This week we put several hummingbird feeders out on our porch. Through a combination of good placement and (we suspect) higher quality nectar than our neighbors, we’re the hottest spot in town. You’ve never felt like a Disney character until you’ve had ten hummingbirds hanging out around you. While my partner and I corner the market on hummingbird hospitality, let’s take a look at this week’s news (including data on how podcasting’s doing similarly well).
Part one of Sounds Profitable’s annual Podcast Landscape study is now live, this one focusing on core podcast metrics. As revealed in early teases, audience expectations of podcasts to be video or audio have shifted slightly since last year.
“Audio only” expectations have shrunk 5%, while “may be either” increased 4%, with the extra 1% going into “usually video, may be audio.” As Tom Webster said during his Podcast Movement keynote, he pitches this less as audio losing ground to video podcasting, and more a sign that audiences like having a choice. Especially with further data showing podcast consumers on YouTube still quite regularly consume those video podcasts primarily as audio experience.
Multicultural consumption continues to grow in podcasting’s audience, as well. 55% of Americans 18+, on average, consume podcasts at least monthly. Despite the white dudebro image one finds in SNL skits, white audiences technically bring down the overall average, as white respondents only clock in at 52% total monthly podcast consumption. 65% of Hispanic Americans partake, 62% of Black audiences consume, and 66% of APAC audiences are tuning in. A significant driver of growth in podcasting over the past year has been multicultural audiences and video.
Earlier this week, teasing data from the report, Tom Webster zoomed in on a specific slide showing respondents’ top 20 favorite podcasts. Last year The Joe Rogan Experience was at the top with 13% of respondents who’ve ever consumed a podcast. This year JRE has slipped down to 11%. A quote from Webster:
“Week to week, in the various charts that track downloads and listening, we can see other podcasts (like Diary Of A CEO) nipping at the heels of Rogan, and this is just another sign that the previously impenetrable moat around the popularity of the Joe Rogan Experience might be showing some signs of weakness. Some of that might also be down to the current political climate, which also might explain a couple of last year’s top 20 shows (Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino) falling out of this year’s list.”
A detail that stands out is back in 2024 Rogan had an 11 percentage point lead over the podcast in second place. In 2025 that lead is down to 7 percentage points. Webster proposes this as a sign of the continued health and maturity of podcasting. Audiences want choice, and they’re finding more choices as the field grows.
Podcasters Are Making Millions Through Live Events by Ashley Carman
Live shows are more and more a growing concern. Madison Square Garden has had multiple sold-out podcast live shows this year alone, including annual Kill Tony performances and Dropout’s much-hyped Dimension 20 live show. Podcasts are now such a big deal MSG’s parent corp changed their event calendar so now one can sort the events schedule for “concerts, comedy shows, and podcast shows.” A quote from the article:
“Sam Harris is going on a small tour this fall, including stops in New York and Chicago. His Beacon Theatre date appears to be mostly sold out with resale tickets starting around $150. Relationship therapist Esther Perel toured the US last year over eight dates. Alex Cooper just announced a two-day Las Vegas event. Weekend packages cost $300 per person. Just three of her West Coast shows last year grossed $540,000 with 9,549 tickets sold, per Pollstar.”
Speaking of that Pollstar survey, Kill Tony reportedly raked in $11 million in live show tours. Live shows have been a part of podcasting since the early years, but the medium’s growing mainstream appeal has also evolved some of the biggest performances, with simple radio play-style performances being supplemented with stylish performances and big-budget spectacles (where else can one get pyrotechnics during a game of Dungeons and Dragons?).
YouTube, Netflix Ride the Wave of Summer Streaming Highs in Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge
Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge Report finds that for the sixth consecutive month in a row YouTube has been the top media distributor, capturing 13.4% of TV viewing (followed by Disney’s 9.4% and Netflix’s 8.8%) this July. The usual boost to streaming from summer break in the northern hemisphere boosted Netflix and The Roku Channel stats to new peaks. Amazon drew quite close to the platform’s best ever share (4%) set back in December of 2024, scoring 3.9% this July. Speaking of July boosts, here’s a quote from the article:
“Hallmark climbed to 1.1% of TV and moved up a slot in the rankings among distributors. Hallmark was boosted by its annual “Christmas in July” programming on The Hallmark Channel, where new premieres, including the four-part Unwrapping Christmas movies and holiday series Holidazed and Christmas at Sea, resulted in a 19% viewership bump for the network.”
When looking ahead, Nielsen anticipates the seasonal shift from summer to fall will start to kick in soon, with major sports and a new broadcast season kicking off. Which will have a knock-on effect with media distributors and audiences.
With September in full swing, I’m gonna take a quick second to list out what Sounds Profitable’s gonna be hosting this year at Advertising Week NYC. On October 6th and 7th The Podcast Zone returns for networking opportunities and panels (including Tom Webster debuting new data). Sounds Profitable partners can still grab tickets to the event at a steep discount.
October 7th YMH and Sounds Profitable are once again putting on a Night of Podcast Comedy, taking over an NYC comedy club with standup from podcast-savvy comics.
While the Podcast Zone stage is already booked solid, there are some limited sponsorship opportunities still available for both the zone and the Night of Podcast Comedy (hit reply or get in touch if interested).
Gavin: Finally, it’s time for our 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 Podcast Study has a series of webinars coming up this month and early October, starting with a presentation deepening loyalty and engagement with existing podcast audience on Thursday, September 11th at 2:00 p.m. EST.
- The Podglomerate and New York Festivals and Radio Awards are presenting a free webinar on October 1st at 1:00p.m. EST titled “From Script to Success: Production Secrets from Trophy-Winning Podcasts,” featuring podcast production crew from NPR, CBC, and The Boston Globe.
- Adam Bowie has a new piece looking at Edison Research’s quarterly Top 25 podcasts in the UK, which now include audience members who only consume podcasts as video.
- The Podglomerate and New York Festivals and Radio Awards are presenting a free webinar on October 1st at 1:00p.m. EST titled “From Script to Success: Production Secrets from Trophy-Winning Podcasts,” featuring podcast production crew from NPR, CBC, and The Boston Globe.
- The Wall Street Journal has a new piece about the “podcast gold rush” of mainstream media signing podcast personalities.
- Quill and Right Side Up have teamed up to publish a new guide called Branded Podcasts v.s Podcast Advertising: What’s Right for Your Brand?
