A new report from Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative finds that of the top 100 podcasts in 2024, hosts were overwhelmingly white and male (64% and 77% respectively). Stats that don’t change much when the study broadened its scope to the top 592 podcasts (using both Spotify and Edison Research charts). A gap that could be impacting incoming audiences. In part one of The Podcast Landscape 2025, 48% of respondents who had ever listened to podcasts were women, while 59% of the “never listened to podcast” group were women. Total monthly podcast listening is actually brought down on average by white respondents, who scored 52% while Hispanic, Asian, and Black respondents scored at least 62%. Looping back to the USC study, Dr. Smith argues podcasting’s inherent pitch as a medium is its democratic nature. Anyone with a mic can make a podcast, theoretically. As the format matures into mainstream acceptance, the opportunity to embrace the voices behind those microphones, ensuring they are as diverse as the audience consuming their podcasts, presents itself.
Spotify and the National Music Publishers’ Association have launched an opt-in portal for NMPA members. In the portal, artists can access direct license agreements that give Spotify expanded audiovisual rights in the U.S. Independent music publishers and songwriters with the license will receive higher royalty payouts, while Spotify will be able to build video features that “better connect artists and fans.” The NMPA portal is open as of yesterday and will have onboarding through December 19th.
Audio vs. Video Podcasting: The Cost of Attention
Podcast Marketing Academy and Lower Street have partnered to publish a report built from a survey of 308 podcasters. From the detailed data shared by respondents, such as audio downloads, YouTube videos, and consumption metrics, the report assigns return on investment (ROI) to both video and audio podcasting in terms of audience attention. Podcasts that do both audio and video average to 3.6x higher production costs. Average annual revenue, discounting two massive outlier podcasts in the overall data, is 12x higher for video podcasts than just audio. Though, in the half-hour presentation video accompanying the data, PMA founder Jeremy Enns does note that video podcasting attracts brands and businesses that already have the cash and audience to make a video podcast profitable quickly, so that can skew the differential.
More details have come to light re: the deals Netflix has been shopping around town in their pursuit of both existing podcasts to license, and creators to make net(flix)-new shows exclusively for the platform. According to Bloomberg’s sources, Netflix’s feelers say they are aiming to have 50 to 75 video podcasts at launch in 2026, with one source saying Netflix aims to have as many as 200 concurrent shows over time.
Threads Beefs Up Podcast Links
Meta’s microblogging platform Threads has announced they are beta testing podcast previews that allows users to register their podcast with their account. Then, whenever they post a link to that podcast, it’ll stand out with a special preview area underneath the post. Also shoutout to Bumper CTO Stephen Hallgren for posting about the test and bringing it to our attention.
As for the rest of the news…
- Signal Hill Insights has a new piece breaking down four ways brand lift can secure ad campaign renewals.
- PodcastOne has published their Q2 Fiscal 2026 financial results, including a 22% year over year increase in revenue and an adjusted EBITDA of $1.1 million (up 369% y-o-y)
- SoundCast is expanding their international footprint with a new London office and Gergor Smith appointed to the new role of UK Country Manager.
- The murder of 50 year-old Maryland nurse Sherry Crandell, the focus of season two of Gamut Podcast Network’s American Nightmares, has been solved. The family of the victim says the podcast helped motivate investigators to continue pursuing the case.
- Liam Bateman has joined audioadpro as Chief Technology Officer.
- True Native Media has signed Reality Life with Kate Casey to their exclusive roster.
- Stingray Group Inc. has announced an agreement to acquire TuneIn in a deal valued up to $175 million USD.
