Podcast
Sounds Profitable
Hosted by Bryan Barletta · EN
The pace of change the podcast industry is undergoing is staggering. The implications for podcasters, hosting providers, podcast listening app developers, and advertisers and agencies are enormous. And so is the growth potential. Presented as a companion to the weekly newsletter of the same name, our podcast provides you with direct access to our narrated articles, interviews with industry experts, bleeding-edge research, and can't miss industry news recaps. That Sounds Profitable, right? Assumptions and conventional wisdom will be challenged. Easy answers with no proof of efficacy will be exposed. Because the thinking that got podcast advertising close to a billion dollars annually will need to be drastically overhauled to bring in the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars podcast advertising deserves.
37episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Questions B2B Ask of Podcasting, Magellan AI's 📻 Attribution, & More
3d ago00:04:37Tap to summarizeToday in the business of podcasting:CoHost & Quill VP of Marketing Alison Osborne argues the podcast industry is solving the wrong measurement problem: B2B brands have moved past "how many downloads" and are now asking who is listening, whether the right audiences are finding the show, and whether those listeners are appearing in the sales funnel.Acast CEO Greg Glenday says brands are misallocating podcast ad spend by following genre assumptions rather than audience behavior, citing Acast data showing food podcasts receive roughly half of food delivery ad spend despite representing less than 1% of relevant listener conversations.Magellan AI has built an attribution platform measuring broadcast radio alongside podcasts and streaming audio, with early case studies showing radio drives far greater total sales volume while digital audio outperforms on a per-impression basis — making the case for measuring all audio together.To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.
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Podcasts Hit U.K. Prime-Time 📺, News From Podcast Show London, & More
6d ago00:10:29Tap to summarizeGrab your custom Cannes Lions attendee announcement graphic for free here!Today in the business of podcasting:A roundup of all the top stories from The Podcast Show London last week. New data from Sounds Profitable's Advertising Landscape 2025 study shows that AM/FM radio Primes and podcast Primes have only a 1.4% overlap, challenging the idea that the two formats compete for the same audience. Tom Webster argues that sellers holding both types of inventory are offering two nearly non-duplicated engaged audiences in a single buy — a stronger combined asset than the competitive framing has allowed advertisers to see.The Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP), a 12-member industry task force organized by Oxford Road and including Spotify, SiriusXM Media, BetterHelp, DraftKings, and others, has publicly emerged after meeting since July 2025 to address podcast measurement and definition challenges. The group's three focus areas are standardizing impression metrics, developing cross-platform performance measurement, and agreeing on a universal definition of a podcast.A new Signal Hill Insights Pulse Report, conducted with FlightStory, finds that 45% of monthly podcast consumers in the U.K. have used a smart TV to listen to or watch podcasts in the past month, making smart TVs the second most-used device ahead of computers. More than half of video podcast viewers in the U.K. watch during prime time (7–11 p.m.), and the data suggests video podcasting is growing podcasting's overall audience share by replacing other video consumption rather than cannibalizing audio listening.To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.
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Taskforce to Define "Podcast", YouTube is Enhancing AI Labels, & More
1w ago00:07:28Tap to summarizeToday in the business of podcasting:The Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP), a 12-member task force organized by Oxford Road, is working to standardize podcast ad measurement and establish a universal definition of "podcast." The group plans to present its framework at Oxford Road's CAO Summit in Los Angeles in July 2026.New data from Sounds Profitable shows that the most engaged AM/FM radio listeners and the most engaged podcast listeners have only 1.4% overlap, making them nearly distinct audiences. Tom Webster argues that buying both channels together offers advertisers a level of combined reach that neither medium can deliver alone.Magellan AI's new global analysis estimates total podcast ad spend reached $3.94 billion in 2025, with non-U.S. markets surging 79% year-over-year in Q1 2026, led by rapid growth in Germany, France, the U.K., and Ireland.YouTube is moving AI content labels to more prominent positions, appearing directly below long-form videos and as overlays on Shorts, with automatic detection rolling out for content creators who do not self-disclose.Canada's broadcast regulator, the CRTC, has expanded its digital media contribution framework, raising the required revenue contribution from foreign streaming and audio services including Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify from 5% to 15%.To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.
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New Gated Video on Spotify, UK Smart TV Podcasting, & More
1w ago00:05:00Tap to summarizeToday in the business of podcasting:A new Signal Hill Insights Pulse Report, conducted in partnership with FlightStory, finds that 45% of monthly podcast consumers in the U.K. used a smart TV to listen to podcasts in the past month, making it the second most-used device behind smartphones and ahead of computers. More than half of video podcast viewers watch during prime time hours, suggesting video podcasting is becoming a living-room, prime-time television behavior in the U.K.NPR, its sponsorship subsidiary National Public Media, and podcast distributor PRX have announced a collaboration enabling NPM to sell sponsorships for station-produced podcasts hosted on PRX's Dovetail platform, with stations including Boise State Public Radio, LAist, and WWNO already participating.Podcast subscription platform Supporting Cast has launched delivery of gated, subscriber-only video on Spotify using Spotify's Distribution API, making it the first subscription platform to offer this capability. Journalist-led podcasts Libero and Legacy are the first shows to use the feature.Media writer Brian Morrissey examines how AI-driven changes to Google Search are accelerating the decline of page-view-based publisher models, and argues that the recent Vox Media sale reflects how owned podcast networks have become central to media companies' valuations.To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.
Transcribe →Radio, Podcasting, And The Portuguese Man o’ War
1w ago00:09:10Tap to summarizeMake your own Cannes Lions announcement graphic!Sounds Profitable Partner Tom Webster breaks down data from the 2025 Advertising Landscape study showing that AM/FM radio Primes and podcast Primes overlap by just 1.4% of U.S. adults, arguing that the two media are not competitors but complementary channels reaching almost entirely different engaged audiences, and that combined inventory is worth more than either piece alone.Written by Tom WebsterEdited and narrated by Gavin GaddisFind the full article here.
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Podcast Show London Recap, Spotify Launches Narrated Articles, & More
1w ago00:05:12Tap to summarizeToday in the business of podcasting:The Podcast Show 2026 wrapped up in London with a wave of industry activity, including the debut of a new UK advertising landscape study from Sounds Profitable and Sound Insights showing podcast ad recall is at near-parity with broadcast television, plus analyst presentations, an annual Podcast Standards Project meetup, and a live episode of Podnews Weekly Review recorded on stage.RAJAR's MIDAS Spring 2026 survey found that 25% of UK adults listen to podcasts weekly, a figure that has remained relatively static since Winter 2024, with podcasts accounting for 6% of adult listening hours — ahead of owned music at 5% and audiobooks at 3%.Goalhanger launched Goalhanger Ventures, a new investment and partnership arm that will back creator-led media businesses, with initial activity including an equity investment in Invisible Media and support for the podcast Backyard Cricket.Spotify announced a wave of new features: a Memberships program for creators, an AI-driven Personal Podcasts feature, and Articles — a library of over 650 narrated long-form magazine pieces available to Premium subscribers through their monthly audiobook allowance or purchasable individually for $1.99.To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.
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The State of U.K. Podcast Advertising, Brazil's Audio Opportunity, & More
2w ago00:07:26Tap to summarizeThis week in the business of podcasting:A new Sounds Profitable and Sound Insights study of 5,033 U.K. adults finds 43% of British adults listen to ad-supported podcasts monthly, with 79% of those listeners recalling a podcast ad in the past week at nearly equal rates across genders, offering a direct transatlantic comparison to the 2025 U.S. Advertising Landscape.Owl & Co's Global Podcast Economy Report finds the global podcast industry generated $9.2 billion in revenue in 2025, up 23% year over year, with publishers that treated video as a monetization layer seeing the fastest revenue growth.The fifth annual Podnews Report Card, based on creator feedback, finds YouTube has climbed to second place among major podcast platforms, overtaking Spotify but still trailing Apple Podcasts.Rodrigo Tigre, co-founder and president of Ozen.fm, argues that Brazil's podcast advertising market is dramatically underdeveloped relative to U.S. digital audio and identifies three structural barriers that have now matured enough to be overcome.To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.
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U.K. Podcast Advertising Landscape, Global Podcast Economy Growth, & More
2w ago00:05:08Tap to summarizeToday in the business of podcasting:Sounds Profitable and Sound Insights released The Advertising Landscape UK, the first large-scale study of how British audiences experience podcast advertising, finding that 43% of British adults listen to an ad-supported podcast monthly and 56% of those tune in daily or almost daily.Owl & Co's Global Podcast Economy Report finds the global podcast economy generated $9.2 billion in revenue in 2025, a 23% increase from 2024, with publishers who treated video as a monetization layer growing revenue the fastest.James Murdoch's Lupa Systems agreed to acquire most of Vox Media, including its podcast network, main website, and New York magazine, with CEO Jim Bankoff set to continue running the acquired assets.Data from influencer platform Upfluence shows that top-tier TikTok micro-creators saw average brand deal rates rise 125% in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025, as brands shift toward smaller creators and paid content boosting over big-name influencer deals.To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.
Transcribe →The Advertising Landscape UK
2w ago00:02:52Tap to summarizeSounds Profitable and Sound Insights released the Advertising Landscape UK, the first large-scale study of how British audiences experience podcast advertising, benchmarked against 20+ other ad-supported platforms across 5,033 adults. Key findings include that 43% of British adults listen to ad-supported podcasts monthly, 79% recalled a podcast ad in the past week, 44% have made a purchase after hearing one, and ad-supported podcasting has outpaced broadcast TV among 18- to 24-year-olds. The UK's BBC heritage sets a higher bar for advertising acceptance than in the US, but the data suggests podcasting clears that bar more reliably than most other formats, positioning it as a strong vehicle for reaching discerning British audiences.Written by Tom WebsterEdited and narrated by Gavin Gaddis
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Spotify Podcast Verification, 2026 Podnews Report Card, & More
2w ago00:05:55Tap to summarizeToday in the business of podcasting:Spotify is expanding its Verified by Spotify badge to podcast shows, adding a green checkmark to identify official creator, publisher, and brand presences on the platform based on listener activity, platform standing, and audience authenticity.The 2026 Podnews Report Card collected 779 pieces of community feedback on major podcast platforms, with YouTube reaching second place in the overall rankings for the first time, just behind Apple Podcasts and ahead of Spotify.A new WARC report, The Multiplier Playbook, surveying more than 200 senior marketers finds that 60% say their C-suite does not fully understand the role of advertising, and only 21% say advertising objectives align with broader corporate goals.New Omeda research finds 70% of publishers consider audience data critical, yet only 9% of their organizations use it effectively, a gap writer Brian Morrissey links to decentralized and siloed data infrastructure.YouTube is rolling out its AI-powered likeness detection technology to all eligible creators over 18, expanding access beyond select YouTube Partner Program members and allowing users to set up protection via ID verification.To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.
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