Sounds Profitable

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Sounds Profitable's Ask a Marketer webinar on August 18 brings Right Side Up's Krystina Rubino and Quo's Tori Murray together with Tom Webster to break down The Podcast Atlas, a survey of 5,061 U.S. consumers on how creator-based advertising performs across audio, video, social, and newsletters. The two buyers sort which research findings actually move a media plan.
• The FCC voted 2-1 to repeal the 39% national TV ownership cap, clearing the way for broadcast station-group consolidation and shifting oversight to antitrust courts. Larger groups gain leverage in retransmission talks and more inventory for FAST channels and connected-TV advertising.
• RSS.com launched a Max plan that publishes video podcasts to Apple Podcasts via HLS streaming with dynamically inserted programmatic ads from episode one. Creators keep 70% of ad revenue with no audience threshold, unlike YouTube's 1,000-subscriber and 4,000-watch-hour requirements.
• Nielsen agreed to acquire media-verification company DoubleVerify for $2.15 billion in an all-cash deal at $13.60 per share. The combined company spans TV, streaming, digital, social, mobile, and audio measurement with more than $4 billion in annual revenue.
• The ANA, the 4As, and the IAB are aligning for the first time in nearly a decade on AI governance, retail media standards, and workforce development, culminating in an Industry Leadership Summit this October. The group's AI-governance and measurement work could shape standards that reach audio advertising.

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:

• Spotify is testing "Skip Ahead," a one-tap ad-skipping tool for Premium subscribers, and the industry is pushing back over what it means for host-read sponsorships and advertiser attention reporting.
• Acast has opened video publishing on Apple Podcasts to all creators on its platform, after beta shows saw an estimated 25% increase in weekly Apple Podcasts sessions.
• A coalition of 18 U.K. media organizations is urging the government to reject advertising on BBC podcasts, citing an estimated £10 million in annual revenue against the harm to independent audio businesses.
• The IAB released "Measuring Visibility in the AI Era," a framework sorting AI search visibility metrics into four categories as more than 20 vendors sell competing tools with materially different results.

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:

• Industry leaders including Crooked Media's Tommy Vietor, Right Side Up's Krystina Rubino, and ADOPTER Media's Glenn Rubenstein are responding to Spotify's "Skip Ahead" test, which lets Premium listeners clear an entire ad break, sponsor read, or intro in a single tap.
• A coalition of 18 U.K. commercial audio companies is urging the government to drop proposals allowing advertising on BBC podcasts, arguing the BBC would earn only about £10 million a year while draining revenue from the independent audio sector.
• Gap Inc., Staples, and Starbucks have launched employee-creator programs, betting that firsthand accounts from actual staff read as more credible than polished brand marketing.

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 has opened video publishing on Apple Podcasts to all creators on its platform, ending the beta waitlist after shows using video saw an estimated 25% lift in weekly Apple Podcasts sessions.
• Media measurement and ad effectiveness have moved from CMO-CFO conversations onto public earnings calls, even as a Gain Theory survey finds 49% of marketers doubt their data can hold up at the CFO level.
• New Jersey's data broker law is already in effect, banning sensitive data sales with $50,000-per-record penalties and creating a "data collector" category that pulls podcast ad-tech and listener-data practices into scope.
• Hollywood studios chasing creator-driven IP are running into ownership problems, as A24's attempt to trademark "the backrooms" shows the risks of adapting open-source collaborative worlds.
• Kirby Grines argues the smartest streaming strategy is licensing mature catalog while keeping current releases exclusive, citing Parrot Analytics data showing licensed titles drove over 53% of Netflix series sign-ups in Q1 2026.

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 is testing "Skip Ahead," a one-tap ad-skipping feature for Premium subscribers that collapses a nine-tap skip into a single action, raising questions about ad delivery reporting and advertiser attention data.
• Eight major streaming platforms have launched vertical clip feeds in 20 months, a convergence driven by premium streaming's first single-digit growth year at 7% in 2025.
• The IAB released new guidelines for measuring brand and publisher visibility in AI-generated search results, built around web search analytics.
• A new Audacy/YouGov survey finds cost-of-living anxiety shaping the 2026 midterms, positioning radio and podcasts as channels that reach commuting voters.
• Digiday reports agencies are pushing for more control over programmatic ad-buying infrastructure, with implications for how podcast inventory is transacted.

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:

• Apple's fiscal Q3 2026 results show Services revenue, the segment housing Apple Podcasts, up 12% year over year to $30.7 billion, while SiriusXM Media CEO Jennifer Witz reported podcast revenue up 30% year over year.
• Bloomberg's Ashley Carman reports podcasters are building businesses on free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels, opening a video distribution and revenue path beyond YouTube.
• Livewire's July 2026 podcast hosting data shows Spotify for Creators rebounding to a 24% share of episodes released and Spreaker hitting a 2026 record of 13.6%, with most other platforms slipping.
• Bauer Media Advertising MD Simon Kilby argues advertisers should shift budget to regulated digital audio, citing AA/WARC data showing digital audio grew 22% year over year in Q1 2026, the fastest-growing medium in the period.

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 makes the case that a podcast newsletter is the one channel where creators gather unmediated audience feedback, separating the work of promotion from the work of understanding what listeners actually need.
• The industry reacts to The AMP Accords, which define a podcast, a play, and an ad impression, with Bryan Barletta, Dan Granger, James Cridland, and Steve Goldstein weighing in on adoption, economics, and whether Apple Podcasts and Overcast will share exposure data.
• Nick Cicero of Mondo Metrics argues podcasters undervalue social clips, and that sports teams solved this a decade ago by packaging clip distribution alongside full-episode integrations in a single sponsorship deal.
• Ofcom's Media Nations 2026 report details U.K. podcast and speech-audio listening, with 53% of adults tuning in to speech audio and YouTube leading as the most-used audio platform.

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 closes out The Podcast Atlas series by arguing the email newsletter is the only piece of real estate a podcast creator actually owns, giving shows a direct line to listeners that survives algorithm changes.
• Mondo Metrics founder Nick Cicero explains what podcasters can learn from the sports social industry about selling social clips as sponsorship inventory rather than giving them away.
• Ofcom's Media Nations 2026 report finds 53% of U.K. adults listen to speech audio, YouTube is now the most-used platform for any audio content, and only 45% of listeners think podcasts carry too many adverts.
• Steve Goldstein writes for RAIN News that the download is an obsolete metric that can inflate audience figures by up to 50%, and that verified impression metrics could unlock $1 billion to $2 billion in new ad revenue.
• SiriusXM launches a $5-per-month Sports Pass on September 1, bundling NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL games with local Audacy stations, ESPN Radio, and hundreds of sports podcasts.

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' new Audio on the Move study finds podcasts account for 9% of ad-supported audio listening time in Canada, while YouTube and YouTube Music together hold 25% and rank as the top podcast discovery platform. AM/FM radio still leads all ad-supported audio at 39%.
• Richard Fawal argues mission-driven podcasts underestimate their reach, using Sounds Profitable Podcast Atlas data to make the case that audience loyalty follows the host, not the platform. He lays out a federation model that treats audio, video, clips, social, and newsletters as one asset instead of five separate channels.
• NBCUniversal will bundle Peacock Premium with YouTube Premium starting in early 2027, a move The Streaming Wars reads as media companies handing the customer relationship to YouTube for cheaper distribution. The same discovery-driven dynamic is reshaping podcasting, where YouTube already leads as the platform for finding new shows.

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.

In the final stop on The Podcast Atlas article series, Tom Webster makes the case that a podcast newsletter is the most valuable piece of owned media a creator can build, and the one channel no platform or host can take away. Drawing on Sounds Profitable research, he unpacks why 61% of listeners still haven't subscribed, why existing subscribers convert to listening at 87%, and why the real prize isn't promotion but permission and a feedback loop that makes your show better every week. If you care about podcast audience growth, email newsletters, and turning first-party audience data into episodes people actually want, this is the best real estate to own in podcasting.

Download The Podcast Atlas

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

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