Eurowaves Celebrates International Podcast Day with “Best of European Podcasts 2026 (So Far)” and a Sponsored Subscriber Survey; Nigerian Podcast Index Released With 2026 Industry Report
Eurowaves, the biweekly newsletter covering podcasting across Europe, is marking International Podcast Day with two initiatives for the community: a curated list of the best European podcasts of 2026 so far, and a subscriber survey sponsored by Captivate, Beamly and Convia.
Built from recommendations by more than 25 contributors across the European podcast industry, The Best of European Podcasts 2026 (So Far) list celebrates shows that define the medium. It features podcasts made by European creators, podcasts telling European stories, and podcasts from creators based in Europe. The list crosses languages, borders, and formats, and acts as a starting point for listeners looking for their next favorite show.
“European podcasting deserves its own spotlight on International Podcast Day. It’s a global celebration that gives local storytelling and voices the opportunity to shine. This curation serves as a reminder for podcasters everywhere to keep an eye out beyond their borders for inspiration,” said Andreea Coscai, Founder and Writer at Eurowaves.
“With language transcription through AI, European podcasts can be translated to English for the U.S. audience, offering those consumers some of the best podcasts in the world,” says Eurowaves Advisory Board Member Frank Racioppi of Ear Worthy.
Along with the list, Eurowaves is launching a subscriber survey to better understand the community’s profile and needs. The survey is open now and runs through October 15, 2026.
Every participant is entered into a random draw, and Eurowaves will announce the winners in the October 15 issue of Eurowaves. Thanks to the survey’s sponsors, participants can win:
*One year of Captivate Personal, plus five hours of Captivate Assistant. Built for growth-focused podcasters, Captivate brings hosting, distribution, IAB-certified analytics, marketing, monetization, and workflow tools together in one easy-to-use platform.
*A one-year Beamly subscription. Beamly is the all-in-one platform for your podcast and everything around it. Host or sync your show, launch a branded website, distribute to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more, and monetize with memberships, private feeds, and digital products, all with 0% platform fees.
*90 days of Convia Studio Professional. Convia Studio is the story layer between recordings and platforms. One conversation becomes a coordinated campaign across LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and more, in your voice, without the copy-paste marathon. Convia helps you
tell a story. In addition to the prize, every Eurowaves survey participant gets 30 days free on any Convia plan, double the standard trial.
Eurowaves subscribers can complete the survey at https://form.typeform.com/to/kRbdnzMM before October 15, 2026. Not yet a subscriber? Sign up for free at eurowaves.eu to read the full
Best of European Podcasts list and fill in the survey.
Eurowaves is a biweekly newsletter covering the European podcasting industry — interviews with industry professionals, reviews, recommendations from European podcasters, and the events and opportunities you actually need to know about. Andreea Coscai writes it, and it lives on Substack. It’s read in countries across the continent and counts more than two thousand podcasters, producers, and audio professionals among its subscribers.
About the Sponsors
Growth-focused podcasters, Captivate brings hosting, distribution,
IAB-certified analytics, marketing, monetization, and workflow tools together in one easy-to-use platform. Learn more at captivate.fm.
Beamly — The all-in-one podcast platform for hosting, branded websites, distribution, and 0% platform-fee monetization. Learn more at beamly.com.
Convia — Convia Studio turns podcast recordings into coordinated, on-voice campaigns across social platforms. Learn more at conviapro.com.
Nigerian Podcast Index 2026: Catalog Nearly Doubles to 604 Shows as Sustainability Challenges Deepen
New industry report reveals 83% growth in indexed podcasts while active publishing rate falls from 73% to 44% — spotlighting a creation boom that outpaces sustainability.
The Nigerian Podcast Index (NPI) today released its 2026 Industry Report, documenting 604 Nigerian and Nigerian-diaspora podcasts — an 83% increase from the 329 shows recorded in 2025. Released on International Podcast Day, the report offers the most comprehensive year-on-year analysis of Africa’s largest English-language podcast ecosystem.
“Creation has scaled. Sustainability has not kept pace. That is the central story the 2026 data tells,” said Tony Onwuchekwa (Tony Doe), founder of the Nigerian Podcast Index and author of the report. “We now have a much larger catalog, but more than half of indexed shows are on hiatus. Nigerian podcasting continues to generate starts far more readily than it sustains runs.”
KEY FINDINGS
• Catalog growth: 604 shows indexed in 2026 versus 329 in 2025 (+83%). Absolute active shows rose modestly from 241 to 268.
• Active rate collapse: Only 44.4% of shows are classified Active, down from 73.3% in 2025. 55.3% are now on hiatus.
• Platform concentration: Spotify for Creators hosts 385 shows (63.7% of the Index), up from roughly 59% a year earlier. African-native platforms account for only ~3.5%.
• Diaspora expansion: Diaspora-produced shows grew to approximately 97 (16% of the Index), nearly tripling from ~36 in 2025.
• Content landscape: Society & Culture (172), Religion & Spirituality (108), and Business (73) remain the dominant categories. True crime, comedy, and indigenous-language content remain
under-represented.
• Contactability gap: Only 60.4% of shows list a contact email; 24.3% provide neither email nor social handle — a persistent barrier for brands, researchers, and platforms.
The report notes that while the long tail of hosting platforms has lengthened (36+ distinct hosts), the center of gravity has not shifted. Free, low-friction onboarding continues to dominate, leaving most creators without access to professional measurement, monetization and
partnership infrastructure.
English remains the overwhelming language of production (approximately 93%), with a small but culturally significant indigenous-language layer including Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa shows that perform important cultural-preservation work.
“Nigerian podcasting is wide, expressive and culturally ambitious. It is also fragile, platform-dependent and structurally immature,” Tony added. “The medium is being asked to carry evangelism, community-building, language preservation, financial literacy, diaspora identity work and political conversation — often with little institutional support. Visibility is necessary; it is not sufficient.”
ABOUT THE REPORT
The Nigerian Podcast Index Industry Report 2026 is an independent analysis based on the NPI dataset of 604 verified shows. Status, platform, language, category, and location fields were assessed at the time of analysis. The full report, including methodology notes and summary statistics, is available at nigerianpodcastindex.com.
ABOUT THE NIGERIAN PODCAST INDEX
The Nigerian Podcast Index is the most comprehensive publicly available catalog of Nigerian and Nigerian-diaspora podcasts. Founded and maintained by Tony Onwuchekwa (Tony Doe), it serves researchers, publishers, brands, platforms, and creators seeking a clearer picture of the
ecosystem. The Index is independently curated and is not a ranking or chart platform.
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Check out books by Frank Racioppi. Everything from novels and nonfiction to podcasting books and essays. Coming in 2027: The Best Independent Podcasts Of 2027
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