Sounds Profitable

Bryan Barletta

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.

  1. Signal Hill's 2026 Podcast Ad Benchmarks, AI-Legible Audio's Competitive Edge, & More

    12 hrs ago

    Signal Hill's 2026 Podcast Ad Benchmarks, AI-Legible Audio's Competitive Edge, & More

    Today in the business of podcasting: Signal Hill Insights' 2026 benchmark report, "How Podcasts Impact Brand Perceptions," finds video podcast ads now make up 54% of aggregated brand lift data, up from zero in 2023, with video edging audio by one to two points on mid funnel and purchase intent metrics.Forbes contributor Damion Taylor argues podcasters need to make their audio "AI legible" with transcripts, speaker IDs, and timestamps, warning that platforms prioritizing video visuals over audio quality risk making hosts sound less intelligent and likable to listeners.Audacy research covered by Inside Audio Marketing finds news/talk radio listeners are more loyal and trusting than other formats and skew affluent, making the audience a strong fit for integrated sponsorships over traditional spot buys.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.

    5 min

  2. 21 hrs ago

    The Podcast Atlas, Part Two: What The Screen Adds

    This week, Tom Webster cracks open the Podcast Atlas to look at video podcasting's strengths in advertising. The Podcast Atlas finds video podcast ads outperform audio on purchase intent and post-ad actions, 15% for video versus 10% for audio, while matching or beating audio on trust, commanding the highest attentive viewership of any format, and topping YouTube ads on five of six receptivity measures. Written by Tom WebsterEdited and narrated by Gavin Gaddis Find the full article here.

    10 min
  3. Podcast Movement Opens Public Voting, AdsWizz Extends SoundCloud Deal in Europe & More

    1 day ago

    Podcast Movement Opens Public Voting, AdsWizz Extends SoundCloud Deal in Europe & More

    Today in the business of podcasting: Podcast Movement 2026, set for September 17-18 in New York City, has launched its first public voting process for conference sessions, with half the schedule chosen by community vote and half by a selection committee reviewing nearly 800 submissions.AdsWizz has renewed exclusive European audio ad sales agreements with SoundCloud and Sonos, extending partnerships first signed in 2021 and 2022 and covering SoundCloud's reach across 14 markets.Febreze is leaning on podcasting for its World Cup and MLS season marketing push, including a first-ever off-studio brand integration with What Now? with Trevor Noah filmed in an NFL soccer team's boot room.Mel Robbins talks with Digiday about AI in content creation, shifting ad dollars toward audio, and what audience ownership looks like for independent podcasters.AdExchanger's Cannes coverage shows creator and influencer marketing solidifying as the new normal for brands, a trend podcasting is well positioned to capitalize on.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.

    6 min
  4. Audio's Reach Beyond the Screen, Spotify's Ad Stack Rebuild, & More

    2 days ago

    Audio's Reach Beyond the Screen, Spotify's Ad Stack Rebuild, & More

    Today in the business of podcasting: Sounds Profitable's new Podcast Atlas report maps five interconnected territories of podcasting audio, video, clips, social, and newsletters, finding that 78% of listeners engage with podcasts during hands busy activities while 77% still report giving the medium their full or nearly full attention.Netflix CMO Marian Lee outlines the streamer's deliberately varied podcast deal strategy, mixing exclusive arrangements like Jay Shetty's with non-exclusive deals as the company adapts its traditional greenlight model to a creator economy where the creator is the brand.Spotify's VP of Product details a multi-year rebuild of the company's ad infrastructure, including a proprietary ad exchange called SAX that has now opened podcast inventory to Amazon DSP buyers, even as Q1 2026 ad-supported revenue dipped 5% year over year despite audience growth.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.

    6 min
  5. Navigating The Podcast Atlas, Miroma Acquires Ad Results Media, & More

    5 days ago

    Navigating The Podcast Atlas, Miroma Acquires Ad Results Media, & More

    This week in the business of podcasting: Sounds Profitable released The Podcast Atlas, a study of more than 5,000 U.S. consumers mapping the creator economy into five territories: audio, video, short-form clips, newsletters, and social platforms.Tom Webster's follow-up analysis, The Format That Travels, uses the Atlas data to argue audio wins the ad environment battle, capturing 78% of hands-busy listening moments and topping every platform on listener trust and ad receptivity.Miroma Group acquired audio advertising agency Ad Results Media, marking a major U.S. expansion move that folds ARM's podcast-native performance advertising expertise into Miroma's broader agency portfolio.Ben Robins' latest Purchase Funnel installment digs into UK podcast ad conversion data, finding strong purchase rates among younger listeners but a notable gap among listeners 55 and older compared with other platforms.Cannes Lions recaps from Next Audio's Lemya Soltani and Sounds Profitable's Bryan Barletta highlight how podcast networking events can be run on a shoestring budget, alongside a new Sounds Profitable YouTube panel on why niche podcast communities can outperform broad-reach shows on advertiser metrics.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.

    8 min
  6. A New Atlas for Podcasting, Debunking Listener Assumptions, & More

    6 days ago

    A New Atlas for Podcasting, Debunking Listener Assumptions, & More

    Today in the business of podcasting: A new Sounds Profitable report, The Podcast Atlas, finds audio podcasts lead every creator-economy format on trust, with 58% of listeners rating audio highest for factual accuracy and only 31% skeptical of its ad claims, even as video and clips drive more immediate purchase action.Keyari Page argues the creator economy hasn't replaced traditional media but reorganized it entirely around direct audience relationships, with creator-led models becoming core commercial infrastructure for modern media.A five-market study from NumberEight finds podcast audiences split nearly evenly by gender and skew Millennial, challenging assumptions that listeners are uniformly young or male and pointing to real variation by market and age group.Signal Hill Insights' Paul Riismandel highlights data showing U.S. weekly podcast consumers grew 45% since 2022, with YouTube and Spotify driving new-listener growth as Apple Podcasts' app share declines.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.

    7 min

  7. 6 days ago

    The Format That Travels

    Audio podcasting reaches listeners in hands-busy, on-the-go moments no other format can, and new Podcast Atlas data shows it earns their full attention. Written by Tom WebsterEdited and narrated by Gavin Gaddis Find the full article here.

    6 min
  8. Keeping Cannes Affordable, The Case for Niche, & More

    1 July

    Keeping Cannes Affordable, The Case for Niche, & More

    Today in the business of podcasting: Podcast Movement has received nearly 800 submissions for the upcoming New York City edition of the conference and business summit.Next Audio co-founder Lemya Soltani detailed on LinkedIn how her MENA audio network hosted a Cannes Lions networking event without VC funding, cutting costs through shared boat rentals, local catering, and budget flights. Sounds Profitable's Bryan Barletta shared a similar low-cost Cannes playbook, showing brands don't need big budgets to make an impact at the festival.A Sounds Profitable panel from Cannes Lions, "Riches vs Niches," is now live on YouTube, featuring executives from SoundStack, Red Seat Ventures, ART19, and ADOPTER Media. The group makes the case that niche podcasts can outperform broad-reach shows on engagement, ad rates, and subscription revenue.Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment and Mondo Metrics launched the Women's Sports Index, a real-time platform benchmarking media value across women's sports using social data. The tool aims to fill gaps left by traditional ratings metrics as new women's sports leagues build fan bases largely through social media.Nielsen's May 2026 survey found PM drive listening now leads AM drive across the top 10 U.S. radio markets, with afternoon share continuing to grow year over year. The trend challenges long-standing assumptions about morning drive's dominance in radio ad planning.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.

    8 min
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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Bryan Barletta
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    1K
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Sounds Profitable
  • Show Website
    Sounds Profitable

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