Are you attending SXSW? We’ve created an incredibly short form so we can know who’s coming along. We’d love to see you there.
Hey – it’s Bryan here, stepping in for Tom while he is off to Madrid to represent podcasting at the global audio conference PARIX Audio Day, with some great news for the industry.
I’m thrilled to announce that Sounds Profitable will be the lead sponsor of the Official Podcast Stage at SXSW 2025 – our third year bringing podcasting to this major event. The stage will be prominently located in the convention center’s busiest area, right next to the Vox Media Podcast Stage, running four days from March 7-10 , concluding with the iHeart Media Podcast Awards on Monday evening. We’re sharing sponsorship with Audible (Sunday’s lead sponsor) and featuring official content across every SXSW track, demonstrating podcasting’s role as a through-line in modern media.
Saturday, March 8th – typically SXSW’s highest-attendance day – will showcase nearly a dozen of our partners delivering accessible short form solo presentations about the podcast space. This new format has allowed us to bring even more industry voices to SXSW while supporting the full panel sessions our partners have submitted. And my partner, Tom, will also be delivering a new talk called The Influence of Audio on Sunday, March 9th. This is all on top of the incredible panels across all four days, heavily showcasing our amazing partners.
One partner in particular, Nomono, will be the only SXSW-approved wireless audio solution, recording all the sessions on stage. In addition to recording audio and video of every session, Nomono will also be conducting interviews and giving live demonstrations of their Sound Capsule.
Further, here’s a quick list of Sounds Profitable partners who bought in to SXSW directly, securing their own sessions:
- AG1
- Right Side Up
- Quill
- Work X Work
- Triton Digital
- True Native Media
- Veritone One
- Podscribe
- Podglomerate
Our SXSW journey reflects our growth: from an unofficial outdoor event with 90 partners and 30 brands in year one (I almost cooked Tom to death), to last year’s official partnership featuring packed panels and networking sessions backed by Ad Results Media, ESPN, Magellan AI, and The Roost Podcast Network. Now we’re fully integrated into the official program – our goal all along – ensuring podcasting’s spotlight extends beyond just our reach at Sounds Profitable and to the broader SXSW community.
Why does SXSW matter? Opportunity.
Yes, it’s massive and daunting, but so is growing a medium, and growing it means doing what we can to tell the story of podcasting in more than just our major podcasting events. Companies that actively identify and invite clients and prospects to witness podcasting’s expanding footprint will thrive at events like SXSW. This is the year for prospecting and perspective. And while safer revenue opportunities exist, they often require $50k-500k just to start – that’s not our industry’s style. Our goal is to be lean and excellent.
Let’s be clear: there’s no free lunch in media. The fantasy of randomly meeting your next million-dollar client at an event is just that – a fantasy. While bringing clients to events can feel risky, sophisticated and educated buyers spend more money, and at our industry’s size, they rarely stick with just one partner. We impress these buyers by bringing our A-game: strong industry insights and top talent. Outside of On Air Fest, SXSW offers the largest opportunity to experience live recordings and hear directly from podcasting’s biggest names.
At Sounds Profitable, we fight for space for our industry (I mentioned this in a post on LinkedIn over the weekend). While podcasting deserves center stage, premium opportunities come at a cost. Our role is finding the middle ground: negotiating discounted tickets, emphasizing valuable networking opportunities, securing meeting spaces, and transforming unused event resources into must-attend experiences. Importantly, we don’t take a cut from these relationships – instead, we negotiate deeper discounts and more space to benefit all partners and the industry overall.
I’d like to take a quick moment to thank the following Sounds Profitable partners who are joining us to help make this possible:
- The Roost Podcast Network
- SiriusXM Media
- Magellan AI
- Pod Digital Media
- Barometer
- YMH Studios
- ESPN
- Auddia
With less than four weeks until SXSW 2025, this might not be your year – and that’s okay. But for those who’ve shown up consistently, the value keeps growing while our negotiated entry costs – from attendance to hosting official sessions – are becoming more competitive with incumbent industry events. In Sounds Profitable’s four-plus years, we’ve only increased the value of what we offer while maintaining or reducing prices and expanding opportunities, taking financial risks we believe in to secure opportunities for you all.
If you’re interested in becoming a Sounds Profitable partner, we still have some great SXSW 2025 opportunities available, from attending to participating. We’d love to help you benefit from them this year or get you prepped for future opportunities. But in any case, I hope to see your support of the podcast industry by joining us there or cheering on those who attend from the sidelines.
New Partners
Sounds Profitable exists thanks to the continued support of our amazing partners. Monthly consulting, free tickets to our quarterly events, partner-only webinars, and access to our 1,800+ person slack channel are all benefits of partnering Sounds Profitable.
- Castify enables content creators to seamlessly build, distribute and monetize OTT Applications and FAST Channels
- Thrumm is a production music library for podcasters, documentarians and those with a story to tell.
Want to learn more about partnership? Hit reply or send us an email!
