip ahead” ad-skipping tool for some customers. Perhaps making the most of its dominant market position, today we note that Spotify is selling its own unskippable podcast ads; and we discover that its terms and conditions gives Spotify the legal right to automatically skip everyone else’s.

• The Ambies are open for entry from today. There are two new categories - best music and episode of the year - and there will be two listener’s choice awards, for Best Podcast Host and Podcast of the Year. You get a discount if you’re a member of The Podcast Academy.

• The New York Times focused on Inception Point AI in a front-page article in its Arts section about AI influencers. However this publicity comes at an odd time: because it appears that Inception Point AI has been rebranded as Liquify AI, “the company behind Liquid Studios”. The company’s new website suggests that the Quiet Please Podcast network “was never the destination”, just “proof that content infrastructure works at this scale”. They’re now offering the same technology to other companies.

  • Technology like yesterday’s episode of Jay Shetty’s Biography Flash podcast - which still says it’s published by Inception Point AI - gives an AI-generated error in the episode audio: “I did not find a clearly verified major personal life announcement from the past few days, and I did not see a confirmed high impact scandal or break in his public image in the material reviewed … nothing in the gathered reporting rises above ordinary promotional noise or can be treated as confirmed biographical news.”

• Magellan AI and ARN’s iHeart released data on Australian podcast ad spend in Q2/26. Just 5.7% of podcast episodes are ads, in comparison with 8.75% in the US. The biggest advertisers were AirBnB, Wise and Shopify.

• What’s the crossover between podcasts and audiobooks? In a paywalled piece in Forbes, Frank Racioppi highlights both the integration of audiobooks and podcasts in platforms like Spotify and Audible, but also examples from UK podcast publisher Noiser, making audiobooks into podcasts. 58% of Americans have listened to an audiobook.

• SocialClip Studio claims to automatically find the best moments of your video podcasts and turn them into captioned social media clips. Unlike other tools however, the website offers a flat monthly fee .

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• To be presented in November in a conference in Detroit MI, USA, “Dramarrator” is a specific tool to help with Object-Based Audio Editing for Audio Drama Production, which cut production time from 16.7 hours to just 3.7 hours. Covered in the Fiction Podcast Weekly newsletter, this paper is written by a team from UC Berkeley and Adobe. (The paper suggests that people preferred work done by humans though.)

• Mato “creates your podcasts with AI hosts that interview real experts”. Here’s an example of the tool, which listens to what a guest says and picks up on that in its follow-up questions, just like a real human does, but without any of the pesky payments.

  People news

• AdLarge has appointed Nicole Leyden as Vice President, Brand Partnerships. She’ll be developing strategic sponsorship opportunities and integrated marketing programs for advertisers; she joins from TED, Scripps, Discovery and the NHL.

Tips and tricks - with Podcast Movement NYC

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: Earn & Invest promises thought-provoking conversations that empower you to Earn and Invest wisely, shaping your future while making informed decisions today. Today - the intersection of neuroscience, generational patterns, and personal finance, focusing on how our subconscious beliefs dictate our relationship with wealth, success, and self-worth.

Helen Parker from Strange Magic Studios is the guest this week in PodBiz - Helen shares her journey transitioning from tech to audio production, how agencies can successfully partner with brands, why building community trumps relying on programmatic ad revenue, and where the industry is heading as it enters its next phase of maturity.

Granddaughter of Immigrants has just completed - it’s a 20-part podcast mini-series hosted by Erika Hanchar. The podcast follows her 20-year personal journey tracing her Ukrainian-Canadian family roots and Eastern European heritage. Expect family secrets, ancestral trauma, and what identity really means.

Are you passionate about all things political and find yourself constantly discussing political topics at the dinner table? You’re not alone! Político with Juan Collado Díaz goes beyond the typical left vs. right narrative, and instead focuses on community-driven initiatives and voices that are working towards positive change within the political system.