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: Nielsen has integrated Triton Digital's Podcast Metrics Demos+ data into its Nielsen Media Impact planning platform, making it easier for advertisers to evaluate podcasts alongside other media channels with the same precision and comparability. Nielsen also launched Predictive Sales Lift, a new outcomes-based capability to help media buyers forecast sales lift for video ad campaigns on Nielsen One Ads. Spotify's Q1 2026 earnings show continued growth across t...
Today's episode details significant movements in the podcast industry, including potential merger talks between iHeartMedia and SiriusXM and new S&P Global data showing continued growth in US podcast consumption, especially with video integration. Spotify has launched new fitness features and Claude AI integration, while Spanish platform iVoox debuted a groundbreaking TV ad campaign. The episode also highlights Audion's $15 million US expansion and other industry news, such as Peabody Award winners and insights from podcast leaders.
This week in the business of podcasting: SiriusXM Media has become the exclusive audio advertising representative for YouTube in the United States, giving advertisers the ability to buy guaranteed audio ad impressions against YouTube audiences at scale for the first time through SiriusXM's combined ad technology stack. Sounds Profitable's new Audio Primes report, drawn from The Podcast Landscape 2025 , identifies the 22% of podcast consumers who listen to 75% or more of their shows as audio, and...
Today in the business of podcasting: Sounds Profitable's new Audio Primes report finds that 22% of podcast consumers listen to 75% or more of their episodes as audio-only — and 90% of them use YouTube, making them heavier consumers of video platforms than the average podcast listener while still choosing audio for podcasts. Beehiiv is expanding its creator platform with MCP-powered AI podcast analytics and a new webinar product that supports up to 10,000 attendees, positioning the platform as a ...
Today in the business of podcasting: SiriusXM Media has become the exclusive audio advertising representative for YouTube in the United States, giving advertisers access to guaranteed impressions against YouTube's audio audiences at scale for the first time. The deal connects YouTube to SiriusXM's broad ad sales infrastructure, which already spans Pandora and a wide network of podcast and streaming inventory. A new Radiocentre report, High Gain Audio , analyzed by WPP Media, finds that multiplat...
What platforms record and what podcast consumers are actually doing can be two different things. New research from Edison Research introduces "Audio Primes" — the 22% of podcast consumers who listen to 75% or more of their podcasts as audio — finding that this segment skews younger, more educated, and higher-earning than the average podcast listener, upending common assumptions about who chooses audio-first consumption. Ninety percent of Audio Primes use YouTube for podcast listening, but predom...
Today in the business of podcasting: Netflix Co-CEO, President and Director Ted Sarandos called out podcasting as a bright spot in the company's Q1 2026 earnings, noting that internal data shows video podcasts are driving incremental engagement, with particular strength in daytime viewing and on mobile devices. Adobe has deepened its partnership with Speechmatics by adding on-device speech-to-text transcription to its Premiere video editing suite, processing an hour of audio in about 55 seconds ...
Today in the business of podcasting: The IAB, in partnership with PwC, reports that digital audio ad spend reached a record $8.4 billion in 2025, a 10.2% year-over-year increase, with podcast advertising revenue climbing to $2.9 billion on 17.6% growth that outpaced the broader digital audio market. A Scalable newsletter analysis examines how Netflix's early video podcasting push has stalled, with the YouTube presence of major Netflix-exclusive shows beginning to atrophy as the platform makes no...
This week in the business of podcasting: Tom Webster previews the new Audio Primes 2026 report from Sounds Profitable, showing that audio-first podcast listeners are nearly twice as likely as video-first viewers to reject AI-generated voices in their favorite shows. The split suggests a widening gap in how synthetic audio is received across listening modes. Samba TV VP of Measurement Science Alyson Sprague debuts the company's first Netflix Podcast Ranker, drawn from smart-TV viewing data across...
Today in the business of podcasting: Tom Webster's new Sounds Profitable piece previews the Audio Primes report, which finds audio-first podcast listeners are notably less receptive to AI-generated voices in their favorite shows than their video-first counterparts, with Video Primes twice as likely to keep listening. YouTube is rolling out two new livestream ad behaviors: pausing ads for viewers who send Super Chats or virtual gifts, and automatically delaying ad breaks during peak chat activity...
A look at how audiences that consume media differently feel about AI generated voices. Sounds Profitable's new Audio Primes study reveals that podcast listeners who consume at least 75% of their content through audio are significantly more resistant to AI-generated voices than their video-first counterparts, with 48% of Audio Primes saying they would be less likely to continue listening compared to only 40% of Video Primes. The research, drawn from The Podcast Landscape 2025, introduces a new mi...
Today in the business of podcasting: Magellan AI has published a case study with American Public Media showing how podcast attribution data transformed APM's advertiser conversations and helped the organization achieve its strongest digital sales performance since 2021. The study makes the case for treating podcasts and streaming audio as measurable, accountable components of the media mix rather than discretionary brand-spend. Ad Results Media has released a new Playbook on navigating the Netfl...
Today in the business of podcasting: The podcast industry is in another M&A cycle, but today's buyers look different from those who drove acquisitions in the pre-pandemic era. Rather than investing in podcasting infrastructure, companies like OpenAI, The Chernin Group, and Fox Entertainment are acquiring shows that have proven they can leverage their audiences — reflecting the medium's shift from speculative asset to established media property. Oxford Road's ORBIT data shows 80% of the top 1...
Today in the business of podcasting: Register for Audio Primes: The People Who Listen to Podcasts . The Podcast Show London 2026 will take place May 20 and 21 at the Business Design Centre in Islington, with Global and iHeartPodcasts returning as headline partners. Global's presence will spotlight its newly launched Global Studios division, focused on premium podcast and digital content creation. Samba TV has published its first Netflix Podcast Ranker, revealing that 13% of U.S. Netflix househol...
Today in the business of podcasting... Sounds Profitable's Bryan Barletta reflects on the company's two-day Business of Podcasting space at Advertising Week Europe, where nearly 450 attendees gathered across 16 panels, arguing that podcasting has earned its place in mainstream media conversations and must now show up in the rooms where broader advertising decisions are made. Sport Social Podcast Network's Jim Salveson makes the case for sports podcasting as a commercial and editorial extension o...
Today in the business of podcasting... Sounds Profitable's Bryan Barletta reports that the Business of Podcasting programming track at Advertising Week Europe drew nearly 450 unique attendees across 16 panels, a signal that mainstream advertisers are actively seeking out podcasting expertise on their own. Barletta argues that podcasting's reach, with 55% of Americans listening monthly per Sounds Profitable's Podcast Landscape 2025 report, now warrants a commensurate presence in the rooms where m...
With podcasting having arrived at the mainstream, it’s time for the industry to be in the rooms where decisions are made. Podcasting has reached mainstream status, with 55% of Americans consuming a podcast monthly, and industry leaders are now expanding their presence beyond podcast-specific events into major global advertising and marketing conferences. Sounds Profitable is driving this growth by placing podcasting content at high-profile venues like SXSW, Advertising Week Europe, and Cannes Li...
Today in the business of podcasting: Soros Fund Management is leading an investment round in MeidasTouch Network, the progressive media company behind The MeidasTouch Podcast. The move follows prior Soros investments in podcast-related companies including Audacy and Crooked Media. Marketing agency Right Side Up has published a newsletter revisiting its generative engine optimization (GEO) framework, outlining how brands can improve their visibility in AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT...
Today in the business of podcasting: YouTube is rolling out new TV features including Stations (a FAST-style 24/7 channel hub), TV Companion (phone-to-TV interactivity), and voice-enabled Ask chatbot support on smart TVs. Despite sports podcasting's success in the U.S., sports podcasts barely register in Latin America's Spotify charts, but Genuina Media's David R. González sees the 2026 FIFA World Cup as a major growth opportunity for LatAm sports podcasters and advertisers. Spotify has launched...
Today in the business of podcasting: Red Seat Ventures has launched Speakeasy, an all-in-one podcast hosting, distribution, and monetization platform supporting RSS, HLS, and video formats. CEO Chris Balfe says the platform addresses the growing complexity of podcast distribution beyond the traditional RSS feed. Sports podcast audiences show stronger athlete loyalty than general sports fans, with 76% of sports podcast listeners continuing to follow traded athletes versus 51% of general fans, per...
This week in the business of podcasting: beehiiv has launched podcast hosting and monetization, letting newsletter creators consolidate their audio content into one platform with IAB compliant infrastructure and built-in growth tools. New Sounds Profitable research reveals that podcast discovery relies heavily on algorithmic amplification, leaving moderate and centrist audiences without the institutional infrastructure needed to bring them into the medium. A 2025 survey shows podcast listenershi...
Beehiiv has launched integrated podcast hosting and monetization, positioning audio as a core product pillar. New research from Sounds Profitable reveals that 25% of Americans who haven't listened to podcasts skew politically centrist, a group poorly reached by algorithmic platforms. Additionally, Spotify's programmatic ad platform saw significant growth, though media buyers still favor direct deals for host-read ads, alongside various other industry announcements.
This week in the business of podcasting: Ben Robins shares his takeaways from Advertising Week Europe, arguing the podcast advertising industry is data-rich but insight poor. Sounds Profitable's Tom Webster will debut the 2026 UK Advertising Landscape Study at The Podcast Show London in May. Spotify has launched interactive carousel ads and branded playlist takeovers for advertisers, adding A/B testing and automated bidding to its Ads Manager platform. A federal judge has issued an injunction bl...
Podcast holdouts aren’t missing content. They’re missing a signal strong enough to cut through the platforms they already use—and moderate voices can’t generate that signal. Why do politically moderate and center-right Americans make up a disproportionate share of podcast holdouts, even as right-leaning shows dominate the charts? Data from The Last Quarter reveals that the gap isn't about ideology or content, but about discovery architecture: the platforms conservative audiences rely on surface ...
This week in the business of podcasting: Beehiiv Enters Podcasting: Newsletter platform Beehiiv is quietly recruiting independent podcasters from Substack to join its upcoming podcast program, with a full launch expected this week. Podnews Weekly Review will feature an exclusive interview with Beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk this Friday. JAR Podcast Solutions Launches JAR Replay: JAR Replay is a new podcast audience retargeting tool that uses listening signals to serve Visual Audio ads to recent podcast ...
The episode provides an overview of the latest developments in the podcast industry. It highlights the release of Podcast Movement Evolutions videos, significant growth in Japan's podcast listenership, and the tracking of HLS video podcast adoption. Key discussions also include the shift in advertising towards "always-on" buying at IAB NewFronts and Versant's reported interest in acquiring Vox Media's podcast network, alongside a rapid-fire round-up of other industry news.
This week in the business of podcasting: Apple launched its new HLS video experience for Apple Podcasts with the iOS 26.4 update, bringing full video podcast support to iPhones — with hosting platforms Podspace, Riverside, Ausha, and Firstory joining the growing list of supported services. Sounds Profitable's Tom Webster debuts new research on podcasting's "last quarter" — the 25% of American adults who have never listened to a podcast — revealing a Spanish-language opportunity, a word-of-mouth ...
Today in the business of podcasting: Apple Podcasts Video Launch: Apple released iOS 18.4 with HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) support for Apple Podcasts video, with 48 podcasts available at launch including 31 hosted on Acast, though macOS and Apple TV support is not yet available. FIFA World Cup 2026 Podcast Advertising Opportunity: With $10.5 billion in incremental global ad spend forecast during the 2026 FIFA World Cup quarter, brands are expanding beyond live match broadcasts into companion media...
Today in the business of podcasting... Podcast Audience Growth & Non-Listener Research: Tom Webster's new Podcast Landscape data reveals that the 25% of U.S. adults who have never listened to a podcast are best reached via YouTube and Facebook, and respond better to topic-driven messaging than format or technology-focused promotion. Apple Podcasts HLS Video Distribution Update: Apple's iOS 26.4 update expands HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) video podcast support, adding hosting platforms Podspace,...
Click here to read the report. A look at who makes up the 25% of U.S. adults who have never consumed a podcast. Tom Webster examines the 25% of U.S. adults who have never listened to a podcast, drawing on data from a 5,000-person Podcast Landscape study. The holdouts skew older, female, and lower-income, with key barriers including lack of awareness, format misperceptions, and limited word-of-mouth in homogeneous communities. Webster identifies actionable strategies for podcast discovery and aud...
