LAST CALL: The Podcast Landscape 2025 debuts tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. in a live webinar hosted by Tom Webster. You might have seen some teaser data in Dallas, now catch the full presentation. A quick reminder that, as is the case with every Sounds Profitable research presentation, registering ahead of time means you’ll be emailed the report automatically after the fact. Registration is still open and a great way to be first in line for the data 🙂
The Podcast Gold Rush: Media Companies Race to License Star Creators by Isabella Simonetti
A look at traditional media companies’ recent surge of interest in signing popular podcasters and general content creators. Fox signed Ruthless, the Athletic signed a seven-figure deal to license Pablo Torre Finds Out, and Vox has a partnership with Bella Freud for her podcast Fashion Neurosis. There’s been plenty of articles about how podcasting has reached the mainstream, but stories like this serve as reinforcement of that idea. The mainstream itself yearns for a slice of what podcasting’s cooking.
Balance and Momentum: Strategic Insights from Podcast Movement 2025
Signal Hill Insights has boiled down what various members saw at Podcast Movement in Dallas. When discussing the new beefed-up Triton Digital Ranker, Daryl Battaglia stressed the goal is to grow marketing opportunities beyond podcasting’s biggest shows. With free tools like the ranker, buyers and planners with access to more audience insights can more readily see the power of podcasting outside the biggest headline-grabbers. During a panel on unlikely alliances, YMH Studios’ Alan Abdine highlighted trust and transparency as a solution to industry fragmentation. QCODE’s Steve Wilson stressed the value of cross-promotional thinking, pointing to the recent Taylor Swift album announcement on New Heights. Even if it wasn’t a QCODE podcast, the hype generated was a net positive for the industry as a whole.
More money is flowing into creator marketing — just not directly to creators by Alexander Lee
Brands are investing more in content creator campaigns than ever before, but surveys like Collective Voice’s Holiday 2025 Creator Commerce Report suggests a good chunk of that money isn’t making it to the creators themselves. The survey, built from 1,200 U.S. creators and consumers about plans for the upcoming holiday period, finds 70% of creators have less than a quarter of their planned holiday income dedicated to sponsored posts. Affiliate marketing is the new influencer mainstream, with traditional sponsorship deals taking a back seat. While sponsorships, of course, still exist (try finding a YouTube video over 15 minutes long without one), the focus is shifting more towards methods with more demonstrable ways to prove ROI. I know it’s old hat for me to end one of these summaries with “something podcasting can provide in spades” but that doesn’t stop it from being true.
As for the rest of the news…
- Podscribe has published the Q3 edition of their Performance Benchmark Report, with highlights include audience buys (e.g. run-of-network and programmatic campaigns) grew nearly 2.5x over the past 10 months.
- iHeartMedia’s Senior Director of Creative Strategy & Partnerships Rachael Swan-Krasnoff is set to speak next Wednesday, September 10th, at Fierce Pharma Week in Philadelphia, PA about how podcasting is a powerful way for pharma brands to meaningfully connect with their target audience.
- Steve Smith has purchased back the rights to his podcast The 89 Show and is moving it to Blue Wire Podcasts.
- Realm has brought back the cult favorite Mike and Tom Eat Snacks with an upgrade to video and a premium offering, the first episode of the beefed-up MATS debuting this morning.
- Vox has a new breakdown of podcasting’s gradual shift away from center-right politics with an overview of which podcasters have held the party line post-election, and which have turned away from Trump’s policies.
