Podcasting's Programmatic Future, How Podcasts Use Patreon, @ More

This is the download from Sounds Profitable, your daily source for the essential news in the business of podcasting. I'm Gavin Gattis.

Here's what you need to know for today, Monday, June 9th. Before I get into the top story, with such a successful possible event for podcast advertising this year, Saturn's Profitable is continuing our international effort to get podcasting in front of global advertising leaders. To maximize our value to partners and the industry overall, Sounds Profitable is focusing on bringing brands to Converge at Cans, an event that shares our goals of educating more people on the value of audio.

If you're an advertiser or agency looking to keep the audio conversation going, you can sign up with the link provided in the show notes. Sounds Profitable will be having a private brunch, dinner, and VIP space at Convergent Cans. So you can get in touch by emailing Brian or using the contact link on soundsprofitable.com. Now for our top story, Wondercraft's Oscar Sarander on Convo Mode.

Last week, WonderCraft launched a new feature called Convo Mode in which the producer of a podcast can upload a script they've written into WonderCraft Studio, which will then use generative AI to synthesize voices. having a podcast-style conversation. Brian Barletta sent WonderCraft co-founder Oscar Sarander some questions about Convo Mode and what it can do. In response, he generated an audiogram using convo mode voices Georgia and Avery.

to break down how the tool works and how it aims to speed up the creative making process so audio advertising can appeal to brands that are used to the faster turnaround times of other industries. Next up, Amazon adds private auctions to prime video trading costs for guarantees. In the past few weeks, some buyers have been given access to the testing phase of private auction deals.

allowing them to buy prime video inventory on a dynamic cost basis rather than fixed CPM or cost per mil, all of which leads to lower cost campaigns, but also few guarantees. The flexibility and cost savings of running PA campaigns could be particular interest to smaller and performance-driven companies. The big trade-off, besides no guaranteed delivery, is PA auctions are also at the bottom of the waterfall.

This means during high demand periods such as Prime Day, it's likely private auction deals will struggle to be delivered. Still, variable pricing does join connected TV.

in the future of advertising that podcasting is competing with. Next up, Patreon has become a goldmine for podcasters. Three creators explain how they use the platform and how much they earn. Business Insider takes a look at how podcasting is performing on Patreon. I can spoil that with one word, well.

Podcasts remain the top-earning category on the platform with 6.7 million paid memberships specifically for podcasts. Some creators' accounts perform to the tune of six figures of income per month. with podcasting collectively earning $472 million USD in 2024. The Business Insider piece in specific highlights the approaches and income of three podcasts funded on the platform.

Therapy for Black Girls, Red-Handed, and The Yard. Last week, Sounds Profitable published the second installment of the advertising landscape, this time focusing on how respondents pay attention to podcasts and how much trust they have in them. The report is getting coverage in the wider audio world, with Radio Online highlighting the finding that half of Prime users which in this context means daily consumers of podcasts, said podcast ads feel natural and genuine.

A finding that outpaces social media platforms by a wide margin, by the way. Meanwhile, Podcasting Today in the UK covered the report with extra context from Tom Webster on the differences between the two markets. Chief among the U.S.-U.K. differences when thinking about the numbers in the advertising landscape is the numbers around AM FM radio, as commercial radio is in a better position in the U.K. in terms of ad load and quality.

Still, the overall story remains the same. Podcast advertising is inherently more authentic and trustworthy than other mediums. For our final top story, Spotify lays off 5% of staff across the Ringer and Podcast Studios business. According to Variety's source, 15 employees in positions across the ringer and Spotify Studios have been laid off. The source says the eliminated positions have been reallocated to support Spotify's larger push to produce video podcasts.

and no podcast will be canceled due to the staff cuts. As is custom when stories like this come up, I do want to take a second to remind both you out there in podcast land and readers of the download. That sounds profitable does have our job board of open positions in the business of podcasting, and it's completely free to use. Anyone can submit a position they want to fill and anyone can go check out and apply to positions.

that they want to be a part of, just head to soundsprofitable.com slash jobs. As for the rest of the news, Podscribe has published their Q2 2025 performance benchmark report, which... for the first time, includes global audio ad metrics for Germany, France, Australia, the UK, and Canada. Jar Audio has selected seven finalists for the pilot competition for emerging women podcasters.

The Davey Awards and the Podglomerate have teamed up with a new report titled Video Podcasts Decoded, A Guide for Small Shows. which features experts giving tips on incorporating video into audio-first podcast production. NPR has launched The Network, a documentary podcast from Embedded and Futuro Media's Latino USA.

that explores global efforts to provide access to safe abortions outside of medical clinic environments. OSHA has a new article detailing how they teamed up with BBC Studios to use a focused podcast search optimization strategy to Fast track the new podcast, The Infinite Monkey Cage, up podcasting charts in just under two months.

The Verge interviews co-creators of the sci-fi improv comedy podcast Mission to Zix about the show's new spinoff series, which is meant to poke fun at modern sci-fi tropes, including its core Star Wars-ian premise. of providing an oddly detailed and in-focus backstory to a character who originally got very little screen time.

And finally, John Wardock combined two beloved industries last Friday by celebrating National Donut Day with a newsletter that looks at a dozen ways podcasts are like donuts. In an effort to keep sounds profitable out of legal hot water, I will not edit in Homer Simpson thinking about donuts and making the classic mmm, but you can pretend I did here.

Be sure to check out the links to all the articles mentioned right in your podcast listening app, or you can go to soundsprofitable.com, where you can also subscribe to get the email version of the download every single day. The download is written and produced by myself, Brian Barletta, and Tom Webster. For Sounds Profitable, I'm Gavin Gaddis. Download us again tomorrow.