Podcasting Has Earned Its Seat. Who’s Ready to Be at the Table? by Bryan Barletta
During Advertising Week Europe, Sounds Profitable’s Business of Podcasting space hosted 16 panels over two days, attracting nearly 450 unique attendees. An important detail Barletta noticed, however, was the recurring trend of attendees showing up because the space was discussing podcasting. A quote from the article:
“For years, podcasting operated in a kind of productive silo. We built great things, argued about attribution, celebrated our wins, and largely talked to ourselves. It was a lot of fun. But, the industry’s biggest conversations happened at podcast-specific events, in podcast-specific publications, among people who were already convinced. That was fine. Maybe even necessary for a medium still proving itself.
But podcasting has proven itself. According to our Podcast Landscape 2025, 55% of Americans consumed a podcast in the past month. That’s not a niche. That’s mainstream media. That’s a call for bigger rooms to conquer.”
It’s time for the industry to move into events and spaces that draw media decision makers including brand strategists, buyers, agency leads, and more. Barletta says the goal of Sounds Profitable remains consistent: put podcasting in the room where decisions get made, and conversations larger than podcasting happen. It’s time for podcasting to bring presence to the larger advertising space commensurate with a mainstream medium.
Beyond the Broadcast: Why Podcasts Are the New Home for Sports Fans by Jim Salveson
Sport Social Podcast Network Director of Sport Jim Salveson highlights podcasting’s power to connect with audiences, build trust, and provide flexibility unavailable in traditional broadcast media. A quote from the article:
“This isn’t about replacing live sport. It’s about extending it. Emotionally, editorially and commercially. Sport audiences now demand content that reaches beyond the final whistle and that creates an opportunity for broadcasters both editorially and commercially.”
Podcasts are opt-in, with consumers seeking out specific shows and hosts. According to Edison Research’s Sports Audio Report, 51% of general sports fans will continue following an athlete even if they’re traded to a new team. By contrast, 76% of sports podcast listeners continue to follow a traded athlete. Salveson pitches opportunities for broadcasters launching official podcasts: follow teams or players across tournaments, target younger mobile-first audiences, or create native-language content for international listeners.
YouTube’s new TV features are the antithesis of Netflix’s second screen problem by James Hale
One of YouTube’s newly announced features is named Stations, acting as the platform’s answer to 24/7 programming channels found on free ad-supported TV (FAST) platforms like Tubi and Pluto TV. Stations will debut with coverage of this year’s Coachella festival. YouTube’s video-focused chatbot Ask, now on desktop and mobile, is coming to smart TVs with voice control. A quote from Hale’s article:
“In an example screenshot posted by Kurt Wilms, YouTube’s Senior Director of Product Management, a viewer asks the chatbot how Nick DiGiovanni got started as a YouTuber. The bot (which runs on Google’s Gemini LLM) responds with facts about DiGiovanni’s background as a MasterChef finalist, and mentions how his first videos were filmed in his apartment.”
In addition to Ask, YouTube announced a new system dubbed TV Companion. It will use a user’s phone to detect what is playing on their TV, allowing them to interact with comments, control playback, and “dive deeper into content without missing a beat.”
Independent Australian Show Tops U.S. Apple Podcasts Charts in 47 Days
Independent Queensland-based podcast network Mashed Pumpkin Productions launched What I Survived on February 18, 2026. In its first 47 days, it hit #31 on the U.S. Apple Podcasts overall chart, #1 in Documentary, and #4 in Society & Culture. Host and network founder Jack Laurence credits Apple Podcasts’ U.S. homepage editorial feature with the chart-climbing success and over 440,000 downloads. A quote from Laurence:
“It’s honestly wild to see my show sitting amongst some serious heavy hitters in the world of US podcasting, it’s a market I’ve been trying to crack for the last four years, the fact that What I Survived is the show to do it was honestly very unexpected.”
The show’s performance is a reminder of the impact editorial features still have in podcasting; Laurence notes his show’s peak had it charting alongside productions from iHeartPodcasts, Wondery, NPR, Barstool Sports, and The New York Times.
OpenAI Just Acquired Silicon Valley Podcast TBPN
Tubefilter covers the recent acquisition of tech podcast TBPN. The Financial Times reported the deal is valued in “the low hundreds of millions of dollars.” The deal includes an “editorial independence covenant” limiting OpenAI’s editorial influence on the show’s news coverage. OpenAI has made the show ad-free. Marketecture Media founder Ari Paparo published the hot take “I’m sorry, but this deal makes no sense, financially, editorially, or strategically.” Over on X, Anthony Pompliano proposes the framing that OpenAI’s investment isn’t necessarily in TBPN as a business or a show; it’s an investment in the TBPN team. By letting hosts operate without the stress of ad sales, OpenAI invests in a media tool to destigmatize generative AI for broader audiences. A quote from Pompliano’s post:
“The money was merely the price it would take for the team to give up their neutral position in the ecosystem and point their talent behind a single company. OpenAI wanted the people. TBPN was just the vessel to effectuate the transaction. And the money was the market clearing price to pull off a blockbuster trade for first round draft pick talent.“
As for the rest of the news…
- Nominations are now open for the Quill Podcast Awards, marking its fifth year running. The deadline to submit nominations for the first round of voting is April 20.
- Podscribe has announced its Radio Airchecks capability now includes SiriusXM inventory, letting advertisers and agencies track SXM radio ads from Podscribe’s workflow. In addition, Podscribe has rolled out automated pixel email scheduling and the ability for publishers to invite podcasters to have secure and scoped access to performance data.
- American Public Media and Streamguys have partnered to launch Inform Media Network, a digital audio ad network with over thirty public media and prestige audio publishers.
- Podnews reports the TuneIn broadcaster portal, closed since February 2024, has reopened. TuneIn’s podcast directory remains the default path to getting podcasts in Tesla cars and on Sonos speakers, in addition to other platforms.
