¶ Intro / Opening
This is the download recap from Sounds Profitable, the most important news from this week and why it matters to people in the business of podcasting. I'm Gavin Gaddis.
The download recap is brought to you by Podscribe, which you can find out more at Podscribe.com. This week, stories I have for you include serious about wellness, unlock the power of purpose-driven podcasting, how podcasting can cover demographic blind spots, coming from CAN, which is a roundup of all the CAN-related coverage I've got this week, and YouTube, you distribute, because we've had a couple of articles about distributing YouTube stuff.
¶ Report on Health & Wellness Podcasts
elsewhere. Let's get started. This week, Sounds Profitable published a new report sponsored by SiriusXM Media and SiriusXM Podcast Network. The study looks at data from the advertising landscape 2025 with a specific focus on two of podcasting's fastest growing segments, self-improvement and health and fitness.
In the overall advertising landscape survey, respondents were asked which podcast genres they had consumed in the past 30 days. Self-improvement scored 22% and health and fitness scored just below at 21%. The two also share significant overlap as 45% of health and fitness consumers also consume self-improvement and 44% in the other direction. While advertising can...
While advertising to both audiences at the same time can reinforce frequency, the two audiences are also demographically different enough that it would reinforce reach. Health and fitness consumers tend to be older, more established audiences with higher income and education completion. Meanwhile, self-improvement podcast consumers are younger and more diverse with a higher Hispanic representation.
than health and fitness. The two blocks have nearly identical weekly engagement percentage, 74% versus 73%, and above average weekly listen time. All of which is to say an advertiser buying both audiences is buying into extremely complimentary and growing segments of podcasting.
¶ Podcasting Fills Demographic Blind Spots
Next up, let's talk about how podcasting can cover demographic blind spots. This is an article from Tom Webster this week about a table of data that has sat with him. from Advertising Landscape Survey of 5,000 plus respondents covering consumers of 22 different ad-supported media channels. The data showcases answers to the question, without looking anything up, please list up to three brands or products you remember seeing.
We're hearing advertised in the past week. The results in the table show brands with strong digital and social ad platforms tend to skew heavily towards younger demographics. But building those healthy platforms have also created blind spots in their media mix. And for some companies, that's happened in the opposite direction, such as insurance brands like Liberty Mutual having good recall with 55 plus age demographic. But...
lower recall amongst 18 to 34 year olds. Podcasting offers the solution to these blind spots with the ability to reach engaged audiences across all groups. Here's a quote from Tom Webster, quote, This is where podcasting's unique consumption model becomes transformative. Unlike the scroll and skip behavior that defines the most digital media, podcast listeners actively choose to spend 30, 45, or even 60 seconds.
with content they care about. They're not multitasking through a feed or waiting for a video to load. They're leaning in. And when a host they trust takes 60 seconds to tell them about a product or service, that's 60 seconds of genuine
¶ Lessons and Insights from Cannes
undivided attention. End quote. All right, it's time for a Can Lion Roundup. Can Lion was a busy event, and we've got a lot to talk about. First up... Our very own Brian Barletta was at the event, and he ended up being interviewed by Lynn D. Johnson in a video about what podcasting gets right about attention. Recalling data from the advertising landscape, Barletta says podcasting has left the phase of being a niche market, yet marketing budgets have yet to rise to meet its growth.
Barletta compares podcasting to alt-rock in the 90s. It's not particularly alternative anymore, but people still believe it to be the case. There's also value in showing up in places that aren't specifically for one's chosen niche. for example, podcasting, but brands are at. The value of networking can pay off over months, if not years, and influencers are finding that out. Up to and including VidCon missing some familiar faces this year.
due to them simply going to Cannes instead. Also, the mere act of content creators going to Cannes of their own volition is now its own story. While a year or two ago, articles would focus on brands bringing creators to make a splash at Cannes Lion, now figures like Darman flying in for meetings in France are noteworthy enough to get coverage in the New York Times.
We even got in on video production ourselves with Brian Barletta filming several interviews with industry leaders in the world of audio advertising. You can catch all of those videos on the Sounds Profitable YouTube. And yes, I included a handy dandy link to a playlist just for you in the newsletter version of today's episode linked in the show notes.
¶ YouTube Content Expands Distribution
For our final top story today, YouTube, you distribute. I got a few different stories about distribution today. First up, Fox-owned streaming platform Tubi has announced deals with six YouTube creators. to distribute 500 episodes, more than 500 episodes of their existing shows on the platform with plans to bring in more YouTube originated content in the coming weeks.
The deals all live under the umbrella of Tubi for Creators, a program designed to bring creator content to Tubi under team leader Rich Bloom, formerly a senior executive at Vimeo. While this is not the first time a fast, free-ed supported TV streaming service has allowed or intentionally sought content originally uploaded to YouTube. It is further recognition that content creators, influencers, and podcasters are producing the kind of content that engages with audiences enough to watch ads.
On that note, speaking of courting YouTubers to other platforms, Natalie Jarvie has a leaked pitch deck from Spotify. The deck reportedly is aimed at attracting YouTube creators to starting Spotify video podcasts, agnostic of whether the creator actually makes podcast content. As Jarvie notes in recent months, the Spotify podcast charts have started to feature more and more shows from popular YouTubers.
that are, in essence, re-uploads of YouTube videos, such as cooking creator Nick DiGiovanni hitting number one in the Arts US chart with cooking challenges and recipe videos. The deck reportedly invites YouTubers to bring your video to Spotify without specifically mentioning podcasts, though it is worth mentioning in the slide shared for free in the article, it does specifically cite...
Spotify's internal video podcast data to demonstrate the platform's watchability. A platform that's attracting the attention of broadcast to podcast. Here's the last article of this little batch. 10 has announced a new deal with Spotify to broadcast their free-to-air news show, 10 News Plus. The program will now also be released as an hour-long daily video podcast available for view on Spotify momentarily after the TV broadcast, a TV broadcast that will also be simulcast as a live stream.
on YouTube. Finally, it's time for our quick hits. These are articles that didn't quite make the cut for today's episode, but I argue are still worth including in your weekend reading. This week I've got for you mark your calendars for July 16th at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. No, that's not just a day before my birthday. It's also the day YouTube will be hosting a webinar specifically about how podcasters
can best leverage YouTube's live streaming capabilities. Hey, I hear a news program uses that. With Ross Adams stepping down from his nearly eight years as CEO of ACAST, the board has announced that Chief Business Officer Greg Glenday... was chosen to be new CEO effective immediately. Signal Hill Insights President Paul Reismundell has a new piece looking at the decline of podcast listen time on smart speakers over the years. as well as the rise of podcasts on smart TVs.
A coalition of Canadian podcast industry leaders, including JAR Audio, Kelly & Kelly, Quill, Pod the North, and Digital First Canada, have published an open letter calling for podcasting to be funded as a core cultural sector. Panel Picker, the official South by Southwest community voting platform for session proposals, opens this week for South by Southwest 2026. Today, this Friday, there will be a live AMA session for both South by Southwest.
and South by Southwest EDU for anyone with questions about how to submit. And I also have a link to a list of virtual office hours throughout the month of July for anyone with questions. And finally, Radio World covers the iHeartMedia announcement that the company is using AI to translate some of its most successful podcasts into multiple languages for global publication.
That was the download recap brought to you by Sounds Profitable and Podscribe. I know I went through today's stories fast, so be sure to check out every link I mentioned. in the newsletter version of today's episode which you can find by going to the download section of soundsprofitable.com
I'm Gavin Gaddis. Our producers are myself, Brian Barletta, and Tom Webster. And I want to give once again a special thanks to you for sticking with me as I brought you the top stories you might have missed this week. Robot? Download complete.