With such a successful POSSIBLE event for podcast advertising, Sounds Profitable is continuing our international effort to get podcasting in front of global advertising leaders. To maximize our value to partners and the industry overall, we’re focusing on bringing brands to Converge @ Cannes, an event that shares our goals of educating more people on the value of audio. If you’re an advertiser or agency looking to keep the audio conversation going, sign up here. Sounds Profitable will have a private brunch, dinner, and VIP space at the event, get in touch!
Wondercraft’s Oskar Serrander on Convo Mode
Last week Wondercraft launched a new feature called Convo Mode, in which a producer can upload a script they’ve written to Wondercraft Studio for a generative AI to synthesize voices for a podcast-style conversation. Bryan Barletta sent Wondercraft founder Oskar Serrander some questions about Convo Mode and what it can do. In response, Serrander generated an audiogram Convo Mode voices “Georgia” and “Avery” break down how the tool works, and how it aims to speed up the creative-making process so audio advertising can appeal to brands that are used to the faster turnaround times of other industries.
Amazon Adds Private Auctions to Prime Video, Trading Cost for Guarantees by Mark Stenberg
In the past few weeks some buyers have been given access to the testing phase of private auction deals, allowing them to buy Prime Video inventory on a dynamic cost basis, rather than fixed CPM. All of which leads to lower-cost campaigns, but also few guarantees. The flexibility and cost-savings of running PA campaigns could be of particular interest to smaller and performance-driven companies. The big tradeoff, besides no guaranteed delivery, is PA auctions are also at the bottom of the waterfall. So during high-demand periods it’s likely PA deals will struggle to be delivered. Still, variable pricing joins connected TV in the future of advertising that podcasting is competing with.
Business Insider takes a look at how podcasting is performing on Patreon. In a word: well. Podcasts remain the top-earning category on the platform with 6.7 million paid memberships specifically for podcasts. Some creators’ accounts perform to the tune of six figures income per month, with podcasting collectively earning over $472 million in 2024. The piece highlights the approaches and income of three podcasts funded with the platform: Therapy for Black Girls, RedHanded, and The Yard.
Further Looks at The Advertising Landscape: Trust and Attention
Last week Sounds Profitable published the second installment of The Advertising Landscape, this time focusing on how respondents pay attention to podcasts, and how much trust they have. The report is getting coverage in the wider audio world, with RadioOnline highlighting the finding that half of Prime podcast users (daily consumers) said podcast ads feel natural and genuine. A finding that outpaces social media platforms by a wide margin. Meanwhile PodcastingToday in the UK covered the report with extra context from Tom Webster on the differences between the two markets. Chief among the US/UK differences when thinking about the numbers in The Advertising Landscape is the numbers around AM/FM radio, as commercial radio is in a better position in the UK in terms of ad load and quality. Still the overall story remains the same: podcast advertising is inherently more authentic and trustworthy than other mediums.
Spotify Lays Off 5% of Staff Across The Ringer and Podcast Studios Business by Todd Spangler
According to Variety’s source, 15 employees in positions across The Ringer and Spotify Studios have been laid off. The source says the eliminated positions have been reallocated to support Spotify’s larger push to produce video podcasts, and no podcasts will be cancelled due to the staff cuts. As is custom with stories like this, I would like to remind readers of the Sounds Profitable job board of open positions in the business of podcasting. It’s free to use, free to submit, and we do our best to give an overview of who’s hiring where in the industry.
As for the rest of the news…
- Podscribe has published their Q2 2025 performance benchmark report, which for the first time includes global audio ad metrics for Germany, France, Australia, the UK, and Canada.
- JAR Audio has selected seven finalists for the Pilot Competition for Emerging Women Podcasters
- The Davey Awards and The Podglomerate have teamed up to publish a new report titled Video Podcasts Decoded: A Guide for Small Shows, featuring experts giving tips on incorporating video into audio-first podcast production.
- NPR has launched The Network, a documentary podcast from Embedded and Futuro Media’s Latino USA that explores global efforts to provide access to safe abortions outside of medical clinic environments.
- Ausha has a new article detailing how they teamed up with BBC Studios to use a focused podcast search optimization strategy to fast-track The Infinite Monkey Cage up podcasting charts in under two months.
- The Verge interviews co-creators of the sci-fi improv comedy podcast Mission to Zyxx about the show’s new spinoff series meant to poke fun at modern sci-fi tropes (including its core Star Wars-ian premise of providing an oddly detailed backstory to a character with very little screen-time).
- John Wordock combined two beloved industries last Friday by celebrating National Donut Day with a dozen ways podcasts are like donuts.
