“Giggly Squad” gets iHeart’s podcast of the year

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• The winners of the iHeart Podcast Awards 2026 were announced. Podcast of the year went to Acast’s Giggly Squad. The show was hosted by Ego Nwodim, and three Icon Awards were also given out, to Jay Shetty, Terry Gross and Hrishikesh Hirway.
• A new US tax change could be good news for podcasters, says Ralph V Estep Jr, but it could also be confusing. Today, with the Podcast Professionals Association, he writes for Podnews: No Tax on Tips: What Podcasters Must Know Now - detailing the new tax rule that might mean meaningful money, as long as you do it right.
• In Australia, the Australian Podcast Ranker was released for February. There have been two enhancements to Demos+, allowing media buyers to see top indexing podcasts by audience composition, and an enhanced category ranker. The full ranker shows Mamamia Out Loud as retaining the #1 slot. Three smart-speaker bulletins are also in the top 10 - ABC News Top Stories, Sky News Australia Update, and The Update from NOVA.

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Image: Ismael Quintanilla III for iHeartMedia