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Holiday weeks, news pegs, members-only drops: the British podcast back catalogue has quietly become a second feed. We map who repeats what, when, and what the choice tells you about a show's health.
From Shure SM7Bs in Goalhanger's edits to the BBC's heritage Neumanns, the kit choices behind Britain's most-listened-to podcasts reveal a craft most listeners never hear named.
From Adam Buxton's rambling sponsor riffs to Steven Bartlett's full minute on a mattress, British podcasts have quietly made the host read the bit listeners remember — and the bit advertisers fight over.
The bit you fast-forward through is the bit that has been agonised over. Eight popular British podcasts, compared on what they actually do in their first eight seconds, and why the theme tune is now the most valuable piece of branded audio in your feed.
From The News Agents to Goalhanger's sleep shows, British producers are quietly settling on a mastering compromise between BBC broadcast standards and the way you actually listen — on a bus, with one AirPod, at 8.07 in the morning.
Podcast cover art has to win a tap at the size of a postage stamp. We compare eight British shows and the design decisions that survive — or vanish — when the artwork shrinks to a phone-screen tile.