Sounds Profitable

This week in the business of podcasting:

• Right Side Up and Sounds Profitable host a free October 28 webinar on how AI use and discovery affect podcast ad budgets, drawing on The Podcast Landscape 2026 research.
• Tom Webster breaks down the Super Spenders report, finding that the 11% of podcast consumers who spend $300 or more account for roughly 62% of recalled podcast-driven spending.
• Spotify launches Memberships, letting creators keep 90% of earnings from paid fans, while YMH Studios explains why 12 of its comedy shows launched on day one.
• Bumper releases a free tool for sharing YouTube engaged views with advertisers, after YouTube’s change to how it counts a view nearly doubled views for the average podcast.
• AudioStack argues podcast buying has outpaced podcast creative and makes the case for dynamic creative matched to each episode’s content.

To find links to these, and every article covered in this week’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.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster breaks down the new Super Spenders report, finding that the 11% of podcast consumers who spend $300 or more account for roughly 62% of recalled podcast-driven spending, and why they use more platforms and genres than other listeners.
• Podscribe and ART19 launch an integration that makes baked-in host-read ads measurable in HLS-delivered podcast episodes, with Daylight Media the first publisher live.
• Spotify’s Memberships launch, as YMH Studios’ Alan Abdine explains why 12 of its 35 comedy shows are offering paid memberships on day one.
• AudioStack argues podcast buying has outpaced podcast creative and makes the case for dynamic creative that matches each episode’s content.
• The Walrus will launch a Canadian podcast network in spring 2027, hosted on Acast with revenue shared with creators.

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.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Signal Hill Insights’ Demos+ study of more than 3,000 monthly US podcast consumers finds the audience now skews Independent at 39%, with Democrats at 33% and Republicans at 29%, ahead of the 2026 midterms.
• Substack is adding dynamic ad insertion to the podcasts it hosts, with early access opening this week, and Sounds Profitable’s Bryan Barletta tells Adweek buyers will want more detail on attribution partners, DSPs, and analytics.
• Point-To-Point Marketing’s Podcast Study 2026 of 1,205 US podcast consumers finds 74% listen to local radio weekly, and 47% of daily radio listeners say host-read ads strongly influence them to try or buy.

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.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Spotify has unveiled Memberships, letting creators offer exclusive content and community perks for a fee, with creators keeping 90% of earnings and shows needing 100 consumption hours, 100 listeners or viewers and three episodes to qualify.
• Bumper released a free tool for sharing YouTube engaged views with advertisers, after YouTube’s late-August change roughly doubled average podcast views without any audience growth.
• The Streaming Wars looks at Disney’s new company-wide partnership with Dude Perfect and what it says about paying for contracted revenue instead of speculative growth.
• The Signal Awards named their winners, with Good Hang with Amy Poehler taking gold and the listener’s choice prize for Best Host.
• Apple explained its Safari block on identity resolution companies, which affects LiveRamp, ID5, The Trade Desk’s UID 2.0, Permutive and Audigent.

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.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Right Side Up and Sounds Profitable host a free webinar on October 28 about how AI chatbots are changing podcast ad discovery and measurement. It draws on new LLM data from The Podcast Landscape 2026.
• IAB Tech Lab finalizes its Podcast Technical Measurement Guidelines v2.3, which clarify download and ad-delivery measurement for audio and video podcasts. CoHost is the first hosting company certified under the new version.
• Spotify expands audiobooks from 22 markets to more than 180 by the end of 2026, after its Audiobooks+ add-on passed one million subscribers and $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
• Political ad spending for the 2025-26 cycle tops $10 billion as House races drive local demand. New Sounds Profitable research finds one in four likely voters who consume podcasts monthly could be swayed by a candidate’s podcast appearance.
• MIDiA Research counts nearly a billion monthly podcast platform users worldwide. YouTube leads with a 32% share, and YouTube and Spotify together hold half of the global market.
• The Golden Globes reveal the 30 podcasts eligible for Best Podcast at the 84th ceremony, with 11 new shows joining the list ahead of the December 7 nominations.

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.

This week in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster breaks out the politics chapter of The Podcast Landscape 2026, a survey of 5,473 U.S. adults, covering how the podcast audience leans and whether a politician’s podcast appearance could sway midterm voters.
• Amplifi Media’s Steve Goldstein shares takeaways from a live Gen Z focus group at Podcast Movement 2026, from “best-of-ing” through podcast clips to how young listeners search for shows and decide within 30 seconds.
• The Podcast Study 2026 finds only 8.6% of listeners would accept more ads to keep podcasts free. It points to host-read ads, VIP clubs, memberships and social media discovery as the next growth levers.
• A Wondery and SmithGeiger study of 3,000 U.S. adults finds 81% of creator fans trust their favorite host as much as, or more than, their close friends. It also shows why multi-episode brand partnerships and clips pay off.

To find links to these, and every article covered in this week’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.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster breaks out the political findings from The Podcast Landscape 2026, including how Americans feel about politicians as podcast guests and whether those appearances could sway midterm voters.
• A Wondery and SmithGeiger study of 3,000 U.S. adults finds 81% of creator fans trust their favorite host as much as, or more than, their close friends. It also shows why multi-episode brand partnerships and clips work.
• Netflix is cutting about 1,000 jobs as it expects roughly $3 billion in ad revenue this year and adds video podcasts and creator programming.
• A new Nielsen report finds radio reaches 92% of U.S. adults each month, and that adding podcasts lifts reach among adults 18 to 34 to 94%.
• Dentsu wants brands to treat entertainment, including microdramas, video podcasts and YouTube-native series, as a core budget line instead of an innovation experiment.

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.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• The Podcast Study 2026 from Strategic Solutions Research and Point-To-Point Marketing finds new revenue opportunities beyond the traditional podcast ad. Nearly half of the 1,205 U.S. podcast consumers surveyed would join a free VIP club, and 46.7% have bought merchandise or attended an event.
• At Podcast Movement 2026, Amplifi Media’s Steven Goldstein ran a focus group with Gen Z NYU students. They described watching whole podcasts through clips and deciding within 30 seconds whether to keep listening.
• Audioboom reports record Q3 2026 revenue of $23.8 million, up 17% year over year, with Showcase marketplace revenue up 20%. The company plans three to four acquisitions as podcast industry consolidation continues.
• Ad tech and data vendors are preparing for fallout from iOS 27, which made Safari block identity vendors like LiveRamp and The Trade Desk’s ad-serving domain. IAB Tech Lab’s Trusted Server concept is offered as a server-side workaround.

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.

This week Tom Webster looks at how podcast consumers feel about politics in podcasting as the midterms approach, drawing on the politics chapter of The Podcast Landscape 2026 and, for the first time, what moved since last year.

Tom gets into:

• How the podcast audience compares to the country by party and ideology
• Whether politicians belong on podcasts, and how weekly consumers and never-consumers differ
• How likely midterm voters say a podcast appearance would affect their vote
• What happened to political talk as a genre heading into the election

Read the full issue here.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Podscribe’s Q3 benchmark report finds geography is the strongest targeting signal for podcast ad results, followed by a recent visit to the advertiser’s website and its Buyer Power Score.
• The Podcast Study 2026 finds only 8.6% of listeners would accept more ads to keep a podcast free, while 54.8% say shows already carry too many.
• Right Side Up’s Krystina Rubino shares how a podcast host halved her rate for a fertility brand, and why bespoke deals still run on one-to-one relationships.
• Media, Built’s Steve Raizes argues Spotify’s Joe Rogan renewal buys the right to sell him rather than an exclusive, and what that means for ad sales across platforms.
• ADOPTER Media’s Adam McNeil explains how a brand’s place on the adoption curve should shape how it buys podcast ads.

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.