Deloitte: 2026 Will Reward Podcasts Built Like Fan Franchises.
Inside Audio Marketing covers new predictions published by Deloitte for 2026, largely built from their 2025 Digital Media Trends survey of 3,595 U.S. adults. 27% of respondents watch video podcasts on a weekly basis, largely led by Gen Z and Millennials. Video pod consumers also have a higher rate of direct consumption instead of using it as background audio, with 44% actually watching the video without multitasking (versus 29% of audio-only consumers). Evangelists of the industry are likely to be the largest drivers this year instead of simple mass-appeal of a show, with hyper-engaged fans doing the work of spreading the word and recruiting new future hyper-fans. Fandom is a powerful tool, with 40% of respondents saying fandom of their favorite music artist is a core component of their identity. Good news for podcasting, considering the parasocial relationship with podcasters can be even stronger than that of musicians (after all, live podcasts draw out people who’ve never been to a similar live event/performance before).
With the growth of influencer marketing comes more ways to diversify income outside of the standard advertising income off a particular show or channel. For instance, London Alley Studios president Ryan Horrigan tells Digiday they approach YouTube as a place to produce indie television with creators. The long-term goal isn’t to springboard to somewhere beyond YouTube, it is its own thing. Conversely, companies like Mirage Digital use YouTube as the mothership from which content can be syndicated far and wide to different platforms and FAST (free ad-supported streaming) channels on other streamers. As Siu notes, both approaches to content intrinsically rely on content creators’ existing audience and ability to drive engagement. And the act of developing strong enough engagement to follow a creator across platforms? That’s one of podcasting’s specialties.
Pressing Play on a New Chapter: SuperAwesome Acquires Starglow Media
A quick but strong one: youth-focused digital media ecosystem SuperAwesome is doubling down on audio with the acquisition of Kids & Family podcast production company Starglow Media. SuperAwesome’s release highlights the still-untapped potential of audio for younger listeners, and the fact Starglow Media’s portfolio secured enough streams in the first half of 2025 to have qualified as a top-ten Netflix show (50.8 million vs. Netflix’s H1 threshold of 48.1 million).
As for the rest of the news…
- Lindsay Graham’s weekday series History Daily has partnered with Audioboom as the show’s new distribution partner, with History Daily soon appearing on the Showplace advertising marketplace.
- Acast is hosting a presentation on the trends shaping podcast advertising in Singapore with a presentation of new data at the Mandala Club on Tuesday, February 3rd. Registration is open.
- SoundCast has a new case study charting a campaign with Insign US that hyper-targeted Spanish-language audio to promote New Jersey soccer facility Sofive Meadlowlands.
- Speaking of partnerships, multi-platform analytics and management service Podstock has partnered with PodX Group in their first major international expansion.
