Podcast Industry Mourns Passing of Todd Cochrane

Blubrry CEO Todd Cochrane has died

Yesterday morning Blubrry Podcasting founder Todd Cochrane passed away. In a statement from Blubrry, CFO Barry Kantz eulogizes Cochrane, reflecting on his career since founding RawVoice and Blubrry in 2005, as well as launching Geek News Central in the earliest days of podcasting. Details regarding services and ways to pay respects will be made public soon, and The New Media Show will air a final memorial episode tomorrow with long-time cohost Rob Greenlee, joined by Adam Curry, Mike D ell, and Rob Walch.

Video, AI, And Measurement Will Take Center Stage At IAB Podcast Upfront.

The IAB has published the agenda for this years’ Podcast Upfront, scheduled for Tuesday, September 30th, in New York. The 2025 event will spotlight the growth of video podcasting, shifts in audience behavior, and advances in cross-platform management. Companies with presentations this year include Blue Wire, Consumable, iHeartPodcasts, Nielsen, NPM & ARM, Pod Digital Media, Podscribe, True Native Media, and more.

What If All Media is Marketing? by Doug Shapiro

Shaprio reflects on what the content creation industry will look like in five to ten years if generative AI tools have the same impact on the cost of producing media as the internet had in creating cheap content distribution in the first place. He proposes in a gen-AI future, media will switch from being the vehicle that profits by selling the attention it gets to advertisers, to content content itself being the cost and profits manifest via compliments (e.g. Amazon and Apple can make award-winning media at a loss because it entices users to lock into their ecosystems long-term). AJ Feliciano pitches this evolution as evidence that podcasting is not necessarily a net-new medium, but more of an evolution of media itself.

As for the rest of the news…

Mark your calendars for October 22nd when Bumper and USG Audio present The Podcast Growth Forum, an in-depth exploration of audience development, podcast marketing and data. No panels, no keynotes, just roundtable-style discussions and networking. The event is invite-only, free, and interested parties can request an invite here.
To promote the October 15th release of Wondercraft Video, a generative AI video tool, Wondercraft is hosting a contest where ten people with no video editing background are tasked with using the Wonda chat prompt tool to generate a launch video for Wondercraft Video. (Speaking of Wonda, co-founder Oskar Serrander also has a new video discussing the future of the company)
Predictive analytics platform Flightpath is partnering with Backyard Ventures to update BV’s sales operations, planning processes, and data management.
Dude Perfect’s rollout of their interview podcast Almost Athletes with Dude Perfect , produced by Wave Sports & Entertainment, continues with a YouTube Short trailer for the show.
True crime event CrimeCon is headed to Manchester for the first time on Saturday, September 27th.
Smartless is headed to the Hollywood Bowl this November for their first ever large-scale live podcast recording.