The pace of change the podcast industry is undergoing is staggering. The implications for podcasters, hosting providers, podcast listening app developers, and advertisers and agencies are enormous. And so is the growth potential. Presented as a companion to the weekly newsletter of the same name, our podcast provides you with direct access to our narrated articles, interviews with industry experts, bleeding-edge research, and can't miss industry news recaps. That Sounds Profitable, right? Assumptions and conventional wisdom will be challenged. Easy answers with no proof of efficacy will be exposed. Because the thinking that got podcast advertising close to a billion dollars annually will need to be drastically overhauled to bring in the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars podcast advertising deserves.
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Today in the business of podcasting: Sport Social Podcast Network argues that sports podcasting has shifted from a complementary format to a defining part of how fans experience the 2026 FIFA World Cup, citing a new BBC Studios and NumberEight campaign that drove a 19% awareness lift for a U.S. hospitality brand. CoHost and Quill CEO Fatima Zaidi kicks off a new series by asking 10 founders what they would do differently in year one, drawing responses from industry figures including Oxford Road'...
This year at Cannes Lions, Sounds Profitable is a sponsor of the Little Black Book Beach! Our partners will receive up to 3 tickets for access to the beach all week. Be sure to fill out this Google Form so we can register you and your team for the beach! Also, we have a custom graphic generator for those looking to announce they’re headed to France in a couple of weeks with some flair. Tom Webster argues that LLMs have advanced faster than most people realize, and that pretending otherwise is ma...
Today in the business of podcasting: SiriusXM has struck a non-exclusive distribution and advertising deal with Fox's free streaming service Tubi, bringing popular video podcasts including Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend , Rotten Mango , and The School of Greatness to the platform starting in late June. The ANA's Q1 2026 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark finds a growing performance gap between top advertisers, who convert 54% of programmatic spend into quality impressions, and lower-performing pe...
Today in the business of podcasting: CoHost & Quill VP of Marketing Alison Osborne argues the podcast industry is solving the wrong measurement problem: B2B brands have moved past "how many downloads" and are now asking who is listening, whether the right audiences are finding the show, and whether those listeners are appearing in the sales funnel. Acast CEO Greg Glenday says brands are misallocating podcast ad spend by following genre assumptions rather than audience behavior, citing Acast ...
Grab your custom Cannes Lions attendee announcement graphic for free here! Today in the business of podcasting: A roundup of all the top stories from The Podcast Show London last week. New data from Sounds Profitable's Advertising Landscape 2025 study shows that AM/FM radio Primes and podcast Primes have only a 1.4% overlap, challenging the idea that the two formats compete for the same audience. Tom Webster argues that sellers holding both types of inventory are offering two nearly non-duplicat...
Today in the business of podcasting: The Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP), a 12-member task force organized by Oxford Road, is working to standardize podcast ad measurement and establish a universal definition of "podcast." The group plans to present its framework at Oxford Road's CAO Summit in Los Angeles in July 2026. New data from Sounds Profitable shows that the most engaged AM/FM radio listeners and the most engaged podcast listeners have only 1.4% overlap, making them nearly di...
Today in the business of podcasting: A new Signal Hill Insights Pulse Report, conducted in partnership with FlightStory, finds that 45% of monthly podcast consumers in the U.K. used a smart TV to listen to podcasts in the past month, making it the second most-used device behind smartphones and ahead of computers. More than half of video podcast viewers watch during prime time hours, suggesting video podcasting is becoming a living-room, prime-time television behavior in the U.K. NPR, its sponsor...
Make your own Cannes Lions announcement graphic! Sounds Profitable Partner Tom Webster breaks down data from the 2025 Advertising Landscape study showing that AM/FM radio Primes and podcast Primes overlap by just 1.4% of U.S. adults, arguing that the two media are not competitors but complementary channels reaching almost entirely different engaged audiences, and that combined inventory is worth more than either piece alone. Written by Tom Webster Edited and narrated by Gavin Gaddis Find the ful...
Today in the business of podcasting: The Podcast Show 2026 wrapped up in London with a wave of industry activity, including the debut of a new UK advertising landscape study from Sounds Profitable and Sound Insights showing podcast ad recall is at near-parity with broadcast television, plus analyst presentations, an annual Podcast Standards Project meetup, and a live episode of Podnews Weekly Review recorded on stage. RAJAR's MIDAS Spring 2026 survey found that 25% of UK adults listen to podcast...
This week in the business of podcasting: A new Sounds Profitable and Sound Insights study of 5,033 U.K. adults finds 43% of British adults listen to ad-supported podcasts monthly, with 79% of those listeners recalling a podcast ad in the past week at nearly equal rates across genders, offering a direct transatlantic comparison to the 2025 U.S. Advertising Landscape. Owl & Co's Global Podcast Economy Report finds the global podcast industry generated $9.2 billion in revenue in 2025, up 23% ye...
Today in the business of podcasting: Sounds Profitable and Sound Insights released The Advertising Landscape UK , the first large-scale study of how British audiences experience podcast advertising, finding that 43% of British adults listen to an ad-supported podcast monthly and 56% of those tune in daily or almost daily. Owl & Co's Global Podcast Economy Report finds the global podcast economy generated $9.2 billion in revenue in 2025, a 23% increase from 2024, with publishers who treated v...
Sounds Profitable and Sound Insights released the Advertising Landscape UK, the first large-scale study of how British audiences experience podcast advertising, benchmarked against 20+ other ad-supported platforms across 5,033 adults. Key findings include that 43% of British adults listen to ad-supported podcasts monthly, 79% recalled a podcast ad in the past week, 44% have made a purchase after hearing one, and ad-supported podcasting has outpaced broadcast TV among 18- to 24-year-olds. The UK'...
Today in the business of podcasting: Spotify is expanding its Verified by Spotify badge to podcast shows, adding a green checkmark to identify official creator, publisher, and brand presences on the platform based on listener activity, platform standing, and audience authenticity. The 2026 Podnews Report Card collected 779 pieces of community feedback on major podcast platforms, with YouTube reaching second place in the overall rankings for the first time, just behind Apple Podcasts and ahead of...
Today in the business of podcasting: Triton Digital's latest Podcast Report reveals that digital audio in the US has reached a market value equivalent to Brazil's entire digital ad industry, highlighting the growing scale of US podcast and streaming audiences. Global has launched a new premium video advertising format on YouTube, giving brands access to connected TV-style placements alongside the broadcaster's content, including the news podcast Up to Speed . Captivate has enabled HTTP Live Stre...
Today in the business of podcasting: Podcasters took center stage at the upfronts, as Amazon unveiled Oprah Winfrey's new Wondery podcast deal and YouTube's Brandcast event featured content announcements from major creators, with both platforms positioning video podcasting as a direct competitor for TV advertising budgets. Amplifi Media founder Steven Goldstein reports results from a NYU focus group study of AI-generated podcasts, which averaged a 2.3 out of 5 rating; students valued narrow-util...
This week in the business of podcasting: New data from the 2026 U.K. Advertising Landscape Study, conducted by Sound Insights for Sounds Profitable, finds that 79% of U.K. podcast listeners recall a podcast ad from the past week — a striking result in a country shaped by decades of ad-free BBC broadcasting, with recall essentially equal across men and women. A Reuters Institute report finds video is reshaping news podcasting at every level, from how shows are produced and discovered to how they ...
The episode announces Spotify's integration with five new hosting platforms for video podcasts and upcoming Apple Podcasts HLS support, enabling wider video distribution. It also reveals that podcasts significantly outperform other media in UK ad recall, particularly among young adults, countering a general trend of ad avoidance. Further insights include strong Q1 streaming profits, growing podcast listenership in the UK, and the success of Japan's inaugural PODCAST EXPO.
Today in the business of podcasting: Amazon Music has launched video podcasts for U.S. users on iOS and Android, starting with its ART19 platform and using HLS video delivered via the open alternate enclosure RSS tag. Amazon is not charging creators or networks for access, with plans to expand to additional partners later this summer. Magellan AI and Signal Hill Insights have partnered to deliver full-funnel podcast measurement by combining ad exposure data with brand lift studies, enabling more...
The upcoming 2026 UK Advertising Landscape Study finds podcasting breaks through baked-in ad avoidance in U.K. audiences. Register here for the Trust and Attention: Why Sports Media Wins (And How Brands Prove It) webinar this afternoon! A new Sounds Profitable UK Advertising Landscape Study finds that 47% of UK adults cannot recall a single brand from advertising they encountered in the past week, compared to 31% in the US, a gap the researchers attribute to the BBC's century-long commercial-fre...
Register here for tomorrow's Sounds Profitable and Locked On webinar! Today in the business of podcasting: PRX's 2025 annual report shows the nonprofit leaning deeper into podcasting to navigate federal public media funding cuts, with Radiotopia launching 18 seasons and specials and drawing 47.3 million downloads across the network. A new PodSEO analysis of 11 million keyword-ranking pairs on Apple Podcasts and Spotify finds both platforms still search like record stores, over-weighting keyword-...
Today in the business of podcasting: Register for Trust and Attention: Why Sports Media Wins (And How Brands Prove It) A new report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism finds that news podcast publishers are pivoting to video in response to audience demand and platform changes, while audience research shows that video and audio podcast consumers largely overlap. Publishers are also experimenting with hybrid revenue models — including live events, merchandise, and subscriptions ...
This week in the business of podcasting: Register here for the upcoming Trust and Attention: Why Sports Media Wins (And How Brands Prove It) webinar. New data from the 2026 UK Advertising Landscape Study shows that podcasting reaches 60% of UK adults aged 18 to 34 monthly, surpassing broadcast TV's 57% reach in that demographic. Sound Insights' Ben Robins argues that for media planners targeting UK adults under 45 at scale, podcasting is no longer a niche option. A case study from Transistor.fm ...
Register here for the Trust and Attention: Why Sports Media Wins (And How Brands Prove It) webinar! Today in the business of podcasting: New data from the 2026 UK Advertising Landscape Study shows podcasting already reaches more 18-to-34 year olds in the UK than broadcast TV, challenging the assumption that podcasting is a niche channel for media planners targeting younger audiences. A case study from Primary Technology shows that publishing video episodes on Apple Podcasts roughly doubled plays...
Today in the business of podcasting: New Sounds Profitable research finds 86% of podcast listeners consume clips on at least one platform, raising questions about paid clipping strategies and whether flooding social feeds with short-form content helps or hurts long-term audience growth. Signal Hill Insights' Paul Riismandel examines what it actually means to have a "hit" podcast, finding that even The Joe Rogan Experience — the #1 show on reach-based charts — reached only 20% of the U.S. podcast...
Guest writer Ben Robins analyzes new data from The 2026 UK Advertising Landscape Study. Register here for the Pod-Tails and Cocktails waitlist. A new study from Sounds Profitable and Sound Insights finds that podcasting reaches 60% of UK adults aged 18 to 34 monthly, outpacing broadcast TV's 57% reach in the same demographic. The 2026 UK Advertising Landscape Study, fielded with more than 5,000 UK adults and weighted to census, also finds that 35 to 54 year olds have the highest rate of "Prime" ...
Today in the business of podcasting: Podigee has launched video podcast distribution across YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify, making the feature available on every plan with no waitlist. Acast reported its first-ever profitable Q1, with 20% net sales growth overall and 43% organic growth in North America. Megaphone is transitioning its campaign management to the Spotify Ad Server starting July 15, 2026, enabling new video ad formats while removing third-party VAST serving. Radio Ink contribu...
Podcast Description Today in the business of podcasting: Bloomberg's Ashley Carman surveys the growing landscape of AI-generated podcasts, examining how hosting platforms like RSS.com are setting monetization guardrails and how Spotify is rolling out a new badge to authenticate real music artists. John Spurlock's HLS Podcast Radar tracks video podcasts using the alternate enclosure tag, which several hosting platforms support but Apple Podcasts does not, as Buzzsprout announces that its video di...
This week in the business of podcasting: Tom Webster of Sounds Profitable audited iHeartMedia radio stations across three mid-size U.S. markets and found that less than 4% of weekday airtime in Pittsburgh features locally produced content, while Indianapolis registers effectively zero. The research challenges the premise that a SiriusXM acquisition would meaningfully reduce local programming that, by most measures, has already disappeared. New S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows podcas...
Today in the business of podcasting: Tom Webster audits iHeartMedia station clusters in Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Salt Lake City and finds that locally originating programming makes up a tiny fraction of weekday airtime, while local advertising load remains far higher, reframing what a SiriusXM acquisition would actually affect. Amplitude Media Partners' Reggie Risseeuw breaks down recent Megaphone ad server updates, including new Priority Pre-Book campaign tools and a mandatory geotargeting...
Today in the business of podcasting: Libsyn has announced that video functionality is now available across all its hosting plans, with direct video distribution to Spotify — powered by the Spotify Distribution API — starting at $25 per month. Marketing firm JoneKiri is offering brand sponsorship opportunities for a live performance of Hanging with Doctor Z at Netflix Is a Joke Fest, with options ranging from organic product placement to full season four title sponsorship. Patreon has launched a ...
