The listeners decided. No jury, no panel — just 750,000 votes.
On a Tuesday evening in Paris, the Grand Rex — a cinema that has hosted everything from film premieres to rock concerts — filled with the particular energy of an industry that has spent years arguing about whether it counts as an industry. Eight hundred creators and professionals took their seats alongside four hundred fans, and for a few hours, the question of who actually matters in podcasting had a simple answer: the listeners.
This was the first French edition of the Spotify Podcast Awards, a fan-voted ceremony that Spotify launched in Mexico the previous year and has now carried across the Atlantic. The host for the evening was Pablo Mira, a comedian and columnist who also happens to make his own podcast — a fitting choice for a night that kept blurring the line between audience and creator.
The crowd itself was worth noting. Among those in attendance were actress and internet personality Paola Locatelli, musician and DJ Kiddy Smile, television presenter David Castello-Lopes, and singer Romy. Camélia Jordana, the French singer and actress, did not just attend — she performed, giving the ceremony a live music dimension that pushed it closer to a proper cultural event than a trade gathering.
What made the awards structurally unusual is that no jury, editorial panel, or industry committee decided the winners. Every category was settled by listener votes cast directly on Spotify, and by the time the ceremony arrived, more than 750,000 votes had been counted across eleven categories. That number is not incidental — it is the whole argument the event is making about where authority in media now lives.
The winners reflected the range of what French podcasting has become. Sophie-Marie Larrouy's show À bientôt de te revoir took the Fan Favorite prize, the category that perhaps carries the most weight given the voting format. Hugo Décrypte, whose Actus et Interviews has made him one of the most recognizable news voices among younger French audiences, won both Show of the Year for Male Host and News Show of the Year — a double that underscores how thoroughly he has come to define a certain kind of accessible, personality-driven journalism. Chloé Gervais won Show of the Year for Female Host for Hot Girls Only, while Konbini's Small Talk took the Media category. The talk show prize went to 4 Quarts d'Heure.
The video categories, which reflect how podcasting has migrated toward YouTube and visual platforms, went to Lena Situations for her show COUCH and to Ranelle Brown's Allô Ranelle for Video Revelation of the Year. In crime and horror, Maghla's Flippe & Go Sleep won its category. The pop culture prize went to Popcorn.
The evening also made a point of acknowledging the producers, editors, sound designers, and bookers who rarely appear in any frame — the people whose work shapes what listeners actually hear, even if their names don't appear in the show title.
The timing carries some weight. Spotify notes that it has been a decade since podcasts first appeared on the platform, and in 2025 alone, listeners in France streamed more than 208 million hours of podcast content. That figure suggests the medium is no longer a niche habit but something closer to a daily fixture for a significant portion of the population.
Whether the awards themselves become a fixture is the next question. The Mexico edition established the template; the Paris edition tested whether it travels. With 750,000 votes cast and the Grand Rex packed, Spotify has its answer for now — and other European markets are presumably watching.
Notable Quotes
A decade after podcasts launched on Spotify, the medium continues to play a central role in culture and entertainment in France.— Spotify
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why hold a ceremony at all? Couldn't Spotify just announce the winners online?
They could, and the numbers would still mean something. But a room full of people changes what the numbers feel like. It turns a data point into an event.
The voting — 750,000 votes across eleven categories. Is that a lot for France?
For a country of 68 million, it's not a mass phenomenon. But for a podcast audience, it suggests real engagement. These aren't passive listeners clicking a button by accident.
Hugo Décrypte winning two categories — what does that tell us?
That news, done in a certain register, travels. He's built something that feels personal without being frivolous. Young French audiences found that combination and stuck with it.
The video categories are interesting. Podcasting and video seem like opposites.
They used to be. Now the distinction is mostly about where you're consuming — commute versus couch. The content is often the same conversation, just with a camera running.
Camélia Jordana performing at a podcast awards ceremony — that's an odd pairing.
Or it's exactly right. She's someone who moves between music, film, and public conversation. She fits the space podcasting is trying to occupy.
The behind-the-scenes acknowledgment — is that genuine or ceremonial?
Probably both. But naming it matters. Production work in audio is genuinely invisible in a way that film crew credits aren't, and the industry knows it.
Mexico first, then France. Where does this go next?
Wherever Spotify's podcast listenership is growing fastest and where there's enough of a creator ecosystem to fill a room. Germany, Brazil, the UK — any of them make sense.