For several weeks, part of the podcast world has been worried about a quiet but costly problem: shows republished word for word, without their creators' consent, on other hosting platforms. On 10 November 2026, the trade newsletter Podnews announced the industry's first concrete response: Spreaker is committing to tougher checks, and four hosting companies have agreed to follow a code of practice on podcast migrations.
Copies that muddle listening and revenue
In late October, Podnews investigated the growing number of these duplicates. Many creators told it how frustrated they were: copies confuse listeners, split downloads, reduce advertising income and can even distort a show's chart position. The mechanism is simple: because an RSS feed is public, anyone can import it into another host and then monetise the episodes instead of the real publisher.
Spreaker's commitments
In a letter signed by John Rosso, President and CEO of Triton Digital, which owns Spreaker (a platform within the iHeartMedia family), the host points out that publishing and monetising unauthorised content is already banned under its terms of service. It also stresses that duplicates make up only a small share of the podcasts it hosts and that not all of them are illicit: a feed may be in the middle of a transfer, serve as a secondary feed with a different ad load, or be republished in order to appear in Spreaker's own player.
The platform nevertheless acknowledges that unauthorised copies exist and is announcing several additional safeguards:
- stronger reminders of its rules during sign-up and in monetisation emails;
- an email sent to the owner listed in the original feed as soon as a podcast is imported;
- a check before publication, using the Apple and Podcast Index publisher APIs, to see whether the feed already exists elsewhere;
- an extra approval step before monetisation for any feed flagged as a possible duplicate, including a search for a valid redirect.
These changes are due to be in place by the end of the year. Spreaker also says it respects the podcast:locked tag and plans to support it on the publishing side in the future.
A code of practice for migrations
Alongside this, Podnews has drafted, with industry players, a code of practice for hosts that offer to import shows from elsewhere. Its principles are deliberately few: respect the podcast:locked tag and support it yourself, alert the original creator by email when an import begins, and above all wait for the redirect. A legitimate migration relies on a 30x redirect from the old feed to the new one, which only the owner can set up: until it is confirmed, no monetisation and no automatic distribution to Apple or Spotify should be possible. RedCircle, RSS.com, Spreaker and Transistor have committed to applying it, and Podnews would like an industry body, such as the Podcast Standards Project, to take ownership of it.
What it means for web radio stations
Many web radio stations publish their programmes as podcasts: catch-up shows, features, interviews, mixes. They are therefore exposed to the same risk. A few simple habits help protect that content:
- switch on the podcast:locked tag with your host, where it is available;
- put an email address you actually check in the feed, so you are alerted if an import happens;
- regularly check Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other directories for duplicates of your shows;
- choose a host that has signed the code, or ask yours whether it plans to apply it.
For listeners, it is also a matter of trust: finding the right show, published by the right producer, rather than a copy stuffed with ads that do not benefit the people who made it.
Source : Podnews