2026 Ambies Winners, Podcasts Top Spoken Word Share of Ear, & More

In Graphic Detail: Publishers chase video podcast growth, but audio still leads by Sara Guaglione

Digiday looks at recent research to get a bird’s-eye view of how much of podcasting’s audience consumes video. Last week’s Triton Digital U.S. Podcast Report finds 80% of 12,000 surveyed monthly listeners consume both audio and video. Audio-only consumption beats out video with 13% to video-only’s 7%. Similarly, Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights’ Podcast Download Fall 2025 found 17% of respondents who’d consumed a podcast in the past week only listened, while 8% only watched. Edison Research’s Evolving Ear webinar shows video discovery is making a big impact in how newcomers consume, with 77% of respondents aged 13+ in their first year of podcast consumption consuming podcasts with video you actively watch (compared to 69% with “longtimers”). YouTube is working its recommendation magic on podcasting, and not just video. The same report found 72% of first-years and 68% of longtimers report listening to the audio version of a podcast they first discovered as video.

‘Wisecrack’ Wins Podcast Of The Year at 2026 Ambies by Caitlin Huston

The 6th annual Ambies wrapped up on Tuesday in Brooklyn with Wisecrack, the true crime comedy from Tenderfoot TV and iHeartPodcasts winning Podcast of the Year. Other highlights include Kara Swisher receiving the Governors Award and the late Reggie Ossé receiving the Impact Award. Pablo Torre, host of Pablo Torre Finds Out, was named the Vanguard Podcaster of the Year. Best Ad Read and Podcast Advertiser Innovator, categories sponsored by Sounds Profitable, went to Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and Charlie’s Place respectively.

Podcasts overtake spoken-word radio in key metric (Edison Research) by Brad Hill

Edison Research’s Share of Ear study just hit a milestone for one of their long-tracked metrics. After a decade of charting respondents’ daily spoken word audio time, the report finds podcasts have passed AM/FM radio with the U.S. population 13+ for the first time. Back in 2015, the Share of Ear data shows AM/FM radio took up 75% spoken word share of ear with respondents, while podcasts accounted for just 10%. As of Q4 2025, this latest bit of data shows 40% of respondents’ daily spoken word audio time goes to podcasts, while 39% went to AM/FM radio.

CMOs Are More Focused On Growing Revenue Than Brand Awareness by Robert Klara

According to a new survey conducted by NewtonX for ADWEEK, 48% of executive- level marketers say revenue growth is now their primary objective, with long-term brand awareness a distant second at 24%. The pool of 501 respondents included 82% brand marketers, 18% agency professionals, and 20% C-suite executives. Economic uncertainty and rising AI-driven efficiency expectations are cited as two forces squeezing marketing departments from both sides. Which puts podcasts in a particularly attractive position for CMOs sharing their worries. We can do it both, having proven time and again podcast advertising can work both for brand awareness plays, and closing the deal on sales. Making us an easier sell to CMOs who are expected to prove their work moves the revenue needle.

As for the rest of the news…