Blubrry CEO Todd Cochrane has died
On Monday morning RawVoice and Blubrry founder Todd Cochrane passed away suddenly while travelling back from visiting his family. James Cridland and Cochrane’s long-time co-host Rob Greenlee collaborated to publish an obituary on Podnews. On Wednesday The New Media Show uploaded a final episode in which Greenlee, Adam Curry, Mike Dell, and Rob Walch gathered to reflect on Cochrane’s life and career.
Also on Wednesday, Tom Webster posted his own reflections on knowing Todd Cochrane, all the way back to his very first podcast listening experience, stumbling across Geek News Central almost 20 years ago. A quote from Webster:
“I was primarily working in the radio industry back then, and there was nothing like Todd’s show in my world. It broke every “format” rule of radio. Todd didn’t sound like a DJ. He sounded like exactly what he was: a fellow geek, just as excited about new technology as I was. This, of course, was why it worked.”
Since then, Cochrane became a friend and confidant, sharing a deep passion for podcasting in general and creators specifically. I’ll end this out with one more quote as I think Webster’s conclusion demands not to be paraphrased:
“Todd worked tirelessly to keep podcasters going not because it was good for business, or so that he could “monetize.” Todd worked to keep podcasters podcasting because he understood the central truth of podcasting: it can change your life. It changed the life of a Senior Chief coming out of the Navy in the mid-2000s. It changed my life, too.”
Creators are leveraging CTV channels as added value for sponsorship deals by Alexander Lee
While CTV platforms have had some content creator presence for years (I recall discovering YouTubers were re-uploading their content to Prime Video in the mid-2010s), a focus on creator-led content has increased noticeably in recent years. Tubi, SamsungTV Plus, Roku, everybody’s getting in on the action with dedicated free ad-supported TV (FAST) and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) channels serving everything from video podcasts to Mr. Beast reruns. A quote from Lee:
“In 2025, creators’ growing interest in CTV deals extends beyond licensing revenue, with creators particularly interested in reaching new audiences via television.”
With this new avenue of exposure, four creators and talent managers specializing in content creators tell Digiday they’re leveraging new CTV licensing deals to increase rates for sponsored content. With more exposure and a wider audience comes more appeal to premium brands, as well as the value-add of baked-in sponsorships appearing on multiple platforms instead of just YouTube or just Spotify. Influencer management and marketing agency Trend CEO Ted Raad tells Digiday adding CTV to the toolkit of content creators likely will influence the future of brand partnerships and soften the barrier between social content and TV.
What Amazon’s Exit Means for Creative Value
A new issue of The Sound Insights Report spends a section looking at Amazon’s retooling of Wondery, resulting in layoffs and shunting narrative-driven podcasts over to Audible. While the Wondery brand still exists, there’s potentially a power vacuum for companies that value the unique offerings narrative podcasting delivers (when monetized appropriately). If one attempts to monetize narrative content (be it investigative journalism or outright audio fiction) similarly to a simple celeb-hosted chat show, the concern becomes audiences being unwilling to pay for unknown content. Infinitely-renewable chat shows with built-in audiences are much safer plays for standard advertising arrangements than limited-series with defined seasons and planned eventual end-points. A quote from the piece:
“This perspective conflates Amazon’s operational preferences with market reality. While traditional advertising models may favour predictable formats, subscription and patron-supported models specifically reward high-quality, immersive storytelling that builds devoted audiences rather than broad reach.”
Narrative thrives in the world of boutique dollars-per-audience member environments, instead of pennies-per-thousand wide strategies.
Video, AI, And Measurement Will Take Center Stage At IAB Podcast Upfront.
A short but important one to end things out this week: This year’s Podcast Upfront agenda has been revealed. The event will take place Tuesday, September 30th in New York City, hosted by Ali Levitan. Presentations will include companies like Blue Wire, Consumable, iHeartPodcasts, Nielsen, NPR, Pod D igital Media, True Native Media, and others. This year’s event will spotlight the growing focus on impact and outcomes, growth of podcast measurement, and how the industry has evolved as big platforms change their strategies.
Finally, it’s time for Quick Hits. These are articles that didn’t quite make the cut for today’s episode, but are still worth including in your weekend reading. This week:
- The final deadline to enter into AudioUK’s Audio Production Awards is next Wednesday, September 17th (and the Pay What You Want scheme is still in effect for creators who might need help with entry fees).
- On Air Fest has gotten a branding shake-up: An umbrella organization called On Air Presents will now operate the Brooklyn festival, the returning L.A. festival, and The Ambies while Work x Work rebrands to On Air Studio to continue their agency work.
- The New York Times’ Audio app is being sunset in October, with all NYT-produced audio content moving over to the Listen tab of their flagship News app.
- Eric Nuzum has a new issue of The Audio Insurgent touching on a common disconnect between how creatives pitch podcasts and how executives ask for pitches.
