Podcast Consumption in Japan, Podcasts on beehiiv, & More

Podcast Consumption in Japan, Podcasts on beehiiv, & More

April 3, 2026

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Podcasts Launch on beehiiv

Newsletter and blogging platform beehiiv has rolled out audio podcast hosting and monetization services. In an interview with Sounds Profitable Partner Bryan Barletta, beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk says podcasts are a natural fit, as podcasts and newsletters have a lot in common. A quote from the interview:

“Our roadmap is always heavily driven by customers, and podcasting was the missing piece. It came up consistently across customers of all sizes. Growth is one of the biggest challenges in podcasting. Newsletters drive podcast downloads. Podcasts drive newsletter signups. We see a huge opportunity there, in both directions.”

He positions adding podcasts as a core pillar of beehiiv, allowing beehiiv publishers with podcasts hosted elsewhere to bring all of their publications into one service. beehiiv’s hosting has been designed to be IAB compliant, with Denk saying the company is about to begin the formal certification process. 

 

The Center Cannot Hold by Tom Webster

Sounds Profitable’s latest research, The Last Quarter, examines the 25% of Americans who have never listened to a podcast. In this week’s Sounds Profitable article, Tom Webster focuses on the political affiliations of the Last Quarter, as there’s a group being left behind.

Podcast holdouts follow a linear political gradient from very liberal to very conservative. Among Americans who identify as very liberal, 17% have never consumed a podcast. For the very conservative, the number is 27%. 

Webster cautions against assuming conservatism and podcasting clash culturally. The top charts of podcasting have plenty of conservative-leaning podcasts. If there was an inherent disconnect between conservative Americans and podcasting, those shows wouldn’t be able to exist at scale.

The Last Quarter data shows conservative Americans’ media diet dominated by four platforms: Facebook (84%), YouTube (74%), AM/FM radio (69%), and network or cable TV (56%). A quote from the article:

“These are not fringe or disconnected people. They are active media consumers. But these four platforms share a critical property: they surface content to you. Facebook’s algorithm decides what appears in your feed. YouTube’s recommendation engine decides what to autoplay next. Broadcast radio and cable TV are programmed by someone else entirely. In none of these environments does the user need to go looking for something new.” 

Conversely, podcasting requires audience initiative. The current system largely relies on audiences knowing a show exists, seeking it out directly, and subscribing. There’s a gulf between how podcasts are designed to be engaged with and how the conservative holdout engages with their media. 

Those on either end of the political spectrum have established media architecture driving them to podcasts. Public media like NPR brought liberal audiences to the medium as it grew, while algorithmically-tailored conservative content does the same on the other side. There is no institutional infrastructure designed to promote moderate content. Podcasting doesn’t have an institutional editorial layer acting as a curator that can give moderate takes equal footing among algorithmically-tuned takes in either direction. 

A big problem facing podcasting’s holdouts isn’t a content one, it’s a discovery architecture problem. This leads to the operative question: how does the podcast industry build discovery pathways that don’t rely on algorithmic amplification to function?

 

Otonal and The Asahi Shimbun Company Jointly Release Results of Their Survey on Podcast Usage in Japan

Conducted December 5-6, 2025, the survey targeted 10,000 respondents aged 15-69 in Japan. A quote from the article:

“In 2020, when the survey began, the podcast usage rate in Japan (users who listen to podcasts at least once a month) was 14.2%. The usage rate has been trending upward, reaching 18.2% in the 2025 survey.”

Among 15-19-year-olds, usage hit 40.5% (up 6.5 points year-over-year). For 20-29-year-olds, it reached 28.8% (up 1.5 points). In comparison to respondents who don’t consume podcasts, those who consume have a higher ratio of corporate decision-makers. By comparison to seven major forms of media, podcasting’s ratio of corporate decision-makers ranks second place, behind only newspaper readers. 

Audio Has the Winning Hand. The Industry Refuses to Play It by Ben Robins

One of Ben Robins’ biggest takeaways from Advertising Week Europe is the notion that podcasting is data-rich but insight poor. Across 12 sessions, compelling data abounded, but emotional narratives explaining podcasting’s success were scarce. He attributes this largely to companies closely guarding proprietary data on podcasts’ impact, citing competitive advantage, legal concerns, non-disclosure agreements, and more. A quote from Robins:

“The companies with the most to share — and the most resources to do it — keep their learnings closest to their chest, hoarding the very evidence that could grow the market for everyone. The cards are already in our hands. Someone just has to play it.”

In a fragmented media landscape, connection is valuable. Podcasts excel at connection, but articulating it requires a cohesive narrative linking data points. There is a story coming, though. This May, Robins and Sounds Profitable’s Tom Webster will debut the findings of the 2026 UK Advertising Landscape Study at The Podcast Show London. This new report represents the largest study of advertising effectiveness conducted across U.K. media, surveying 5,000 adults over more than 20 platforms. Stay tuned for more details. 

As for the rest of the news…