Highlights from the Podcast Show 2025

It’s clear from the buzz at the Podcast Show this year that the podcast proposition for advertisers is evolving. As we’ve seen in commercial radio, podcasts – many of which are now made or sold by commercial radio broadcasters – are providing not just additional reach and frequency, but the opportunity for brands to reach fans across more touchpoints than ever.

Lights, camera… podcasters?

Video was the focus of many sessions this year, as more podcasters switch on the cameras. This isn’t about replacing audio – it’s enhancing it, enabling audio brands to reach more audiences, especially through short-form social content: “You think video has killed the radio star? Video has just made pod stars even more famous,” said Farhann Cachra, Group Strategy Director at Global.

Indeed, social video is now becoming fundamental for audio brands to reach younger listeners, who are looking for that face time with talent and might not be getting it elsewhere, we heard from Goodstuff’s Head of Audio Sam Austin.

Sport Social Podcast Network’s Managing Director Sophie Hind thinks that presenters should now be seen as influencers with their own hugely engaged audiences. She said that “this has opened up a myriad of opportunities for brands to partner with these influencers to get the best out of those audience engagements.”

Performance that scales

One of the world’s biggest podcast advertisers BetterHelp told us how powerful podcasts have been in driving awareness of their online therapy service as they expand internationally. We heard in their joint session with Global and iHeartMedia how podcast advertising uplifts the performance of online channels like social and search, a trend we also identified from commercial radio advertising in our Performance Multiplier study.

In a session titled ‘Are 360 campaigns the future of podcast advertising?’, PHD Media’s Associate Director Lucy Ledger and Bicycle London’s Account Director Will Ridley told the crowd about the benefits to taking a 360 approach to audio. They’ve seen strong results from expansive podcast partnerships that include online and in-person activations and events. Will said “we’ve done a lot of MMM research and actually return on investment on podcasts has been greater than other channels regularly, which is pretty good to see, but it’s probably because of the different elements that are all supporting audio.”

Big news

The star power of commercial radio podcasting was on full display at the event, starting with an interview from veteran journalists Emily Maitlis and Christiane Amanpour. They discussed Christiane’s new podcast series with Global, The Ex Files with Jamie Rubin, which sees the international correspondent reflect on current affairs and career highlights with none other than her ex-husband and former U.S. diplomat Jamie Rubin.

The Capital Breakfast team told us how they’re putting learnings from their best-in-class commercial radio partnerships to use in their podcasts, which will now include a brand-new weekly podcast Capital Breakfast: After the Show, Show!. The new podcast will see presenters Jordan North, Chris Stark and Siân Welby going behind the scenes of their breakfast show, to share all the moments that never make it to air.

Head of Sport Social Stefan Doyle meanwhile hosted a panel with broadcaster Graham Wilgoss and Sir Bradley Wiggins ahead of the launch of the 3x Olympic gold medalist’s brand-new podcast. The interview, as with all the sessions at the well-attended event, showed how the audio sector isn’t just picking up speed – it’s entering an Olympic sprint, and advertisers would be wise to get in the saddle.