The latest from our daily newsletter at podnews.net with Riverside. We start with some breaking news for you today. Subscription-based podcast and audiobook company Podimo has hit 1 million paid global subscribers. The company's just announced. The five-year-old company is profitable in three of its markets and operates in Europe and Latin America. Audiochuck, the podcast company run by Ashley Flowers, has received $40 million in investment from the churning group.
The company turned a profit of $45 million last year. According to Bloomberg, she's looking to expand her stuff to 130. Dan Bongino, who had Donald Trump on his podcast before the election, has been named the deputy director of the FBI. The Dan Bongino show does around 322,000 downloads per episode, as well as being syndicated across radio stations in the U.S. as a replacement for Rush Limbaugh.
Cumulus Media say that they extend their heartfelt congratulations and tell us that his last show will be Friday, March the 14th. Evergreen Podcasts and Rhapsody Voices have announced a new partnership with Airship. We can exclusively reveal today and the IP acquisition of its American Criminal podcast. Podsites will reveal the Quarter 4 2024 performance benchmark report. In a webinar this week, attendees will get the new data a week before everyone else. It's free to sign up.
One piece of information we've gleaned for you. Promo codes and vanity URLs only capture around 15% of podcast-driven conversions. Those podcast ads are driving much more impact than anyone would realise. YouTube is planning a premium light tier for viewers in the U.S., Australia, Germany and Thailand. It'll offer most programming, says Bloomberg reporter Ashley Carman, including podcasts without ads. Music videos will still include ads, though.
And as a Podnews reader, we've got you a special 25% off discount on Ashley's Soundbite newsletter, and the rest of the company's tech newsletters for a whole year, you'll find a link in our show notes and our newsletter at podnews.net. The British Podcast Awards are now open for entry. Among the new categories is a Video Innovation Award for outstanding visual podcasting, including editing, production and audience engagement in a video format.
Eurowaves has launched a Google Group of European podcasters, and it's celebrating its 200th member already. If you're into podcasts in Europe, it's free to join. Archives and new performance samples from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop are now available for purchase. The unit was responsible for music and sound effects from Doctor Who to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. More than 1,000 sounds are available in a plug-in. We link to a little bit more history today as well.
Audio ads grew by 17.8% in Australia, says the IAB in a new report today. The market is now $313 million Australian dollars. That's $200 million US. Who are the people behind the Meidas Touch podcast? The Daily Beast digs into one of the shows that's dethroned Joe Rogan to be number one. iHeart's payment of $961,000 to Ted Cruz's Super PAC was all fine, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Even though Cruz went to iHeart for meetings and hosted the show three times a week, he never thought to ask where the money was going, says the FEC, and that's all fine with them. The Journal of Radio and Audio Media has issued a call for papers about the turn to podcasts as a mass campaign medium. And Amplifi Media's Steve Goldstein talks to Cumulus Media's Pierre Bouvard about how podcasting can reach $5 billion. It's a Monday, so time for some tech stuff.
And Apple Podcasts has officially supported its second Podcasting 2.0 feature. The new Claim Your Show tool, which is used also to transfer show ownership from one account to another, uses the podcast:txt feature to put a token within a podcaster's RSS feed. Yet Apple Podcasts has also launched its own proprietary tag to achieve the same thing. itunes:applepodcastsverify.
And it's the first time the company has produced an alternative tag of its own to go alongside an open tag from the Podcasting 2.0 project. The podcast:transcript tag doesn't have an iTunes alternative, so we're unclear quite why Apple has chosen two duplicate tags here. And in podcast news, White Smoke, the path to a new Pope, is new today.
Examining the carefully preserved ceremonies, protocols and traditions that have guided papal transitions throughout history, it uses AI, as does this. From the Telegraph in the UK, Ukraine, the latest. It's to publish in both English and using AI Ukrainian from today. The AI tool has been developed by the Telegraph and will retain the cadence and nuances of the original presenters. And this podcast is sponsored by Riverside.
Create studio quality recordings, edit in seconds and repurpose effortlessly. All with Riverside's latest updates. Trusted by top podcasters and brands like Tim Ferriss, Ali Abdaal and Spotify, it's their go-to creation platform. Try Riverside today and grow your podcast. There's a link in the show notes. And that's the latest from our newsletter. To read all the stories and subscribe for free, we're at podnews.net.