Before we get into the other top stories, we have a short one from Tubefilter: Kai Chuck, YouTube’s first Head of Podcasts, has been confirmed to be stepping down.
India’s government is making a $1 billion investment in its local creator economy
Content creation has been booming in India. As YouTube CEO Neal Mohan noted at a Brandcast event in Dehli last year, Indian creators have racked up over 1 trillion lifetime views on Shorts alone. Now, at the WAVES summit in Mumbai, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced a government investment in creators valued at an equivalent of $1 billion USD (~83.6 billion Indian rupees). The goal is to enable creators to scale their productions, upgrade tech, and tap into global markets.
Publishers count their losses as the open auction bleeds ad dollars by Seb Joseph
Returns on programmatic ad auctions are returning so little, Digiday could not find a source to speak on the record. One anonymous revenue lead at a North American publisher says they’ve seen double-digit CPM decreases across the board in 2025. An executive says online display ads bought through auction in the fall are down as much as 30% compared to 2023’s Q4. A story we share to provide contrast to podcasting’s thriving and growing programmatic ad space.
The 4th Annual Signal Awards Are Open for Entries
This year’s edition of the Signal Awards is expanding to include new categories, including the introduction of separate Best Host categories for News & Politics, Culture, and Documentary. Fiction podcasts get a boost as well with Best Voice Acting. The video side is growing as well, with Best Editing for a Video Podcast, Most Innovative Video Podcast, and new honors for Thought Leadership and Local News. Also new this year is partnership with industry platforms and publishers like YouTube, TED, On Air Fest, Good Tape, and Sounds Profitable.
As for the rest of the news…
- Veritonic has partnered with True Native Media to publish the Podcast Advertising Efficacy Guide, a resource designed to help marketers identify the most effective types of podcast ads, learn how brands are using pre-market testing and brand lift studies, and how data-driven audio strategies improves ROI
- TubeFilter breaks down the new updates to YouTube’s BrandConnect influencer marketing hub, including the platform moving into influencer marketing opportunities in YouTube Shorts and open job positions suggesting BrandConnect’s production team will expand even further.
- Amplitude Media Partners welcomes Jillian Winmill, formerly of Libsyn Ads, as their Senior Partnerships Manager
