This is the download from Sounds Profitable, your daily source for the essential news in the business of podcasting. I'm Gavin Gaddis. Here's what you need to know for today, Wednesday, February 26th. First up, the news podcast consumer from Sounds Profitable and NPR.
Today, the latest report from the Sounds Profitable educational series was published, built from 2024's The Podcast Landscape Survey of 5,071 Americans aged 18+. One particularly interesting facet of news consumers is their propensity for co- 67% of non-news consumers rarely or never co-listen to podcasts with other people. For news consumers, that drops to 56%, with 30% of respondents occasionally co-listening and for...
15% co-listening at least most of the time. News listeners are also more likely to share their podcast time with other people. News listeners trend younger than the general podcast listener and are highly likely to be commuters. all of which makes news consumers a kind of force multiplier for podcasting as they're both passionate about the content and are sharing it around. Next up, it's all in the mindset.
No, this isn't a severance thing. Magna Media Trials and Vox Media have published a new report looking at how and why brands should action against audience mindset when they're listening to podcasts. The study is built from a panel of 2003 podcast listeners aged 18 plus who kept a diary on a podcast listening session that occurred within the past 24 hours.
Three core mindsets were established, interconnect, inspiration, and indulgence, all of which can be targeted based on tone, topic, and formats that best suit that mindset. For instance, indulgent mindset audiences are best targeted with multiple shorter ads, while interconnect audiences benefit from fewer, longer ads. Next up, how podcasters are tackling the challenge of subscriber churn.
During last week's on-air fest session, several different corners of podcasting addressed how they're handling subscriber churn now that premium subscriptions are such a core part of podcasting. One anonymous executive, during a breakout session, said that churn if their company is addressed by pushing internal self-promotion, having podcasts promote other podcasts within the company's umbrella to ensure audience cross-pollination.
one tactic used by supporting cast that can regain churn subscribers. is to automatically turn their expired ad-free subscription feed into a free ad-supported feed that regularly drops mini-episodes featuring the host encouraging LAP subscribers to rejoin for subscriber-only benefits. sometimes offering a discount as an incentive. There's also the move to make subscription platforms have a free option to act as a one-stop shop that will eventually drive free members to subscribe due to FOMO.
such as Patreon's launch of free following back in 2023 that can now be leveraged with the autopilot tool that automatically IDs potential subscribers and emails them with discounted first month offers. Next up, low-cost leftovers. Adopter Media SVP Client Services Adam McNeil has posted data representing a case study he's mulling over. The data charts an ad campaign started in March of 2024 through to this month, showing visit percentage, conversion percentage, and total conversion.
The campaign has had a rough Q1 2025 due to a variety of potential factors, such as the client increasing the price of their product, the LA fires, and macroeconomic conditions depressing consumer purchasing. McNeil's core takeaway is that the efficiency of ads getting people to click through to the site has not changed since March.
Purchasing behavior has changed since the end of 2024, and there's a potential the client is more seasonal than first expected. McNeil offers up his findings and asks readers for their comments based on what they see in the provided data, which... is linked in the newsletter today. Before I get into the quick hits, I want to take a quick stop at a section we're calling industry opportunities.
Sounds Profitable is committed to ensuring our partners and readers are exposed to as many opportunities that will help grow the podcast industry. as possible. With that in mind, Amplitude Media Partners is looking to represent more independent creators across podcasting and YouTube with a specific but not limited interest in tech, business, and finance. We have an application form up now for publishers, which you can find linked in the show notes.
Now, on to our quick hits. Here's the rest of the news. YouTube announced they've reached 1 billion active monthly viewers of podcast content on the platform. Ad News takes a look at the IAB Australia Audio State of the Nation report, including... the findings, 79% of agencies intend to increase their podcast investments in this year, and Nova Entertainment has appointed Kim Curtin as head of podcast partnerships.
Be sure to check out all the links to every article mentioned right in your podcast listening app or at soundsprofitable.com where you can also subscribe to the newsletter version. The download is written and produced by Newton Shadokani, Brian Barletta, myself, and Tom Webster. For Sounds Profitable, I'm Gavin Gaddis. Download us again tomorrow.