Sounds Profitable

Today 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.
• YouTube is redefining the "view" as an "engaged view," a shift that runs about 7% lower across 300,000 podcast episodes and could reshape CPMs and sponsorship math for video podcasts.
• Magellan AI released its first H1 2026 podcast advertising benchmarks for Ireland, showing 33% year-over-year spend growth, financial services on top, and a 5.71% average ad load.
• Flightpath shipped Automation Playbooks to fight unreliable ad delivery, responding to an ad-tech platform change it says threatens publishers with revenue losses of up to 50%.

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 Academy opened submissions for the 2027 Ambies, spanning 23 show categories. This cycle adds Best Music Podcast, Episode of The Year, and a new Advertising category covering Best Ad Read, Best Branded Podcast, and Podcast Advertiser of The Year.
• Triton Digital released its Australian Podcast Ranker for July 2026. Mamamia Out Loud held the top spot, Hamish and Andy placed second, and ABC News Top Stories cracked the top three for the first time.
• The IAB updated its AI Transparency and Disclosure Framework with a standardized sparkle icon or text label for advertising where AI materially changes what consumers see or hear. The harder problem is keeping that disclosure attached to the creative as it moves through agencies, DSPs, ad servers, and publishers.
• Buzzsprout reports more than 11,000 HLS video episodes are now live on Apple Podcasts. Among 562 established shows, median Apple Podcasts downloads rose 19 percent in the 28 days after a show's first HLS video episode.

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.

A nine-button Italian radio with a dead app can teach us some lessons about podcast discovery.

• Written by Tom Webster
• Edited and narrated by Gavin Gaddis"

Find the full article here.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Spotify says a bug, not a policy, made a podcast ad appear unskippable, telling Podnews the 15-second skip was hidden in the viral example and has since been fixed — and that skipping works for both Free and Premium listeners
• YouTube changes how it counts a "view" starting August 24, registering a play from the very first frame while making the more meaningful "engaged views" metric private, cutting off third-party rankers and data companies
• Point-To-Point Marketing and Strategic Solutions Research announce the Podcast Study 2026, a national effort on discovery, loyalty, and monetization co-sponsored by Crooked Media, NPR, and PRX, with findings due September 14-15 at the Sounds Profitable Business Summit
• The Streaming Wars reports NFL insider Tom Pelissero, out at ESPN, has landed at both Netflix and Spotify-owned The Ringer, a case study in one institutional job splintering into several targeted assignments
• A Magellan AI case study details how boutique network Rhapsody Voices used data-driven creator-sponsor matching to reach better than 80% sell-through on two priority shows as it scaled beyond manual research

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:

• Register for Ask a Marketer: How Advertisers Read the Research
• Spotify has begun selling unskippable podcast ads that Premium listeners cannot jump past, even with the standard 15-second skip. The move follows the company's test of a "Skip Ahead" button that automatically skips ad breaks, sponsorships, and intros.
• Amplifi Media's Steven Goldstein pushes back on the widely shared claim that only 10 of the top 200 podcasts have video. His own tally finds 84% of Edison's US Top 50 now publish full video episodes, along with 77% of Apple's Top 100.
• Australian podcast ad spend broadened well beyond tech and finance in Q2 2026, according to ARN's iHeart and Magellan AI. Alcohol led the growth at 58% quarter on quarter, and Airbnb topped the advertiser rankings.
• Creators are moving away from platform exclusivity as Netflix lets shows from Rhett & Link and Nick DiGiovanni run on YouTube at the same time. Free ad-supported channels on Amazon Prime Video and Roku are becoming part of the same strategy.
• Steve Raizes argues the industry's giant podcast guarantees function as subscriber-acquisition campaigns for streaming platforms rather than ad plays. Because those deals expire, he says talent should trade peak leverage for ownership of an operating business.

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 walks through Podcast Movement's five-day takeover of Terminal 5 in New York City, from the inaugural Sounds Profitable Business Summit to a creator conference spanning more than 80 sessions across five stages.
• Sport Social's Ryan Barker makes the case that official club podcasts are the natural landing spot for betting sponsorship money as the Premier League phases out front-of-shirt gambling deals in 2026/27.
• Quill and CoHost CEO Fatima Zaidi explains why branded podcasts get cut, and lays out the named audience, defined behavior change, and single accountable owner that lasting shows share.
• Nielsen agreed to acquire media verification company DoubleVerify in a $2.15 billion all-cash deal, pairing audience data with verification tooling across a stack that explicitly includes audio.

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:

• Tom Webster details Sounds Profitable's five-day takeover of New York City's Terminal 5 in September, spanning the partner-only Business Summit, the IAB Podcast Upfront after party, and Podcast Movement NYC.
• Quill and CoHost CEO Fatima Zaidi argues brand podcasts fail from unclear purpose rather than small budgets, and offers a three-part test for building shows that survive budget cuts.
• Alex Cooper's Unwell takes its first outside investment from Patrick Whitesell's firm WTSL at a $500 million valuation, signaling continued investor appetite for podcast creator IP.

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:

• Acast acquires Backyard Ventures for $20 million, adding more than 200 premium creators across podcasts, YouTube, newsletters, and social to accelerate omnichannel monetization.
• Spotify asks artists to disclose AI-generated music and will label AI artist identities as "AI Personas," excluding them from editorial and algorithmic recommendations beginning in mid-September.
• The Media Leader asks seven industry specialists whether podcasting has hit saturation, and the consensus is that the medium is maturing, with ad spend still lagging consumption and discovery shifting to social platforms.
• Signal Hill Insights analyzes how 4,819 Americans define the word "podcast," finding that only about 33 to 38% mention audio or listening while just 7% of listeners describe podcasts as video only.

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.

Register for Podcast Movement 2026

In this week's Sounds Profitable newsletter, Tom Webster breaks down the company's most ambitious week yet: five days taking over Terminal 5 in New York this September, running three different events for three different audiences under one roof. He walks through the Business Summit bringing the buy side and sell side of podcasting into one room, the official IAB Podcast Upfront after party, and the reimagined Podcast Movement creator days at just $199 for two full days in Manhattan. Along the way he makes the case for why not a single minute of stage time is for sale, how the partners underwrite it all, and the small idea he's proudest of, a four o'clock block built for the person who doesn't already know everyone in the room.

• Written by Tom Webster
• Edited and narrated by Gavin Gaddis"

Find the full article here.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• With the Premier League banning front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships from the 2026/27 season, Sport Social's Ryan Barker argues official team and fan podcasts are the natural landing spot for betting brands, pointing to a Sky Bet partnership across 20 football podcasts that reached more than one million listeners.
• Bumper co-founder Dan Misener explains why Apple Podcasts play counts are inflated: Apple counts every tap of the play button, not every listener, making the metric impossible to compare with Spotify plays or YouTube views.
• iHeartMedia reported Q2 2026 podcast revenue up 20.7% year over year to $162 million, now 16.5% of total company revenue, alongside a new video podcast deal bringing shows to Disney+ and Hulu.
• Magellan AI's Q2 2026 Podcast Advertising Quarterly Benchmark Report finds podcast ad revenue up 23% year over year, with average ad load rising to 8.75% of runtime, or roughly five and a half minutes of ads per hour.
• YouTube is doubling its Partner Program requirements effective February 1, 2027, raising qualified watch hours from 4,000 to 8,000 and Shorts views from 10 million to 20 million, raising the cost of entry for podcasters leaning on video.

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.