The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) held its inaugural podcast upfront event yesterday in New York City. Among the presenters at the event were representatives from the Panoply podcast network, Midroll Media, ESPN, CBS’s podcast network Play.It, WNYC and NPR. The presenters used the event to sell advertisers and media buyers on the viability of podcasts as an advertising platform and showcase some of their new and upcoming podcast programming. Here are a few of the announcements from the event of interest to podcast fans:

• Panoply announced a couple of new shows, one of which was released yesterday. Getting In will be a year long podcast about the process of college admissions. The podcast is hosted by Julie Lythcott-Haims, former dean of freshmen at Stanford, and the first episode is now available. New episodes will be released weekly. Panoply also announced it is partnering with Vox to develop a new policy and politics podcast hosted by Vox editor-in-chief Ezra Klein.

• Midroll Media, the parent company of the Earwolf and Wolfpop networks and advertising network for hundreds of podcasts including WTF, The Nerdist and Star Talk Radio, announced it has signed a deal to produce handle ad sales for a new podcast hosted by sports commentator and podcaster Bill Simmons. Simmons, who worked for ESPN and hosted The B.S. Report podcast until last May, recently announced on Twitter that he would be returning to podcasting in October. A Midroll representative indicated while Midroll’s deal with Simmons closed only very recently, the company is already well into selling advertising for the show. There’s still no indication of what the new podcast will be called.

• Interestingly enough, ESPN’s presentation followed immediately after Midroll’s. While the sports network did not reveal any new shows, it did announce a new “Listen” portion of the ESPN app that will make ESPN’s large library of podcasts easily accessible through the app. 

• Finally, CBS announced its Play.it podcast network has partnered with Cosmopolitan to create a new podcast called Cosmo Happy Hour, set to launch next week. The new weekly podcast will be hosted by Cosmopolitan.com’s social media director, Elisa Benson, and promises to feature discussions with Cosmo editors and guest celebrities on topics “from pop culture and sex to fashion.” CBS also took the opportunity to highlight several recently launched podcasts, including Rap Radar, which quickly became one of the most popular music podcasts after its release last month, and The Tom Green Radio Show, hosted by comedian Tom Green.

Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously indicated Midroll Media will be producing Bill Simmons’ new podcast. Midroll’s deal with Simmons is limited to handling advertising sales for the podcast.

Sources: IAB, CBS Radio