Sounds Profitable

Sounds Profitable’s series of podcasts have been so helpful to me as I’ve tried to keep up-to-speed with the changes across podcasting and media. I’ve relied on their coverage and insights to learn about how the AdTech industry works and evolves, but have also appreciated their in-depth research and analysis of news across the industry. Highly recommended!

They ran some experiments with their feed early on so now I have 4 separate feeds for this in my player. And the main part of their feed is now a whole different show, which is essentially a ripoff of another persons show. So I really struggle with this one. There seem to be some good people involved with this production. And if small creators can get some ad revenue to help cover costs, that’s cool. But so much of Internet advertising is so bad (in every way), podcast advertising is especially challenging, and ad tech tends to mess with the downloading and playback experience. There are so many fake metrics and scams and so much corruption, that the upbeat pro advertising tone of this show seems at least irresponsible if not deliberately deceptive. I’m pretty sure most listeners do everything they can to skip ads. Even the listeners and poll respondents who pretend to enjoy the ads so their favorite creators can get paid. Would be cool if this show dug into how to make podcast ads more listenable. Or more skipable. I would predict they’d find much shorter ads, fewer ad breaks, ads that sonically match the show yet are distinct from it, ads in their own chapter breaks, and non-intrusive whole-season sponsorships would be more pleasant and effective than what we’re getting now. Ads are quickly driving me away from podcasting and helping me create my “never buy” list. This show is telling the industry the opposite. I’d be suspicious of whatever it is this show is selling.

Bryan and now Tom, are great researchers; been following them both for a while. Bryan is passionate about the podcast space and how ads fit into it. Tom comes from Edison research and has a heavy research background- very knowledgeable about podcast data. They’re already making a great team and I look forward to continue to track this space with them. They too do a good job of helping indies by giving a lot of free game and webinars etc. Definitely recommend to fellow podcasters that want to monetize and run ads

I didn’t know anything about podcast ad tech before this show!