Hi podcasters,
Before we get into it…
Eurowaves had its first board of advisors call.
A big thank you to these fantastic people for joining the European podcasting mission: Frank Racioppi, Katz Laszlo, Ana Ribera García-Rubio, Jullian Androkae, Ana Xavier, James Cridland, Lory Martinez and Sam Sethi. We are an international, interdisciplinary group ready to take Eurowaves as a podcasting hub to the next level, both across the continent and beyond.
Stay tuned for what's coming!
Frank Racioppi of Ear Worthy wrote a lovely post about why he joined the board.
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🇪🇺 Podcasting & Community News 🇪🇺
📲Podwires now has a mobile app on Google Play. The first release lets producers swipe through open jobs, build a profile clients can find and message directly, and talk to other producers about proposals, rough cuts and referrals. Joining and the core features are free; paid plans exist for a few extra spaces and are managed on the website, not in the app.
🌎Webby Awards submissions are now open.
🌎Liv Sandberg is joining Acast as the new EVP, Europe. The appointment brings Acast’s Nordic and wider European businesses under a single regional leader for the first time.
🇬🇧In London, Persephonica is hiring.
🇬🇧True Crime Award submissions are now open.
🇬🇧Bee Thomas has started as PR for Apple Music, Podcasts and the Apple TV platform across the UK and Europe. (source: Podnews)
🇪🇸Genuina Media published The 20 Biggest Podcasts in Spain - and, the company says, the list highlights how fragmented the industry is. (source: Podnews)
🇮🇪The All Ireland Podcast Awards are open for entry. (source: Podnews)
📲🌎Northflow, a content operations platform for podcasters and creators, launched Northflow Flux, a fully rebuilt second version. There’s more information on the company’s blog. (source: Podnews)
📲🌎Pocket Casts is adding a new “networks” section in the Discover view in the app. (source: Podnews)
Eurowaves Update ☘️
Since the last issue, we have…
…+12 new subscribers.
Share this issue with your podcast network to keep the community growing.
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🇨🇳🇪🇺China’s Podcasting Boom, with JustPod’s Yi Yang: “Europe’s future in podcasting should be regional in character, global in outlook”
Yi Yang is a podcast host, producer and media strategist. He co-founded JustPod, China’s biggest podcast network, and founded PodFest China. Now based in London, he has contributed to This American Life and the BBC World Service and advises organisations on audio and media strategy. He is launching In Transit, a story-and-strategy practice on transitions in media, in careers, and in a life carried between cultures, beginning with a newsletter.
You can connect with Yi on LinkedIn here.
Give us an overview of China’s podcasting industry from its beginnings and what stage it’s at currently. Is it growing? Is it stagnating?
Chinese-language podcasts have existed for as long as the concept of podcasting has. But in those years the mainstream of the Chinese internet was blogs, social media and streaming platforms, much as it was elsewhere. The real starting point, to my mind, was 2018. That was when we launched our flagship show Left-Right (忽左忽右), an interview podcast in the spirit of NPR’s Fresh Air or BBC’s In Our Time, originally hosted by Yanliang and me. Then we set up JustPod and told the world plainly that we were a “podcast company”.
The industry is still growing. Both the number of shows and the number of listeners have risen significantly over the past eight years. Research firms project that China’s podcast listener growth will lead the world through 2027, and last year the audience passed 150 million. Since the second half of 2025, as in other markets, video podcasts have joined the game.
One thing sets China apart? The video podcast trend here was also driven by local YouTube-like platforms, but when they spotted it, they deliberately chose the word “podcast” (播客) rather than a term an ordinary Chinese viewer would grasp more easily, such as “video talk show”. This is interesting because podcast listeners are only around 10% of China’s population, far below a mature market like the US. Plenty of people in China still don’t quite know what a podcast is, and many have never heard one. Yet the platforms still named the format “video podcast”. I think that owes a lot to the work we and everyone else in this industry have put in. We made “podcast” mean something fresh, young and forward-looking in China, whereas “video talk show” is easy to understand but carries associations with the television era. It is a telling example of where we stand.
You’ve been Europe-based for a few years now and involved with the industry internationally. What can European podcasting learn from China’s market?
The easiest lesson, I think, is to understand clearly what makes your own market distinctive, then use that boldly and inventively to build your own path. That is exactly what we did in China.
My reading of Europe is that traditional radio still carries enormous influence, but at the same time there is a great deal of homegrown innovation. Since moving to the UK I have been to XMTR every year, and I have seen what Jasmin Bauomy is doing with THE ECCO in Berlin. These projects left a deep impression on me, because they show how differently Europe understands audio compared with other markets. European sound makers are treating audio as an inventive form of expression, telling human stories in creative and artistic ways and pushing the medium as far as it can go.
Elsewhere in the world, fewer and fewer people are still doing this kind of exploration. In Europe there are many, and they keep at it. That is what makes Europe distinctive. So what Europe can learn is to recognise that distinctiveness, amplify it, and find its own path.
What do you predict the future of European podcasting will look like?
I have been following European podcasting for far longer than I have lived in Europe. Ten years ago I started reading the radio review columns in British newspapers, Gillian Reynolds, Miranda Sawyer, Fiona Sturges, and envied a media culture that kept a record of podcasts as works, not only as an industry. Later Caroline Crampton’s newsletter PodMail became one of my earliest windows onto European stories that didn’t follow the American script. And of course Lory Martinez of Studio Ochenta, who brought Mija to China with us back in 2020.
If I had to make a prediction, I would point to a recent piece of news: BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts, a year after being cancelled, is relaunching as a co-production with public broadcasters in Australia and Canada. I see a version of European podcasting’s future in that.
First, European audio makers hold on to a commitment to innovation and don’t chase every market trend. Everyone is talking about video podcasts now, and soon they will be talking about AI. That hasn’t stopped many people here from continuing to imagine what sound, as a medium, could still become, rather than deciding what to make based on what everyone else is making. That is rare in the face of enormous change and quick profits.
Second, the way the show came back surprised me. I had imagined, though I never wrote the email to Eleanor McDowall, that Britain might build a network of audio documentary lovers to keep it alive. Their solution was more inventive than mine: they stepped outside the region and joined forces with like-minded people internationally.
That is the future I see for European podcasting. Regional in character, in its insistence on imagining what this medium can do, and global in outlook, connected to kindred spirits around the world. Diversity, imagination and creativity will be its driving forces. And I am glad to now be part of it.
Thank you, Yi!
🎙️🌍 Podcast Recommendations 🌍🎙️
VARÚÐ: Dead Ísland (played in English) is a family of survivors attempting to find safety in a zombie apocalypse set on the south coast of Iceland. We play Dead Ísland using a modified version of Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying system. VARÚÐ RPG is an anthology live play, actual play podcast - always horror, always set in an alternative version of Iceland. Self contained horror themed homebrew stories told in English, using various roleplaying games.
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Qué Está Pasando en el Podcasting
The podcast for Spanish-language podcasters. Every Friday, Julio Axel Ponce (editor at Tropical Podcasting) and Mayra Ortiz Nieves (co-founder of Podcasteras Media) analyze the most important news and trends in the podcasting industry, as well as the best strategies for independent podcasters. Featuring guests from Latin America, Spain, Puerto Rico, and the United States.
Eurowaves recommends…🎧
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🇸🇪 Podcasts from Sweden 🇸🇪
Martin Lindeskog has been a blogger since 2002 and podcaster since 2006, Martin is a New Media Advisor at TeaParty.Media. He is a tea enthusiast and a chile-head. Check out his book, “Tea Book Sketches: Ideas And Notions About The Second Most Popular Beverage In The World”.
Done! is a podcast by “Struktör” (”structure expert”) David Stiernholm. He gives you practical tips on how to get things done in a good way. The episodes are often around five minutes long. The Swedish version of the podcast, Klart!, has published 700+ episodes.
Done! är en podd av David Stiernholm som är Struktör. Han ger dig praktiska tips på hur du kan få saker gjort på ett bra sätt. Avsnitten är ofta runt fem minuter. Den svenska versionen av podden, Klart!, har publicerat >700 avsnitt.
Hemberedskap is a podcast by Anette Staaf and Niklas Larsson. Anette & Niklas are talking about “the prepper movement” and how to be prepared in your daily life. Lately the episodes have been around 30 minutes long. The podcast has been around since 2017, and published 400+ episodes.
Hemberedskap är en podd med Anette Staaf och Niklas Larsson. Anette & Niklas pratar om prepperrörelsen och hur du kan öka din personliga krisberedskap. På sistone har podden varit på 30 minuter. Podden startades 2017 och har publicerat >400 avsnitt.
Hantverksbira is a podcast by Victor Nordenberg and Susanna Hellén. Victor & Sanna are into the world of craft beers. The episodes are often between 30 - 60 minutes. The podcast has published 200+ episodes. I will talk about a common denominator in an upcoming episode of my podcast, Tea Party Media. It has to do with beverages! ;)
Hantverksbira är en podd med Victor Nordenberg ocb Susanna Hellén. Victor & Sanna testar olika hantverksöl och intervjuar personer från hantverksbryggerier. Avsnitten brukar ofta vara mellan 30 - 60 minuter. Podden har publicerat >200 avsnitt. Jag kommer att prata om en gemensam nämnare i ett kommande avsnitt av min podd, Tea Party Media. Det har med drycker att göra! ;)
Thank you, Martin!
You can connect with him here.
🚀Events and Opportunities🚀
The world’s funniest podcast festival held in the UK, Australia, USA and Ireland. Every October, the festival stages in London, Melbourne and NYC, giving audiences the chance to see their favourite funny podcasts live and discover new gems. The team carefully curates a programme of internationally beloved podcasters, indie juggernauts and cult favourites that together form the beautiful melting pot that makes up Cheerful.
When? September 28 - October 18.
AJP Journalism Fund (Belgium)
The Journalism Fund supports investigative journalism and in-depth reporting in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB). It enables the production of any work that offers genuine added informational value and fosters the emergence of new journalistic formats. Financial assistance is provided directly to journalists. The Fund is managed by the Association of Professional Journalists (AJP) and financed by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB).
When? September 30.
In the 2026–2027 call, IESE Business School will offer up to eight professionals the opportunity to take one of its Executive Programs at its campuses in Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, or New York. IESE’s Executive Programs are recognised among the best in the world, ranking third globally according to the Financial Times. These programs are taught by top-level professors with a global perspective and a strong focus on people, ethics, and social responsibility.
When? September 30.
That’s it for now!
Andreea
Thanks for the shoutout!
Yi Yang's "regional in character, global in outlook" is the sharpest description of Europe's structural advantage I've read — and the Short Cuts relaunch as a co-production across public broadcasters is the proof. The counterpoint to all the platform anxiety: radio culture gave Europe an audio-making tradition that doesn't depend on any single app's recommendation feed. The future he describes isn't a fallback plan, it's the actual differentiator.