Sounds Profitable

Today in the business of podcasting:

• IAB Australia's Future of Measurement review finds the biggest constraint on advertising is fragmented data, not a shortage of measurement methods, and it calls for a shared campaign-data taxonomy modeled on IAB US's Campaign Data Standards 1.0.
• YouTube and Variety are launching the inaugural Variety x YouTube Creator Festival at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, premiering a Mark Vins documentary and two episodes of Ziwe's You'd Be an Iconic Guest before both become YouTube exclusives.
• Netflix is doubling down on podcasts, ordering new shows from Katt Williams, Harlan Coben, and Stephanie Soo, renewing its entire slate of originals, and adding acquired Spotify video podcasts including The Bill Simmons Podcast and The Rewatchables.

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 delivers his final Podcast Movement programming rundown, along with a deadline you don't want to sleep on. Register by end of day Friday, September 4 and the art for your show or your company logo goes up on a screen in the middle of Times Square. Fewer than 200 tickets remain at $199 for both days.

Tom also previews the four keynotes headed to the New York stages:

• Thursday at 11:30, Tom releases The Podcast Landscape 2026 live from the stage, the fourth year of the Signal Hill Insights study and the largest publicly available study of podcasting in America at 5,400 consumers weighted to the census. For the first time since podcasting began, Apple is no longer among the top three platforms people name, and Tom reveals what replaced it.
• SiriusXM Media brings MrBallen, John Allen, for a fireside on turning a devoted true-crime fanbase into a lasting multi-platform brand.
• Arielle Nissenblatt and Lauren Passell tackle the question the industry never settles in WTF is a Podcast in 2026?, built from answers gathered from attendees all week.
• Steve McLendon, Head of Product for YouTube Podcasts, closes out the keynotes with what YouTube is building next for podcasters.

Plus the details on the IAB Podcast Upfront after party at Terminal 5, featuring a live taping of Dana Gould's Hangin' with Dr. Z in full Planet of the Apes makeup.

Read the full issue and register for Podcast Movement here.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Oxford Road's Dan Granger argues that YouTube's decision to redefine how it counts views, a change Bumper's Dan Misener found inflates play counts by nearly double, is the jolt that proves podcasting needs cross-platform measurement standards it can actually trust.
• Former Adelicious leaders Andy Goldsmith and Craig Eastwood team with industry veteran Mike Wooller to launch Everywhere, a new media company built to unify creator commercial partnerships as audiences increasingly follow creators across platforms rather than staying on one.
• Earmax Media's Andy Maxwell makes the case that podcast advertisers chasing cheap reach and low CPMs are missing what makes the medium work, arguing that a tightly focused community, brand affinity, and strong creative deliver far more value than raw scale.

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:

• Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast launches a three-part miniseries built on Coleman Insights research, developed with NOVA Entertainment and Pantheon Podcasts, testing 500 U.S. listeners to pin down what actually makes a podcast trailer convert. Authenticity won stronger listener preference in three of the four trailers tested.
• IAB Australia reports internet advertising grew 14% to $19.8 billion in FY26, its strongest financial-year growth since FY22. Podcasting led audio's gains, rising 10.1% to claim 40% of all audio spend and setting a fresh quarterly record of $40 million.
• Digiday examines why brands cannot simply flip the "employees as creators" switch, as companies like Gap and Starbucks weigh new measurement, oversight, FTC disclosure, and compensation questions that never applied to outside contractors.

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:

• Apple Music now mandates "Made With AI" labels on AI-generated tracks, a music-distribution move that signals how fast audio platforms are formalizing AI disclosure.
• Political ad spending on radio jumped 22% in a month to $124 million, with AdImpact projecting a record $11.6 billion cycle and the biggest wave still expected after Labor Day.
• Bloomberg reports YouTube is offering creators millions to stay exclusive and off Netflix, a video-first fight worth watching as podcasting leans deeper into YouTube.
• Steven Goldstein argues Spotify's new Skip Ahead test simply shows that podcasting is not necessarily huge to Spotify's bottom line, urging publishers to diversify beyond any single platform.

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:

• Podscribe launched YouTube-only modeled attribution, closing a measurement gap for influencer campaigns that run only on YouTube by anchoring probabilistic modeling to audio performance data. It is free through September 30.
• Digiday weighs the case for and against the programmatic-ification of the creator economy, as automated buying pushes into brand-creator deals once struck by hand and raises questions about commoditizing creators.
• YouTube's EMEA chief pushes back on a UK proposal requiring guaranteed prominence for public-service broadcasters, defending its algorithm while acting as a TV distributor without the obligations broadcasters carry.

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' Paul Riismandel breaks down four ways audience research drives return in podcasting, from uncovering whitespace to proving value to advertisers with measurement tools like Triton Digital's Demos+.
• Podscribe reports that podcast video has gone mainstream, with 82% of episodic campaigns now including a YouTube simulcast, even as Spotify's baked-in video ads still face attribution gaps.
• In a Google-sponsored piece, Digiday lays out how publishers can strengthen connections with advertisers in the AI era through first-party data and diversified, cross-platform selling.

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:

• Political ad spending on radio has jumped 22% in the past month to $124 million, and with AdImpact projecting $6.1 billion in total 2026 political advertising, the post-Labor Day rush is a reminder of how much election money still flows to audio heading into the fall.
• A new IAB white paper argues radio's attribution gap with digital is closing fast, crediting pixel-based attribution, dynamic ad insertion, and identity resolution with giving audio the kind of digital-like precision advertisers expect.
• Steven Goldstein breaks down where podcasting actually fits at Spotify, noting podcast ads make up roughly 4% of Spotify's revenue while subscriptions drive about 89%, so the platform will keep prioritizing listeners over publishers.
• Kirby Grines uses TikTok streaming a live championship boxing match to argue that traditional media categories are collapsing, as social, streaming, creator, gaming, and TV now all compete for the same finite attention that podcasting fights for too.

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 IAB has revealed the full agenda for its 2026 Podcast Upfront, the invitation-only event landing September 16 between the Sounds Profitable Business Summit and Podcast Movement, with an official after party at Terminal 5.
• Apple Music will now require "Made With AI" labels on tracks made with artificial intelligence, a signal of how fast audio platforms are moving toward AI content transparency.
• Triton Digital's Q2 2026 U.S. Podcast Ranker shows comedy still on top with 44.5% reach while news climbs 8.4% ahead of the midterms, as creator-led and opinion-driven shows convert social audiences into chart placement.
• Bloomberg reports YouTube is offering top creators millions to keep their videos off Netflix, protecting first-view exclusivity as the lines between podcasting, YouTube, and streaming keep blurring.

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:

• SXSW will make podcasting a core pillar in 2027 with its first-ever four-day Podcast Festival, and Podcast Movement Evolutions returns to Austin that same week for two free days at the SKYBOX on 6th.
• Sounds Profitable's Tom Webster argues podcasting's real gap is the lack of a default, as dedicated hardware fades and 57% of Americans aged 12 to 34 now live in homes with no radio.
• Point-to-Point Marketing and Strategic Solutions Research announced the Podcast Study 2026, a listener research project on discovery, loyalty, and monetization that debuts at the Sounds Profitable Business Summit on September 14.
• YouTube is redefining the "view" as an "engaged view," a change that runs about 7% lower across 300,000 podcast episodes and could reshape CPMs and sponsorship math for video podcasts.

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.