Sounds Profitable

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.

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.