Co-CEO, President and Director of Netflix Ted Sarandos specifically called out podcasting as a bright spot in the company’s Q1 performance. In the earnings call transcript, Sarandos said Netflix’s internal data shows video podcasts gaining engagement. Netflix video podcasts over-index in daytime viewing and mobile devices. This matters for Netflix, where professionally produced TV and film have historically comprised little mobile viewing.
Adobe and Speechmatics Deliver Cloud-Grade Speech Recognition On-Device for Premiere
Adobe has added on-device speech-to-text (STT) transcription to Premiere, continuing its partnership with Speechmatics. Bringing transcription fully on-device solves for enterprise users who can’t use cloud-based services due to privacy concerns. The on-device STT processes an hour of audio in about 55 seconds, falling within 5% of cloud-powered STT as far as accuracy (based on nearly 10 million words of “diverse real-world data”). This update allows for content creators big and small to work even more offline or on the go, adding more flexibility to the post-production process used by many podcasters.
The next $1 billion in podcasting starts with better data by Jonas Woost
Bumper co-founder Jonas Woost announces the launch of Bumper Score, a new third-party audience verification metric. The metric represents how well a podcast delivers ads to a verified audience in relation to the industry average on a scale from 0 to 200. It is built from hosting providers’ podcast delivery data, verified audience data from major podcast platforms, and episode-level retention data to measure true engagement. With this new metric, Woost aims to address recurring concerns raised by media buyers. Podcasts work, but buyers need more data proving ads reached real listeners—beyond debates like “what’s a download?” or “who heard the ad?”
Podcast Ad Spending Holds Steady in March; Quince Holds Top Spot, Magellan Finds
Inside Audio Marketing cracks open the latest Magellan AI monthly rankers for podcast advertising. The top 15 podcast advertisers in March 2026 invested an estimated $58 million, down from February’s $61.4 million. Sports and Comedy remain the top genres preferred by the top 15 advertisers, with only Meta breaking ranks to focus on News.
The 30th Annual Webby Awards Podcast Winners
Podnews has compiled all of the podcasting-relevant winners announced for the 2026 Webby Awards. With new expanded podcast categories this year, it’s a sizeable list. The winners ceremony is slated for Monday, May 11.
As for the rest of the news…
- Studio71 Co-CEO Matt Crowley has announced the company has completed its sale to creator company Fixated.
- Streaming service Fox One is expanding its podcast stable with selections from Fox News and Red Seat Ventures.
- Right Side Up GM, Offline & Audio Krystina Rubino shares an account from a recent client on a podcast test that produced negative results (and why that negative data is still good to have).
- In a new blog post, Audion CMO Geoffrey Fossier defines “performance audio” and how it benefits advertisers.
- The Podcast Exchange is now representing The Diary of a CEO podcast inventory in Canada.
- Global Studios has appointed Josh Baum as Senior Commercial Marketing Manager.
- On Air Presents has announced the Ludlow House series. From April to June, it will host four invite-only podcast live events at the Ludlow House venue in Manhattan. Invite requests are open now.
