March 28, 2025

BBC rules out UK ads in podcasts

5 minutes

Sponsored by CoHost. Want more listener insights without switching hosting providers? Explore CoHost's Prefix with in-depth podcast analytics and tracking links starting at just $15/month. Sign up today for a free trial.

After criticism from the UK podcast industry, the BBC has said it won’t press ahead with ads in podcasts in the UK, saying that it has “decided to rule out placing adverts around BBC licence-fee funded programmes on third-party podcast platforms in the UK.” The announcement is expected to be confirmed in the BBC Annual Plan next week. Independent podcasters had called the idea “disastrous”.

The BBC will still take some advertising in UK podcasts though; Podnews reported last week on a new BBC podcast which will contain ads inside the UK, but is not produced by the public service. The BBC is funded by advertising outside the UK.

Exclusive: Frequency Ads has launched a new Premium Publisher Network for host-read ads. Partnering with DAX US, the service aims to make host-read ads as easy to buy as programmatic ads.

Popular podcast app Pocket Casts is rolling out “smart folders” next week, which automatically groups shows together. You’ll see them in beta versions of the app now.

“Popular podcast app”? Find out quite how popular Pocket Casts is - next week, in the Podnews Report Card; Apr 2 9.00am on the Keynote Stage at Evolutions.

> > > 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

PM Evolutions kicks off NEXT WEEK! — Book your train or plane to be in Chicago for podcasting's most important annual spring event. There's still time to join us for all four days, Mon through Thurs, and code PODNEWS still saves $50!
Don't sell a Patreon ❌, sell your subscription ✅! — Supporting Cast is completely white labeled, so your brand is always front and center. Build YOUR subscription & community, not Patreon's

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

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

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

Image: James Cridland

...more

View all episodes

By Podnews LLC

4.3

7676 ratings