What's New September 4, 2025

Winners, grinners and good problems to have as RadioDays Asia wraps up

Sarah Patterson

Reporter

Radioinfo's Steve Ahern with 2025 Asia Podcast Award winners

After a jam-packed three days, Radiodays Asia 2025 has wrapped up in Indonesia.

The event opened on Monday at the Hotel Aryaduta Menteng in Jakarta with a round of educational workshops.

The event drew a strong Australian radio contingent, with the ACE Radio team (pictured above) among those in attendance.

Among those to deliver keynote sessions during the week was Corey Layton, Head of Digital Audio at ARN’s iHeart.

Of Australia’s audio landscape, Layton said “We are facing a good problem to have … growth.”

With more offerings and platforms available for people to use, Layton reported a 182% rise in the amount of audio being consumed every single day.

He explained that some of us stream music to ‘escape’ or calm down, while others might use it to hype them up.

“Audio formats help radio music streamers and podcasts deliver specific content to match the different needs of listeners at times of day or periods in their life.”

Since 2013, when ARN introduced the iHeart brand to Australia, the company has aimed to deliver “precision targeting and deep integration” for its audience.

Layton noted that 584 million people around the world now listen to podcasts each month.

“Podcasts are no longer experimental, brands can now no longer ignore this audio platform. Daily time spent with podcasts has more than doubled over the past 8 years. In Asia audiences spend about 1 hour per day with podcasts.”

And podcasts are no longer just about audio.

“Audio brings intimacy, but video adds discoverability and new monetisation possibilities. The opportunity is huge, so most podcasts also now include video.”

Yesterday, radio futurologist and Podnews Editor James Cridland was among the featured speakers at Podcast Day Asia, which looked at listening trends from across the globe.

The final day of the event also saw the 2025 Asia Podcast Awards winners announced.

You can find the full list of winners here.