Audio Is the Only Medium We Can Consume in Parallel by Nick Cicero
Cicero starts off strong with a simple notion: audio podcasts exploded into popularity thanks to them filling time that already existed, not demanding net-new time to enjoy. Audio can scale on time substitution (chores, commutes, exercise) while video podcasts are scaling on time competition, having to compete for watch-time with video games, movies, live sports, social scrolling, video essays, anything visually-engaging. Audio courts parallel consumption, video promotes serial consumption, and traditional TV promotes programmed serial consumption. The trick is video podcasting works best in spikes. As such, Netflix doesn’t seem to necessarily be buying “podcasts,” they’re buying weekly attention-engines that function like second-screen background television without the cost of TV. A play that might help with the platform’s ebbing presence in the Luminate 2025 Year-End Film & TV Report, in combination with their increased focus on licensing YouTube content from creators like Ms. Rachel and Mark Rober.
The Longest Shortest Time(s) by Eric Nuzum
A profile of Hillary Frank, host and creator of the podcast The Longest Shortest Time. A unique story in that Frank was a successful podcaster early in the industry, having launched her show in 2010. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, partnership with WNYC, and eventually signing to Stitcher, she had a consistently sold-out ad inventory through to retiring the show in 2019. Now she’s back, and finding things are much different seven years later. The Longest Shortest Time still was able to sell out ad inventory immediately and find sponsorships easily, but at much lower rates than a decade ago. Frank also finds her successful feed is less so since the download as a metric has become more accurate than it was in the 2010s. Back in the Stitcher days she had a support staff and a producer to help out, now Frank finds herself fully DIY. With the industry having shifted out of the “dumb money” early era, the middle class of podcasting (shows that, by most metrics, are “successful”) finds itself in a tricky position where even middle-class can’t sustain the minimum production capabilities with income and audience size a “big” show had a decade ago.
Google has issued a cease-and-desist against the firms measuring YouTube like TV
U.K.-based measurement nonprofit Barb recently announced a new form of ratings designed to track YouTube content. Instead of tracking raw view numbers that are difficult to reconcile with TV traffic, Barb partnered with Kantar Media to measure YouTube watchtime like Nielsen measures TV. A system Google has filed a cease and desist order on, claiming the method breaches YouTube’s terms of service for their API. A claim stemming from Kantar’s method of using “audio-matching automatic content recognition” to figure out which YouTube channel a panel member was watching on their TV screens.
Non-profit and public affairs podcasting producer Voxtopica has announced, as the headline says, a new award ceremony to honor podcasts focused on bringing clarity to topics like public policy, public administration, or association management. Submissions open today at a discounted rate until March 6th. The final deadline for submissions is April 3rd and winners announced on June 1st. The Timbre Awards also have several levels of sponsorship opportunity available for companies looking to support the awards.
As for the rest of the news…
- The Japan Podcast Festival 2026 is slated to take place over March 14th and 15th in the Akasaka area of Tokyo, aiming to temporarily make the neighbourhood a “podcast theme park.”
- Semafor has coverage of Kaleidoscope hiring several big-hitters for its creative side, acquired podcast marketing agency The Listening Party, and is formalizing a long-term partnership with creative studio Second Lane.
- Sports and entertainment production company Bleav has hired on Jonathan Dianora as VP of Sales and Revenue Operations.
- The BBC’s Katty Kay interviews podcaster PJ Vogt about the growth of video and what the word “podcast” means at this point.
- iHeartMedia has been announced as the official podcast partner for the 2026 Web Summit in Qatar.
Audiochuck has announced a $1 million grant awarded to IYG, a group dedicated to providing life-saving services and programs to LGBTQ+ youth in Indiana (and speaking as a former young queer Hoosier, an invaluable service).
