Sounds Profitable

This week Tom Webster reports back from Denver, where Content Marketing World, LIONS, and The Market Research Event shared one expo floor and nearly every booth was selling an AI-augmented something. His argument is that large language models are built to produce the most probable answer, which makes them a machine for the average, and that the real opportunity is to hand over the average work and reinvest the time in what only people can do.

Tom gets into:

• Why synthetic survey respondents hand you the consensus back, and why research earns its keep by finding what you didn't expect
• Where AI belongs in podcasting (show notes, transcripts, ad operations) and where it doesn't (the host-read ad and the show itself)
• Why "good enough" is a thermostat setting, and what it takes to turn it up
• What happens when AI becomes just another tool and the expo floor goes back to arguing about the work

Read the full issue here.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• A Signal Hill Insights survey of 6,161 Canadians finds AM/FM radio still holds 46% of in-car listening, while 68% of Canadians dislike AI-generated podcasts and only 4% like them.
• The Podcast Study 2026 identifies "Prime Prospects," the 18% of podcast consumers who value the host and show growing consumption, as a major opportunity to grow podcast superfans, who make up 17% of the audience.
• Apple's iOS 27 update has Safari blocking a first handful of ad tech companies, including The Trade Desk, LiveRamp, ID5, and Permutive, a quiet blocklist that was the talk of Advertising Week New York.

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:

• Sounds Profitable Partner Tom Webster and ADOPTER Media's Glenn Rubenstein host a free webinar on October 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET, using new Podcast Atlas analysis to profile podcasting's heaviest buyers, the Super Spenders.
• Audacy's Leah Reis-Dennis argues in a Sounds Profitable guest article that outdated podcast advertising advice needs a rewrite, citing 22% lower CPA on mid-sized shows, the value of host expertise, and the discovery role of video.
• Barometer's AI contextual brand suitability and targeting segments are now available in Amazon Ads DVA+ for podcast campaigns, with episode-level pre-bid targeting across major platforms and supply side partners.
• An AdExchanger column from Krystina Rubino and Lindsay Piper Shaw says podcasting is having its viewability moment, and that buyers should ask what kinds of impressions they are getting heading into 2027.
• Dhar Mann says the $100M creator-brand deal target he set as Advertising Week New York's first chief creator officer is already pledged by CMOs, though contracts are not expected this week.

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:

• Sounds Profitable's Podcast Landscape 2026 shows podcast reach holding steady at 74% of U.S. adults, while Netflix debuts as the third most-used podcast platform and video viewing climbs to 44% weekly.
• Acast's Greg Glenday, Oxford Road's Dan Granger and Triton's Sharon Taylor explain how they reached scale, why measurement remains the industry's biggest problem, and why they believe podcast advertising is still early.
• International Podcast Day brought a wave of announcements, from free Podcast Movement NYC sessions and a Headliner credit giveaway to a redesigned Podigee platform and Flightcast's Collaborative Publishing.

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:

• Sounds Profitable's Podcast Landscape 2026 finds U.S. podcast reach holding steady at 74% of adults, with Netflix arriving as a top-three platform and weekly video podcast viewing rising to 44%.
• ExchangeWire asks whether podcasting is rated highly enough in the media mix, as UK weekly listening grows to 27% and ad execs weigh in on attention, host-read ads, and attribution.
• Oxford Road CEO Dan Granger and Sounds Profitable's Bryan Barletta explain why the host is podcasting's most valuable ad asset, and why they favor a "both-and" monetization strategy.
• Acast's Podcast Pulse 2026 shows 86% of Australian podcast fans consume both audio and video, and that podcasters were the only creator category to gain commercial trust in the past year.

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 shares Part One of The Podcast Landscape 2026, our annual study of how Americans consume podcasts, drawn from a census-weighted survey of 5,473 US adults. Podcasting's audience is large and stable, but it is increasingly consuming in places not built for podcasts. Tom gets into five findings:

• Reach held steady, with 74% of adults having consumed a podcast and 39% in the past week
• Netflix is the third most-used service for podcasts, ahead of Apple Podcasts
• Podcast-native apps kept shrinking as a most-used platform
• Video kept growing, with 44% watching a video podcast in the past week
• More people are consuming podcasts together with others

Plus, Tom points to his Podcast Movement NYC keynote on the Netflix finding.

Read the full issue here.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Acast, Oxford Road, and Triton Digital leaders explain how they reached scale, why inconsistent measurement remains a core problem, and why one CEO says podcast advertising is still "at the basement."
• International Podcast Day brings a wave of announcements, including 82 free Podcast Movement NYC sessions on YouTube, a redesigned Podigee platform, and Flightcast's new Collaborative Publishing.
• Radiocentre research finds that shifting search and social budgets into audio could add £1 million in profit for the average brand without raising total spend.
• Talent agencies like CAA and UTA are moving into creator representation, blurring the line between agents and managers.

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:

• BetterHelp has tapped creator-led agency Media Bodies to lead its international podcast advertising strategy across 10 markets, using localized approaches rather than one global playbook.
• The IAB Tech Lab has opened its first Programmatic Standard Practices for public comment through October 16, setting shared business rules for how buyers and sellers use existing programmatic standards.
• A new Media, Built issue draws on Hub Entertainment Research's study of 1,600 U.S. broadband users to show how being a viewer's "default" streamer drives retention, with default users two to six times more likely to keep a subscription.
• Myles Younger of U of Digital argues AI is closer to labor, a utility or an appliance than to publishing, which makes paid models a better fit than 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.

Today in the business of podcasting:

• 1UpMedia founder Guang Jin Yeo shares what Asia's podcast market can learn from the global playbook, from static-frame video podcasts to dubbing and generative AI. His golden rule for AI in podcasting is that audiences shouldn't be able to tell, but they must always be told.
• Programmatic podcast advertising is growing fast, and 82% of agencies now buy audio programmatically. New Podscribe benchmark data shows average podcast ad load fell to 10.3% in Q2 2026, and heavy ad loads can cut conversion rates nearly in half.
• Patreon is ending per-creation memberships and moving creators to monthly-only billing by November 1, 2026. Seasonal podcasts like audio fiction and investigative series will likely feel it most.

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:

• Sounds Profitable's Tom Webster explains why Netflix passing Apple Podcasts to become the third most-named place Americans consume podcasts is a warning sign, since most shows can never get on the platform.
• Triton Digital's Sharon Taylor argues video is expanding podcasting rather than replacing audio, noting 80% of monthly podcast consumers both watch and listen.
• ADOPTER Media, Right Side Up and Oxford Road, representing about half a billion dollars in ad buying, commit to YouTube Engaged Views after YouTube inflated its public view counts.
• Lower Street's Annalise Nielsen details the roadblocks she hit trying to spend $72,000 on podcast ads, from missing sales contacts to $150,000 minimums.
• Recaps from Podcast Movement NYC and the Sounds Profitable Business Summit cover AI-era podcast SEO, smart TV listening growth, and ad buyers' take on Spotify's skip button.

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.