Strum and Drang by Tom Webster
In this week’s Sounds Profitable article, Webster reflects on his relationship with AI. In a year, that relationship has evolved from experimental ChatGPT use to running multiple open-source LLMs on a home server. With genAI continuing to develop, he recalls the menial jobs he has seen made redundant by tech innovation in his lifetime, like paying people a dollar a page to type handwritten papers. The constant in AI is the person who chooses to post the generated content. Behind every sloppy email and sketchy article full of genAI tells is a person who decided it was good enough to publish.
AMP Task Force Introduces Cross-Platform Alternative to the Podcast “Download”
Today, the Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting has announced its first unified impression framework for audio and video podcasting. The framework aims to give advertisers and publishers a common way to compare audio and video podcast inventory while preserving the download metric as a delivery signal. AMP members approved four exposure definitions with no dissenting votes:
- Podcast Play: 30 seconds of content played, audio or video, once per user per session.
- Podcast Audience: The number of unique users who had a Podcast Play.
- Ad Impression: A commercial begins playing for the user.
- Ad Audience: The number of users exposed to an Ad Impression.
SXSW 2027 PanelPicker launches from June 23 to July 26, 2026
Lucas Velez, SXSW Manager of Account Management, shared the upcoming launch date for SXSW 2027’s PanelPicker application process. On Tuesday, June 23 at 2:00 p.m. CT, there will be a live AMA (ask me anything) session for PanelPicker, as well as a SXSW EDU AMA on Thursday, June 25 at 2:00 p.m. CT. Both SXSW and SXSW EDU will hold office hours through July for PanelPicker questions. We can confirm Podcast Movement Evolutions will be returning for SXSW 2027 Monday through Wednesday of the event.Â
With sports fragmentation, following the fans is crucial by Drew Groner
SVP, head of sales and marketing at DIRECTV Advertising Drew Groner writes a sponsored post about the fragmented nature of connecting with sports audiences. As live sports broadcast rights are split across apps, national buys no longer reach loyal regional and local sports fans. While Groner approaches this problem from a TV angle, it’s worth pointing to the growing success of sports podcasting at doing just that: meeting fans in their niche. On that note, I’ll point out the CBC Podcasts is now accepting pitches for a new narrative sports feed. Canadian-focused angles will be preferred, but universally compelling sports narratives are welcome as well.Â
Podscribe Industry Ranker – May 2026
Last month Crime Junkie and The Daily retained the top two spots in Podscribe’s ranker for audio reach, while Stuff You Should Know climbed into the top ten. The Oprah Podcast saw a downloads-per-episode increase of 7%, bumping it up from #7 in April to #4 in May. Ten different industries are represented among the top ten advertisers by spend, with Shopify securing #1.
As for the rest of the news…
- Listener.com Founder Casey Adams reflects on the first 60 days of Campaigns on the platform, reporting over $25 million worth of tracked omni-channel campaigns.Â
- Audacy Chief Marketing Officer Jenny Nelson has a new blog on why audio is a good fit for small business advertising budgets.Â
- The June edition of Genuina Media’s The Global Ear dropped this week, including reflections on The Podcast Show London.Â
- The BBC World Service has announced the winners of the 2026 International Audio Drama Competition.Â
- Acast has a new piece covering Lizzy Pollott’s SXSW London conversation with Elis James and John Robins.Â
- Pierre Bouvard has a new article on how marketers should prepare themselves in an era where AI search overviews drastically reduce paid search clicks.Â
