Podcasting Mourns Todd Cochrane, Creators Leverage CTV, & More

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 is brought to you by Podscribe. You can find out more at Podscribe.com.

This week, Blueberry CEO Todd Cochran has died. Creators are leveraging CTV channels as added value for sponsorship deals. What Amazon's exit means for creative value. And video, AI, and measurement will take center stage at IAB Podcast Upfront. Let's get started. On Monday morning, Raw Voice and Blueberry founder Todd Cochran passed away suddenly while traveling back from visiting his family.

James Cridlin and Cochran's longtime co-host, Rob Greenlee, collaborated to publish an obituary in PodNews, which I've linked in today's episode. On Wednesday, the New Media Show uploaded one final episode in which Greenlee, Adam Curry, Mike Dell, and Rob Walsh gathered to reflect on Todd Cochran's career and life.

Also on Wednesday, Tom Webster posted his own reflections on knowing Todd Cochran, all the way back to his very first podcast listening experience when he stumbled across Geek News Central almost 20 years ago. Here's a quote from Webster's piece. I was primarily working in the radio industry back then, and there was nothing like Todd's show in my world. It broke every format rule of radio.

Todd didn't sound like a DJ. He sounded like exactly what he was, a fellow geek just as excited about new technology as I was. This, of course, was why it worked. End quote. Since then, Cochran became a friend and a confidant, sharing a deep passion for podcasting in general and creators specifically. I'll end out my coverage of this story with one more quote from Tom Webster's piece because I think his conclusion deserves to not be paraphrased. Quote.

Todd worked tirelessly to keep podcasters going, not because it was good for business or so that he could monetize. Todd worked to keep podcasters podcasting because he understood the central truth of podcasting. It can change your life. It changed the life of a senior chief coming out of the Navy in the mid-2000s. It changed my life too.

While CTV platforms have had some content creator presence for years, I personally recall discovering YouTubers were re-uploading their content to Prime Video in the 2010s, a focus on creator-led content. has increased noticeably in recent years. Tubi, Samsung TV+, Roku, everybody's getting in on the action with dedicated ad-free supported TV, fast channels, and ad-supported video on demand.

avod channels serving everything from video podcasts to mr beast reruns here's a quote from article writer alexander lee quote in 2025 creators growing interest in ctv deals extends beyond licensing revenue with creators particularly interested in reaching new audiences via television. End quote. With this new avenue of exposure, four creators and talent managers specializing in content creators tell Digiday they're leveraging new CTV licensing deals.

to increase rates for sponsored content. With more exposure and a wider audience comes more appeal to premium brands, as well as the value-add of baked-in sponsorships appearing on multiple platforms instead of just YouTube. or just Spotify. Influencer management and marketing agency Trend CEO Ted Rod tells Digiday adding CTV to the toolkit of content creators likely will influence the future of brand partnerships. and soften the barrier between social content and TV.

A new issue of the Sound Insights report spans a section looking at Amazon's retooling of Wondery, which resulted in the layoff of 110 employees and shunted narrative-driven podcasts over to Audible. While the Wondery brand does still exist, there's potentially a power vacuum for companies that value the unique offerings narrative podcasting delivers, if monetized appropriately.

If one attempts to monetize narrative content, be it investigative journalism or outright audio fiction, Similarly to how one would monetize a simple celebrity-hosted chat show, the concern becomes audiences being unwilling to pay for unknown content, either directly or with their time listening to ads. Here's a quote from the piece, quote.

This perspective conflates Amazon's operational preferences with market reality. While traditional advertising models may favor predictive formats, subscriptions and patron-based models specifically reward high-quality, immersive storytelling. that builds devoted audiences rather than broad reach. End quote. Narrative thrives in the world of boutique dollars per audience member environments instead of pennies per thousand wide strategies.

Here's a short but important bit to end out today's top stories. This year's podcast Upfront Agenda has been revealed. The event will take place Tuesday, September 30th in New York City, hosted... Hosted by Ali Leviton. Presentations will include companies like Blue Wire, Consumable, iHeart Podcast, Nielsen, NPR, Pod Digital Media, True Native Media, and others.

This year's event will spotlight the growing focus on impact and outcomes, growth of podcast measurement, and how the industry has evolved as big platforms change their strategies.

Finally, it's time for the quick hit section. After all the articles I've covered this week, these are the ones that didn't quite make top story coverage for the recap, but are still worth including in your weekend reading. So here we go real quick. The final deadline to enter into Audio UK's Audio Production Awards is next Wednesday, so that's September 17th. And just as a reminder, their Pay What You Want scheme is still in effect for creators who might need help with entry fees.

On Air Fest has gotten a branding shakeup. An umbrella organization called On Air Presents will now operate the Brooklyn Festival, the returning LA Festival, and the Ambies. while WorkXWork is rebranded to OnAirStudio, which will be the other half of the company as they continue their agency work. The New York Times audio app is being sunset next month, with all New York Times-produced audio content moving over into the Listen tab of the flagship news app.

And finally, Eric Newsom has a new issue of The Audio Insurgent touching on a common disconnect between how creatives pitch podcasts and how executives ask for pitches and how both could stand to learn what the other means. Thank you.

That was the download recap brought to you by Sounds Profitable. I know I went through today's stories fast, so be sure to check out the links to every article I talked about right in your podcast listening app with the handy dandy link that'll take you to the page for today's episode on Sounds Profitable.

If you want to go there yourself, just go to soundsprofitable.com, mouse over to the download section. There you'll find every issue of the download and every single link I've ever talked about. For Sounds Profitable, I'm Gavin Gaddis. Our producers are myself, Brian Barletta, and Tom Webster. Special thanks, as always, to you for sticking with me as I brought you the top stories you might have missed from this past week. in the business of podcasting. Robot. Download complete.