Before we get into the news (free of April Fools pranks, that’s a Gavin Gaddis guarantee), a reminder that Sounds Profitable will be headed to the Headgum Studios in Los Angeles on Monday, May 5th, to host our first stand-alone topic-focused event. Around 60 attendees will participate in group conversations curated by key individuals in the video podcasting space. The event is limited to one representative per Sounds Profitable partner company, and the price of admission is bringing a brand to join in on the industry conversation. You can sign up here for consideration.
The Advertising Landscape: Podcasting’s Place in the Ad-Supported Media Universe
Today’s Evolutions by Podcast Movement festivities kicked off with a presentation by Tom Webster. The keynote featured unreleased data from The Advertising Landscape, the largest study of podcast advertising effectiveness ever done with a sample size of 5,000 Americans aged 18+. When looking at what age demographics consume ad-supported audio, the report shows the 18-34 demographic is largely focused in streaming music, their portion of the listenership dropping off by the time the graph reaches AM/FM radio. Podcasting, however, is almost evenly split across the three age groups studied. “Podcasting is increasingly the on-ramp to spoken word audio,” said Webster, noting other on-ramps are getting smaller over time. The first part of the report, focusing on Reach, will be debuted Wednesday April 16 at 2:00 p.m. EST in a free webinar hosted by Webster. Registration is live now.
The kickoff of an article series challenging industry assumptions, in which Digiday looks at the possibility flash-in-the-pan headline-grabbing events might talk the advertising industry into creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of slowdown. As analyst Brian Wieser pointed out three years ago, 2022 was a year when the industry flinched early and often, allowing anticipation of what might happen to over-reach the material reality. A perspective to keep in mind when seeing reports of buyers expecting CPMs to fall even more at TV upfronts this year.
Radiocentre and MTM have published a new study looking at the advertising landscape in the UK. While traditional broadcast radio remains a significant force in the UK, podcasting is noted as the medium to watch. Adult weekly reach doubled from 8% to 16.4% over six years, and podcasts now account for 11% of overall commercial listening in the market. WARC global ad spend forecasts also expect podcasting’s growth to continue with global ad revenue expected to grow 7.9% this year and 6.5% in 2026.
YouTube Now Worth as Much as $550 Billion, Analysts Say: ‘New King of All Media’ by Todd Spangler
MoffettNathanson principal analyst Michael Nathanson tells Variety that in 2024 the firm’s estimates placed YouTube as the second-largest media company by revenue, topped only by Disney (note: this does not include revenue from the theme parks and produce segment of the overall Disney umbrella). Now Nathanson is anticipating 2025 will be the year YouTube takes the top spot for both engagement and revenue. All positive news for podcasting in general, as the biggest venue for podcast discovery performing well is a tide that raises all boats.
The 2025 Ambies winners: Hysterical wins podcast of the year by James Cridland
Podnews has published a full list of winners at the 2025 Awards for Excellence in Audio ceremony presented by The Podcast Academy (colloquially dubbed The Ambies). This American Life host Ira Glass was given the Governor’s Award, which recognizes a podcast or individual’s contribution to the industry. Wondery and Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios took home Podcast of the Year with Hysterical.
As for the rest of the news…
- charts.mowPod.com, a free podcast ranking tracker hosted by mowPod, has announced a slate of quality-of-life updates (including faster speeds, weekly email alerts, dynamic chart scaling, and a light/dark mode toggle), all of which were requested via direct feedback from podcasters.
- Signal Hill Insights has announced a new Video Podcast Brand Lift research solution aimed at helping advertisers measure ROI on YouTube for upper and mid-funnel measures (such as awareness, favorability, and purchase intent)
- Semafor has published coverage of Audacy both bringing on Leah Reis-Dennis as Head of Podcasts, as well as the Audacy Creator Lab. The latter being a new suite of tools facilitating host-read sponsorships and dynamic ad insertion.
- 102 year-old company Hubbard Radio has announced the launch of their Gamut Podcast Network, a dedicated podcast division meant to act as a third core pillar of the company’s media strategy (alongside digital marketing arm 2060 digital, and Hubbard’s terrestrial radio operations). The Gamut network will be headed by former Magellan AI CRO John Goforth, who is now VP/General Manager of Podcasts
- NumberEight has announced a partnership with Carbonatix, bringing NumberEight’s ID-less Affinity Audiences to Carbonatix’ audio formats, including web-based text-to-speech and in-app companion banner audio.
- True Native Media founder Heather Osgood has returned to the Sound Off Podcast, offering advice such as encouraging podcasters to focus on mid-level companies within their respective industries instead of immediately gunning for large, hard-to-reach brands.
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