Spotify Debuts Carousel Ads, Podcasting April Fools' Jokes, & More

This week in the business of podcasting:

• Ben Robins shares his takeaways from Advertising Week Europe, arguing the podcast advertising industry is data-rich but insight poor. Sounds Profitable's Tom Webster will debut the 2026 UK Advertising Landscape Study at The Podcast Show London in May.
• Spotify has launched interactive carousel ads and branded playlist takeovers for advertisers, adding A/B testing and automated bidding to its Ads Manager platform.
• A federal judge has issued an injunction blocking the Trump administration's executive order cutting federal funding for NPR and PBS, though the operational impact remains uncertain as an appeal is expected.
• Podcast brands get into the April Fools' spirit: Noiser, Airship, and Magellan AI turn a History Daily episode into a 1572-themed ad experiment, while Headliner announces "Full Circle," a tool that converts video back into video.
• Podnews is accepting submissions for its fifth annual podcast platform report card through April 30, with results to be presented at The Podcast Show London in May.

To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.