The first morning of the fifth The Podcast Show at London’s Business Design Centre opened with James Cridland, editor of the trade publication Podnews, who presented the results of the fifth annual Podnews Report Card. “There’s a cavalcade of AI crap,” he said in his keynote, according to Mumbrella, in which he framed the past twelve months of podcasting. For delegates from more than fifty countries, it was the moment when a concern about AI podcasts, until then largely anecdotal, was backed by publicly cited Podcast Index numbers.
Cridland drew on data from the Podcast Index, which Podnews had flagged on 15 April 2026. In a 24-hour window, 44.6% of newly published shows were marked “likely legitimate” and 45.7% as potentially AI-generated. Inception Point AI uploaded 325 new titles that day, almost a fifth of all new feeds. The Podcast Index also made available the /recent/problematic endpoint, which lists new feeds flagged as spam, phishing or “low-effort AI”. In that window, potentially AI-generated feeds therefore outnumbered feeds marked “likely legitimate”.
That was the context for the fifth edition. The organiser, AV Media & Events Limited, a joint venture between SME London and GetOnMedia, opened the show on Wednesday 20 May 2026 in Islington. The festival ran for two days and closed on Thursday 21 May. It had headline partners Global Studios and iHeartPodcasts, 450+ speakers, 170 sessions and nine stages. Delegates came from more than fifty countries across Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australia. This year’s event followed last year’s, which the organisers framed as 10,000+ delegates. The show has run since 2022. Jason Carter, co-founder and Festival Director, described the edition as “internationally connected, video-first and incredibly influential across entertainment, culture and business”.
The international stage got its own programme
This year’s event added two new stages. The International Stage & Networking Lounge, in partnership with Podimo, hosted a programme focused on the global podcast market, monetisation, distribution, IP and growth across markets. The second new stage, the Creator First Stage, run in association with Arcade, opened with Jordan Schwarzenberger, co-founder of Arcade and manager of The Sidemen. The programme covered fandom, community, audience growth and creator-led businesses.
The speakers on the Show Me The Money panels in London show where Europe’s audio business is trying to keep pace with the American one. Alongside the US players iHeartPodcasts and Global Studios, European players such as Acast, Podimo, Bauer Media and the French SoundCast also appeared in the programme. Simon Myciunka, President of Audio, Bauer Media Group, presented Bauer’s position on a pan-European audio strategy, in a session on the tension between local loyalty and global algorithms, alongside British presenter Tyler West.
Delegations from SCA, ARN, Nova, Triton Digital, ABC and Acast travelled from Australia to London, according to Mumbrella. Independent podcasters Toni Lodge and Ryan Jon, the creators of Toni and Ryan, which they themselves describe as a “garbage podcast”, had a sold-out live show in London and performed on both days.
Show Me The Money split opinion on episode length
“You don’t need a big audio company behind you, but it can help,” said Greg Glenday, CEO of Acast, on a monetisation panel sponsored by Podimo. Alongside him sat Morten Strunge (CEO and Founder of Podimo), Carrie Lieberman (COO of iHeartPodcasts) and Corey Layton (Head of iHeart Strategic Partnerships and Product, ARN), with Richard Bacon moderating. Glenday was in Europe after Acast’s annual general meeting, held on 19 May at its headquarters in Stockholm, the day before the show opened. Acast reported 1,121 million listens for Q1 2026 (up 1% year on year), an average revenue per listen of SEK 0.58 (up 19% year on year) and an EBITDA margin of around 5%. Glenday commented on his own position with some distance. “But we are still at base camp as a medium,” he concluded, summing up his first annual review as chief executive.
Views on episode length split the panel. Layton, who leads strategic partnerships and product at iHeart Australia, was cautious about the format. “Long only seems to work with heritage podcasts,” he said, according to Mumbrella. Glenday countered with the logic of on-demand listening. “The audience can listen on their own terms. Twenty minutes here, 30 minutes maybe later in the day and so on.” Layton also offered newcomers a piece of advice, which Glenday and Lieberman both endorsed. “If you are just starting out you should focus first on building a community.”
Brand panels opened up the economics of audio advertising
Beyond the monetisation panel, the economics of podcast advertising were covered in three dedicated sessions. Beyond Ads, sponsored by iHeartMedia, featured Ethan Fixell (SVP Branded Content, iHeartMedia) and Benish Mahmood (Head of Global Partnerships, Publicis Media Content), and looked at how brands are connecting with podcasts in 2026. The Global Rise of Podcasting, with Andy Kelly (EVP Global Brand Partnerships, iHeartMedia) and Delphine Terrioux (Data and Insights, PHD), tracked global ad allocation. Can I Really Trust A Creator With My Brand? brought Sarah Ray (Commercial Director, Global) and Calfreezy of The Fellas Studios to the stage to put brand safety front and centre.
On the second day, the brand track included Beyond Attention, from Global’s DAX, which examined attribution models for advertising performance. Audio measurement and ad categorisation were handled in a game-show format by SoundStack, in collaboration with Sounds Profitable.
Video format across the programme
Emily Maitlis, a former BBC reporter and host of The News Agents, a Global production, described in her own session how she, Lewis Goodall and Jon Sopel started the show five years ago. According to Mumbrella, they initially thought they could record it at home in tracksuits, but decided from the first episode to invest in video. According to the same source, The News Agents ranks among the top 10 British podcasts, and in Australia it is distributed by iHeart under its global partnership with Global.
The video-first theme ran through the whole programme. The second day included a workshop on AI in podcasting sponsored by YouTube, a session on launching a podcast on YouTube with Vicky Etchells (Director of Podcasts, Global Studios) and Mairi Brewis from YouTube, and a session from Apple Podcasts on the video format with Susie Warhurst (Head of International, Apple Podcasts) and Laura Hagen (SVP Americas and Global Head of Agency Partnerships, Acast). In Cridland’s platform ranking, Apple remains first for overall podcast support, according to Mumbrella, while YouTube leads on analytics and competes with Spotify on discoverability.
A key illustration of the video-first format came in a session, sponsored by PAVE Studios, on how TV titles and star creators are building businesses in the video-first era, featuring Piers Morgan (host of Piers Morgan Uncensored) and Max Cutler, founder of PAVE Studios. Roman Mars, host of 99% Invisible, had his own session, A Life in Sound, with Fiona Sturges (Podcast Reviewer, BBC Culture), sponsored by BBC Studios and led by Richard Knight (Director of Audio, BBC Studios). Sony Music sponsored the Vulnerable Confessions session, in which Elizabeth Day and executive producer Alex Lawless went through the biggest failures of the show How to Fail. BetterHelp brought Spencer Matthews and Brittany Clevenger into a session on men’s mental health.
The creator economy got its own stage
Arcade, which runs the Creator First Stage, connects creator-led businesses with a brand perspective. The Sidemen, one of the most prominent British creator collectives, brought the logic of creator-led business, built on fandom and community, to the podcast festival. In a session on niche versus broad audience strategy, Schwarzenberger went through the returns of both approaches with creators. Jamie Laing, presenter and investor, arrived with a thesis on the battle for attention in a streaming-first environment. Alongside them sat Gary Lineker for Goalhanger, Piers Morgan for his own YouTube franchise, and Max Cutler of PAVE Studios, in a session on the business model of the video-first era.
The Fellas Studios brought Callum Calfreezy Airey, co-founder of the collective, and Elliot Hackney, its COO, to London. The Fellas, a studio of young UK creators, sat on the Brand Works panel on creator trust and, on Day 2, took part in the session on Podcast Shows at the FIFA World Cup 26, presented by Global Studios and hosted by Gabby Logan in conversation with Scott Melvin (CEO, The Overlap), Jamie Carragher (The Overlap), Calfreezy and Hackney.
Partners such as Patreon, which hosted its own sunset party and a Built to Last session on how creators turn community membership into revenue, also bring the infrastructure to support it. Layton’s advice on building community carries a concrete implication for how European brands allocate budget. Creator-led shows that hold a community were presented in London in 2026 as an alternative to aggregator platforms.
Day 2 focused on growth, football and transatlantic IP
Day 2 opened with The $1 Billion Question, sponsored by AudioUK, on where the next wave of growth will come from, with Chris Baughen (CEO, AudioUK), Vicky Etchells (Director of Podcasts, Global) and Christiana Brenton (CRO, FlightStory). The question of the next growth driver carried Glenday’s “base camp” phrase into a structural framing.
Sports podcasting got two slots. The Rest Is Football took Gary Lineker and the Goalhanger team on the journey from podcast to global show. Podcast Shows at the FIFA World Cup 26, with Gabby Logan, Scott Melvin, Jamie Carragher and the Fellas Studios team, framed the podcast layer around the upcoming World Cup, which takes place in the United States, Canada and Mexico in summer 2026.
International IP and distribution got a dedicated session, Selling Across The Atlantic, with Alexia Bedat (Klaris), Stephanie Wittels Wachs (Lemonada), Charlotte Wolf (Novel) and Grace Ross (Pushkin Industries). Acast presented its own session, Podcasting’s Future is Free-Flowing, with Glenday. Bauer hosted a monetisation session on why podcasts are not yet making money, with Bernard Achampong and Ayesha Taylor-Camara.
Brand Works Stage, networking and 120+ exhibitors
Show Me The Money was part of the wider Brand Works Stage, in partnership with IAB UK and Sounds Profitable. Alongside it ran the Origin Theatre (Global Studios and iHeartPodcasts), Ask The Experts (BetterHelp), the Creator Stage (Canon), the Indie Business Stage (AudioUK) and others. Among the more than 120 exhibitors were Apple, Netflix, BBC, YouTube and Sony.
The networking programme included the Official Podcast Show x Patreon Sunset Party, 5th Birthday Drinks, an Executive Networking Dinner, the Acast Arms Happy Hour, an Amazon Art19 Brunch and meetups for Latin America, South Asian and international podcasters. PodHouse sessions were hosted by Voxtopica, Arqiva, Transistor, Bumper, Spotify, Podscribe and The Audio Academy. Creator Advice Lab offered creators access to industry experts on production, monetisation, audience growth, legal, branding and video.
Ticket prices for the 2026 edition, according to the official ticketing page, were £395 for the Platinum Pass, £260 for the Gold 2-Day Pass and £145 for the Gold Day Pass.
EU rules arrive in under three months
Cridland’s warning about AI-generated audio content comes at a time when the regulatory framework is changing. The transparency obligations under Article 50 of the EU AI Act take effect on 2 August 2026. For AI-generated or AI-manipulated audio content, the framework applies to labelling, detectability and disclosure, especially where content may appear authentic or meets the definition of a deepfake. Practical standards are to be set out in the Code of Practice on marking and labelling of AI-generated content, which the AI Office is preparing. The Commission published a second draft in early March 2026, and the final version is expected by June.
For breaches of the relevant AI Act obligations, a penalty framework of up to €15 million or 3% of global annual turnover is cited. The concrete impact on podcast platforms will depend on interpretation and enforcement. For operators of platforms distributing podcasts in the EU, the 2 August 2026 date means the fifth London show came three months before the framework takes effect. Cridland made the point in his keynote without referring to Brussels, but the Podcast Index figures show why labelling AI content is becoming a practical problem.
What stands out from London
The London programme presented podcasting as a video-first industry that still keeps its audio identity. The international stage and the presence of European players such as Podimo, Acast and Bauer showed that pan-European monetisation and growth across languages were among the main themes of the edition. In the New Feeds metric, AI content already made up a larger share of Podcast Index’s new feeds than feeds marked “likely legitimate” in one specific 24-hour window, while the transparency obligations under Article 50 of the EU AI Act take effect on 2 August 2026. Acast’s Q1 2026 report showed that revenue per listen growth can offset only modest growth in listens themselves. According to its own announcement, Podimo has passed one million paying subscribers globally, and Arcade brought the logic of creator-led business, built on community, fandom and direct monetisation, to the podcast festival.
For a European brand director, the conclusion is simple. In 2026, audio cannot be separated from video distribution, the creator-led economy, data monetisation and the regulation of AI content. Over two days in May, London showed podcasting as infrastructure for attention, identity and commerce.
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