Media Roundtable

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The Media Roundtable isn’t just another industry podcast; it’s an open lab where the sharpest minds in podcasting, advertising, and media break down the forces shaping the audio landscape—and reconstruct them in real time.  We created this show in service of the Chief Audio Officer: the marketer responsible for making audio campaigns not just sound good, but drive results. For many brands, audio advertising is a highly effective secret weapon–but it can be difficult to navigate, requiring specialist expertise to untangle its nuances. From brand safety to ad load, from recapping the latest industry news, to redefining what a podcast is in this day and age, we tackle the issues that matter most to a CAO, in the most entertaining way possible.  You’ll hear from a wide range of voices—past guests include T-Pain, David Spade, Ashley Flowers (Crime Junkie), Ben Shapiro (The Daily Wire), and Ira Glass (This American Life), to name a few—alongside leading brands, publishers, and our own team of experts. If you’re invested in audio, whether you're buying the ads, creating the content, or just curious about the business, Media Roundtable is your ear to the ground with an eye on the future–and it’s time you listen.

  1. "Stop Apologizing": Lex Friedman on Why Podcasting Will Always Evolve and Why That's a Good Thing

    OCT 8

    "Stop Apologizing": Lex Friedman on Why Podcasting Will Always Evolve and Why That's a Good Thing

    This week on the Media Roundtable, we’re sitting down with Lex Friedman (not to be confused with Lex Fridman), one of podcasting’s original builders and a leader who’s shaped the business of podcasting since Day 1. Before launching his own consulting business, Lex played a part in nearly every major chapter of the industry, including Chief Business Development at Midroll, Chief Revenue Officer at ART19, Head of Podcast Partnerships at Amazon, and Head of Podcast Strategy at Wondery. Along the way, he’s helped define how ads get sold, how shows get funded, and how podcasting itself gets defined. In this episode, Lex opens up on what made podcast ads such a “win-win-win” from the start, why early pitches were simply “talk radio…on demand,” and how a listenership of “completionists” continue to set podcasts apart. He even drops an acoustic guitar analogy to explain why the word podcast isn’t going anywhere, no matter how the platforms try to rebrand it. "Stop apologizing for podcasting being what it is—because it’s clearly working." —Lex Friedman The conversation covers: Ad Load Tipping Points, Completionist Behavior, Consolidation and Mega-Deals, and more. Let’s go. Watch the conversation on Youtube: https://youtu.be/HjDmqUiBSQg See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    52 min
  2. OCT 1

    Inside the 2025 Podcast Ad Playbook from Leading Brands: Whole Foods, Chime, Indeed, and Tecovas

    Finally, some insights brand builders and performance marketers can agree on. We gathered CAOs in finance, food, jobs, and boots to share everything they’ve learned as they’ve scaled podcasting to enviable levels–and whether you’re brand or performance, you’ll benefit from their wealth of experience On The Media Roundtable, we have one of our favorite conversations from the 2025 CAO Summit. Conor Doyle (President, Oxford Road) moderated ”No More Maybes: Scaling Podcast Performance with Precision,” where he gathered some of the sharpest CAOs who have scaled podcasts and agreed to share their secrets.  Conor sat down with: • Gladwell Mwangi (Director of Paid Media, Whole Foods) • Kezia Koo (Former Sr. Director, Global Growth & Performance Marketing, Indeed), • Megan Smith (Director, Media Strategy, Tecovas), and • Nick Fairbairn (Vice President, Growth Marketing, Chime) These audio evangelists candidly shared how they grew podcasts with confidence and their hard-won lessons from the journey. They’re talking: Measurement Quality, Podcasts Play Nice, Thoughtful Success, and more. Let’s dig in. “ Every single time we ratchet up the quality of our measurement, it's telling us time and time again, that podcast is efficient, it's driving revenue and bringing customers in.” – Kezia Koo (Former Sr. Director, Global Growth & Performance Marketing, Indeed) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    40 min

Trailers

4.3
out of 5
28 Ratings

About

The Media Roundtable isn’t just another industry podcast; it’s an open lab where the sharpest minds in podcasting, advertising, and media break down the forces shaping the audio landscape—and reconstruct them in real time.  We created this show in service of the Chief Audio Officer: the marketer responsible for making audio campaigns not just sound good, but drive results. For many brands, audio advertising is a highly effective secret weapon–but it can be difficult to navigate, requiring specialist expertise to untangle its nuances. From brand safety to ad load, from recapping the latest industry news, to redefining what a podcast is in this day and age, we tackle the issues that matter most to a CAO, in the most entertaining way possible.  You’ll hear from a wide range of voices—past guests include T-Pain, David Spade, Ashley Flowers (Crime Junkie), Ben Shapiro (The Daily Wire), and Ira Glass (This American Life), to name a few—alongside leading brands, publishers, and our own team of experts. If you’re invested in audio, whether you're buying the ads, creating the content, or just curious about the business, Media Roundtable is your ear to the ground with an eye on the future–and it’s time you listen.

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