The Revolution in the Podcast Business, According to the People Leading It by Ashley Carman
Soundbite’s latest issue covers Bloomberg’s Podcast Business Summit at last week’s On Air Fest. Industry executives greatly value video podcasting in their media strategies going forward. Kara Swisher, if she had to start over today, would start on YouTube. Goalhanger co-founder Jack Davenport said the company no longer produces new shows without YouTube presence and is enhancing existing video to surpass talking-head footage. Swisher noted podcast live events continue to make money, and fast. A recent Pivot tour hit seven cities in a week, netting $2 million in revenue and generating seven podcast episodes (with ads) of the recorded live performances.
IAB Australia Publishes 2025 Internet Advertising Revenue Report
While the full IARR is limited to IAB Australia members, they’ve published a detailed overview this morning. Overall, the Australian internet advertising market grew 11.5% year-over-year, reaching $18.4 billion AUD for 2025. PwC Australia’s data finds video advertising is the strongest-performing segment in the country last year, with 19.8% y-o-y growth ($5.4 billion AUD). Audio isn’t slacking, either, growing 8.2% y-o-y to hit $339 million AUD. The overview notes podcasting outpacing streaming audio growth.
Oxford Road Announces The Indie PaC Awards
The Independent Podcast and Creator Awards (or Indie PaC Awards) are designed to specifically honor independent podcasters and creators. The event is hosted by Oxford Road and founding sponsor Libsyn. The inaugural event is set to take place Sunday, March 15th, at Evolutions by Podcast Movement in SKYBOX on 6th. Qualifying shows/channels require full creator ownership and editorial control (no major platform ownership or exclusives), at least an episode per month in the past year, and not primarily a promotional vehicle for a “top-tier” celebrity using a podcast secondary to their main career. A full list of nominees, judges, and methodology can be found on the Indie PaC site, and Oxford Road founder Dan Granger has dedicated the latest Media Roundtable podcast episode to discussing Indie PaC.
TV Is Shifting to Performance. Audio Should Follow by Arthur Larrey
Audion co-founder Arthur Larrey shares a new op-ed on Advertising Week. The ad industry prioritizes revenue-impact metrics over impressions and awareness. Connected TV serves as a big example of this, with attribution, access, and AI-enabled campaign optimization putting CTV in a position where it can compete for budgets traditionally meant for search and social campaigns. If audio wants to compete, audio needs to adopt similar metrics. Larrey’s four key areas for audio attribution are addressable scale, establishing credible third-party measurement, in-flight optimization capabilities, and dynamic creative that can adapt to the context to improve response rates. With these upgrades, Larrey argues audio can earn its performance credentials on top of its existing audience and cultural relevance.
As Video Podcasts Boom, SAG-AFTRA Looks to Organize the Industry by Caitlin Huston
SAG-AFTRA national director of contract strategic initiatives and podcasts Sue-Anne Morrow tells The Hollywood Reporter the union expects to cover more interview podcasts and narrative podcasts going forward, in addition to SAG-AFTRA’s existing presence in scripted drama/audio fiction starring union actors. Currently two podcast contracts exist in the union: “micropods” that earn less than $10,000 per season, and independent podcast agreements for shows earning $10,000+ per season. A complicating factor is the broadening definition of “a podcast,” as well as the industry conversation about interview podcasts being, effectively, daytime talk shows made at a fraction of the budget. Morrow notes that actors taking video podcast contracts aren’t necessarily taking a pay cut in comparison to signing a daytime TV contract. Contract coverage also applies to guests in addition to hosts. A union guest can elect to waive their appearance fee, but their contract aims to cover them if it is wanted.
As for the rest of the news…
- Goalhanger’s political podcasts (The Rest is Politics, The Rest is Politics: US, and The Rest is Classified) uploaded four emergency episodes on Iran strikes over the weekend, generating 3 million+ views, streams, and downloads (1.3 million podcast) in 48 hours.
- Focus 360 LLC has named Karen Henderson, formerly of Katz Media Group, as their new Senior Vice President of Sales.
- RSS.com has implemented support for the Podcasting 2.0 feature Alternate Enclosure, allowing podcasters to attach alternative media files to an episode using externally-hosted urls.
- The latest episode of Podcast Advertising Playbook features True Native Media’s Heather Osgood interviewing Sounds Profitable’s Bryan Barletta on the subject of attribution in the age of audio and video podcasting.
- Supercast CEO Jason Sew Hoy, was interviewed with Podcast Business Journal about the platforms acquisition, creator model, and $26M payout to its top 10 creators
- Backyard Ventures signed comedic history podcast Softcore History, serving as their premium brand partnership rep.
- ESPN’s 30 for 30 Podcasts has announced a new six episode podcast titled The Fastest Girl in Somalia, covering the life of runner Samia Yusuf Omar.
