REMINDER: Sounds Profitable’s newest study is coming out in TWO DAYS! The Creators 2025 launches this Wednesday, December 10th, at 2:00 p.m. EST with a live presentation by Tom Webster. Register now and be one of the first to receive the full report, including looks into who’s making podcasts, why they do it, and what friction points are causing them to leave podcasting.
Talkhouse Appoints Laura Mayer as Head of Podcasts
Mayer, creator of Shameless Acquisition Target and former Executive Producer at ABC News, is now Head of Podcasts at production company Talkhouse. Home to series like SubwayTakes, How Long Gone, and Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, Talkhouse’s podcast division under Mayer will focus on growing their video productions in balance with their audio-only narrative productions (a genre Mayer has spoken out for this year) and chatcasts.
Australia’s CRA members capture 33% of Australia’s digital audio market
According to recently-released IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report data, Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) demonstrates CRA members hold 33% of a $82 million AUD digital audio market. In addition, their Q3 revenue report shows digital audio grew 12.1% year over year to $26.7 million AUD.
Alex Cooper, Amy Poehler, ‘SmartLess’ Among First Golden Globes Best Podcast Nominees by Todd Spangler
Variety covers the six nominees for the first edition of Best Podcast at the Golden Globes 2026: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Call Her Daddy, Good Hang With Amy Poehler, The Mel Robbins Podcast, SmartLess, and Up First. The six nominees were chosen from a list of 25 potential candidates. Spangler notes that despite his continued chart-topping, Rogan and a handful of conservative podcasters who were in the pre-approved list of 25 podcasts are absent. As the official rules I covered in October state, the Globes should have contacted all 25 podcasts and offered them the opportunity to pay admission fees and formally enter. Then the Globes voters would decide on the final crop of nominees from those who entered. As of this writing, there’s not any formal reporting on which of the non-nominee podcasts tried to get nominated vs. those who qualified but chose not to pay to enter the running.
Apple Podcasts names The Rest Is History the 2025 Show of the Year
Speaking of awards: Apple has name the Goalhanger-produced show The Rest is History Show of the Year. Along with the award, Apple has published an interview with hosts Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland on their approach to teaching history and their experiences making the show.
A look at the current state of podcast advertising from the perspective of a small to midsized brand looking to get into our field just as huge brands have shown up to the table. Some startups take big swings before dialing in how podcast ads work best, such as a queer sex-focused brand Asset dumping $60k on a campaign that ran on two massive drag queen-hosted podcasts. A move that sounded like a slam dunk on paper, until the sheer size of The Bald and the Beautiful entered the equation as larger brands had already bought out premium early midroll spots, pushing Asset to the last ad spot of its episodes. While podcast advertising works, and works well, education is important. If new startups aren’t made aware of the value of targeting niche shows over longer periods of time, they’re more likely to stumble into situations like Asset’s.
As for the rest of the news…
- Triton Digital’s Omny Studio has announced new video podcast production tools on top of their existing audio capabilities, including open distribution support.
- Canadian True Crime is celebrating 200 episodes with a special four-part miniseries revisiting the case of serial killer Robert Pickton.
- AudioStack has announced their new Fast Track webinar series about AI Audio, kicking off with “The New Frontier for Omnichannel Marketing” on Tuesday, January 20th.
- PRX and AudioUK have announced Podcast Creator Summit 2026, set for Friday, February 6th at Battersea Power Station in London (editor’s note: incredibly cool venue).
- The Media Leader has a piece about the process of merging Audioboom and Adelicious, interviewing Audioboom Vice President. International Craig Eastwood.
- True Native Media has announced Melanie Margolin and Nancy Kamarow as their two newest account executives.
- Zeno Media has announced they have partnered with the Nachum Segal Network as their end-to-end platform partner for podcasting, broadcast operations, and digital.
