This is The Download from Sounds Profitable, the most important news from this week and why it matters to people in the business of podcasting. I'm Newton Shabba-Cottie. And I'm Gavin, recording from a hotel room, Gattis. The download is brought to you by PodScribe. Find out more at podScribe.com. This week, new developments from podcast Movement DC, the FTCs fed up with fake followers, and gross media ad spend spikes for streamers. What that means for podcasting. Let's get started.
Paul Glenn Powell, because podcast Movement DC was a whirlwind of announcements. That's the last pun I promise. We're collecting a few here. First up, at the beginning of the week, while attendees were still flying in, Apple announced a major update to Apple Podcast that made the service accessible from most browsers. With the update, audiences can access Apple
Podcasts from a new browser interface live in over 170 countries. From a data perspective, web players often display as the browser they originate from, versus the website or player being used. Some of that data is available and often not reported on. This new rollout from Apple ideally will make browser data table stakes for podcasting further improving analytics available to the industry at large. Next up, Lindsey Graham has announced a subscription-based music library
dubbed Thrum. The library designed for podcasters, documentarians, and people with a story to tell is built from an editor's perspective, sorting tracks by tone rather than genre, with tags like exposition and resolution. Thrum's library is built entirely of songs composed in complimentary
keys and tempos, making the library fully compatible with itself. Last but certainly not least, this Wednesday Triton Digital announced a new development from their partnership with Headliner, a new feature within Omni Studio enables users to build audio grams from their podcast content using Headliner Tech and automatically distribute the resulting audio grams directly to the podcast's
YouTube presence. Triton Digital Tell sounds profitable. The partnership is such that Omni Studio's clients do not need a separate subscription to Headliner to access the features. Last Thursday from Dan Wattley and Business Insider, the Federal Trade Commission has finalized a new role that codifies how they will begin pursuing creators and businesses that by fake followers, views, or other metrics to boost engagement on an account or sponsored post.
While the FTC has pursued companies selling boosted follower accounts and likes in the past, the new framework allows the organization to go after bad actors. A quote from former FTC attorney, Catherine Armstrong, quote, this rule doesn't establish anything brand new, but it will provide a new enforcement mechanism for the Federal Trade Commission to be able to get monetary relief
for violations. While buying legitimate traffic for a podcast fee does not qualify for this FTC rule, podcasting is not free of accounts boosted with bot followers slash subscribers that would qualify as using paid engagement to boost a for-profit venture. Last Thursday from Jasmine, China, and Marketing Brew, new data from guideline compiled from various sources, including Standard Media Index, show streaming services are bringing
in the ad revenue. Netflix reports 166% increase in Gross Media ad spend. Disney Plus follows close behind with 140% year-over-year growth in Gross Media ad spend. A quote from the article, quote, overall, digital video Gross Media ad spend grew 14% year-over-year while linear TV Gross Media ad spend dropped 12% year-over-year. The heightened investment in digital video comes amid continued efforts by streamers to court ad supported subscribers through price hikes and password-sharing
crackdowns, as well as major subscriber and ad revenue bleed within linear TV. And quote, I, this is Gavin going off script for a moment just to apologize for the sheer amount of times I had Gross Media ad spend appear in this recap. Moving on, subscription-based TV is undergoing a shift from the common presumption of being paid for an ad-free experience to paid streams still containing ads.
Podcast audiences believe ads in their favorite podcasts support the creator directly, so ads are more favorably accepted than in other forms of media. As the world progresses towards subscriptions being ad supported as the default, podcasting continues to stand out even when podcasts follow that path. It continues to stand out thanks to the transparent nature of the industry and the connection between producer and audience member.
Finally, it's time for our quick hits. These are articles that didn't quite make the cut for today's episode, but are still worth including in your week and reading this week, onward and upward by me. From adding a new member to the team to announcing partnerships that enable podcasting to come to advertising week, Sounds Profitable has had a busy week and I recap all of it in this article. July exhibits rare upswing in TV viewing amplify by streaming and
first days of summer Olympics according to Nielsen's The Gage. Nielsen's article finds YouTube is the first streaming service to take up over 10% of TV usage as of this July. Alex Cooper Inc's multi-year deal was series XM for Call Her Daddy and exclusive content as podcaster N's run was Spotify. The new deal is expected to lead to new series XM exclusive Cooper content starting in 2025, along with SXM securing exclusive distribution and advertising rights for unwale network podcasts
like Call Her Daddy and finally discover the new AI for podcast by OSHA. The new OSHA intelligence service will be available for all users at no extra charge. And that was the download brought to you by Sounds Profitable. I know we went through today's stories fast, so be sure to check out the links to every article mentioned right in your podcast listening app or on the download section of SoundsProffitable.com. And thank you for sticking with us as we bring you the top stories you
might have missed from the past week. I'm Newton Chalukadi. And I'm Gavin Gattas. Our producers are myself Newton Chalukadi, Brian Barletta and Tom Webster. Special thanks to Speaker for hosting the download and thanks to you for joining us. Rollbot? Download Complete.