The collaboration behind The Hidden Third
Sounds Profitable has a new interview with The Roost Podcast Network Consultant, Project Lead Alison Mobley and journalist Mariana van Zeller discussing her new podcast The Hidden Third, produced in partnership with Muck Media. With The Roost now part of digital talent management company Night Media, the network is broadening its horizons beyond its comedy and gaming-focused roots. This new focus on creator-lead stories has brought together Zeller and Muck Media to report on the “hidden third” of global commerce. The Roost handles distribution, ad sales, and growth while Zeller and Muck Media are able to focus on the content itself without sweating the details of future live shows, special investigations, and community events.
Research as a Creative Partner, With Tom Webster of Sounds Profitable by Matthew McLean
In a new episode of Podcraft, our very own Tom Webster stopped by to discuss audience research and presenting original data. Regardless of if you want to build a full report of the industry, or run a simple audience survey, the key is understanding one’s own survey questions. As Webster says, if one of your questions could generate answers you wouldn’t know how to act on, cut it. A core truth of research is keeping the data transparent. Claiming “audiences say” is flashier than “respondents said” but “respondents” will always be a factual representation of the data collected.
Calling Creators “Kids” Is How Legacy Media Lost the Plot by Sean Howard and James Cridland
Flightpath founder Sean Howard starts off with a graph from an early September New York Times article representing a failure for Hollywood box office revenue to return to pre-covid levels. A chart that, since 2010, has trended downwards even without 2020’s sudden stop. Despite consistent and bountiful research proving content creators and their user-created content is eating traditional media’s lunch as far as time-consumed and money spent, Howard still encounters the antiquated idea that influencers are just “kids in their bedrooms” not making “real” media. He points to places like South Asia where traditional broadcasters either simulcast or fully skip legacy TV broadcasting to go straight to YouTube.
Reset your “days since ‘unprecedented times’ has been said” counter, we’re talking about unprecedented times. Marketers speaking to Digiday are expressing the difficulty of planning for 2026 budgetary requirements when we live in a situation where one of a handful of powerful people can tank the market with a single social media post at a whim. During Summit’s Town Hall event where agency attendees discussed big-picture issues under Chatham House Rule, the issue of tariffs and the issues they cause largely came down to one of education. Sales-focused folks are more focused on results, while agencies need them to understand the nuisances of how tariffs/sudden market problems can influence performance.
Americans Keep Holiday Spirit Strong Despite Economic Uncertainty.
Inside Audio Marketing takes a look at the new NRF Winter Holidays data, featuring survey data collected by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Consumers surveyed expect to spend an average of $890.49 USD on holiday gifts, food, decorations, and other seasonal items. That marks the second-highest expectation in the survey’s 23 year history, representing just a 1.3% decline from last year’s record high of $901.99. Of that money, $627.93 is expected to go into gift purchasing. Shopping starts earlier than the traditional beginning of the holiday season, with 42% of consumers already browsing and buying before November. 85% of respondents anticipate higher holiday prices due to tariffs, and 63% plan on doing the bulk of their shopping using Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on Thanksgiving weekend (up 4% from last year).
As for the rest of the news…
- New YouTube video podcast The Arena: Gridiron reports its first month of broadcasting puts it as the second most-watched sports podcast, according to Mondo Metrics’ top 10 of the genre.
- Oxford Road has published podcast rankings based on actual sales results ($1.6 billion in campaign data across hundreds of advertisers) collected over 12 months. Critical Role steals the top spot with its highly-leveraged fanbase, while household names like Joe Rogan don’t crack the top 15.
- Zeno Media’s platform Zeno.FM now has content from both BBC World Service and BBC News Hausa available for free.
- Over 300 podcasters have already signed up for Podcasthon, a non-profit initiative slated for mid-March 2026 in which registered podcasts will highlight chosen charities with special episodes.
- The Radcast Network has announced the promotion of Bella Shafer to Executive Producer, now overseeing flagship podcasts like Right About Now and The Vibe Science Podcast.
- Buzzfeed and PodcastOne have announced a partnership to launch a new podcast series titled Phone a Fangirl, focusing on K-Pop idols, celebrities, and fan engagement.
- The winners of the 2025 Independent Podcast Awards have been announced and Podnews has the full list.
