¶ Intro / Opening
This is the download from Sounds Profitable, your daily source for the essential news in the business of podcasting. I'm Gavin Gaddis.
¶ Podscape Submissions and Netflix Licensing
Here's what you need to know for today, Tuesday, November 4th. First up, Podscape submissions are now open. The Podscape, a joint production between Magellan AI and Sounds Profitable. is a biannual infographic designed to give a bird's eye view of the business side of podcasting. A city map, in essence, charting out various neighborhoods in which podcasting companies live.
based on what services they provide. Every six months, we regroup and process new submissions, update existing ones, and tweak any changes necessary to keep this living document going. In anticipation of our winter update, the new Podscape submission form is live right now, and we'll be taking new submissions until end of day, Friday, November 21st. So...
If you have a new logo or you're not in the Podscape or anything like that, you can submit at the form and we'll get you in. Next up, Netflix is in talks to licensed video podcasts from iHeartMedia. According to Bloomberg sources, Netflix is in active talks to license video podcasts distributed by iHeartMedia. Reportedly, the licensing includes exclusivity.
So much like the existing Spotify Netflix deal, full episodes of chosen podcasts would no longer be available on YouTube. As of this writing, there are no specific shows mentioned in the deal as it is still...
¶ Podcast Trust and Advertising Trends
a behind closed doors situation. Next up, podcasting's powerful resonance, ACAST Podcast Pulse 2025. The podcast pulse is built from three studies, including a global consumer study conducted by Differentology, in August with 2,600 global consumers spread across 10 markets. Podcasts remained a bastion of trust and credibility with consumers as 1,603 respondents
who answered a question regarding how much they trust products or brands recommended by various sources. Podcasters tied with journalists for the top spot at 33%. YouTube came second with 31%. followed by social media influencers at 28% and celebrities at 25%. 64% of the overall global survey pool say they trust podcast hosts to give genuine endorsements and 70%.
say a recommendation from a podcast host made them consider a brand they've never heard of before that podcast ad. Next up, Quarterly Benchmark Report Q3 2025 Edition. Magellan AI has a new quarterly report built from sampling over 94,000 podcast episodes across four languages in seven countries. Key findings include a 26% increase of podcast ad spend.
year over year. Nine out of ten top spenders in quarter three were also top spenders in podcasting in quarter two, and a 41% increase in brands advertising on podcasts for the first time. That's 1,000. 689 new brands in all. To go over the key findings in some detail, Magellan AI is going to be hosting a free 15 to 20 minute webinar on Tuesday, November 18th.
at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It is a free webinar, and it'll be two weeks from today if you're listening when this comes out. Finally, Robert Tuchman on audience lift and publisher data transparency.
¶ New Tools and Industry Partnerships
Amaze Media Labs co-founder Robert Tookman sat down for an interview with Sounds Profitable's Brian Barletta regarding AudienceLift's new publisher data transparency feature. The new feature is available to AudienceLift clients. whose campaigns meet a minimum threshold, which is currently $2,500, while the tool is being developed and scaled. As the name implies, clients can access full visibility into which publishers their show's trailer is being run on.
using a combination of publisher IDs, domain IDs, and an internal list of brand-safe and premium publishers. As for the rest of the news, today's episode of The Casey Adams Show features ACAST CEO Greg Glenday, discussing the industry's consolidation and the future of podcasting. Nick Kastner has announced his next role is at Google and YouTube as a strategic partner manager for political creators. Congratulations, Nick.
Red Seat Ventures has announced they are now the exclusive sales partner for the 33rd team, which includes productions like the St. Brown Brothers Podcast. Red Circle has launched a new AI tool dubbed Mic Check, which scans podcasts, ad reads for accuracy, tone, and freshness before they're sent out live. Built into Red Circle's advertiser platform, RAP.
Might check, will check, tee hee, host red ads to make sure they hit approved scripts and or talking points, as well as provide human-like feedback. Libsyn has signed a exclusive one-year advertising partnership with Strictly Stalking, a weekly true crime podcast specifically dedicated to the crime of stalking.
That'll do it for today's episode. As usual, you can click the link in your show notes to find every link I've talked about today, or you can go to soundsprofitable.com and subscribe to the newsletter version to get every link sent directly to your inbox. every afternoon. As usual, the download is written and produced by myself, Brian Barletta, and Tom Webster. For Sounds Profitable, I'm Gavin Gaddis. Download us again tomorrow.