Sounds Profitable

Today in the business of podcasting:
Audioboom posted record H1 2026 results, with revenue up 30% year-on-year to $45.7 million and adjusted EBITDA up 80% to $3.2 million, while also ending its strategic review and unveiling Spotify and Apple partnerships to power video monetization later this year.
Creator economy newsletter Scalable finds brand safety concerns among US enterprise marketers have plummeted from 50% in 2023 to just 10% in 2025, as the industry pivots toward brand fit over blanket caution, a shift with clear implications for podcast advertising.
The BBC's newly released annual report shows its ad-funded podcasts outside the UK drew over 515 million downloads and 116 million listeners, offering a rare public benchmark for global podcast monetization.
Netflix subscribers on ad-free tiers keep getting blindsided by ads during live sports events like the Home Run Derby, a trust gap podcasting has largely sidestepped by setting clear ad expectations upfront.
Media analyst Brian Morrissey argues publishers' second attempt at video is built for durability, using platforms like YouTube and TikTok as acquisition funnels toward owned audiences and revenue, a strategy many podcast publishers are already running on YouTube.
To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.

Podcast clips aren't just filler content, they're the top of the discovery funnel, with 89% of listeners watching them on social platforms and about a third reliably converting into episode views or new regular listeners.
Written by Tom Webster
Edited and narrated by Gavin Gaddis

Find the full article here.

Today in the business of podcasting:
Six Colors gets a first look at the iOS 27, tvOS 27, and macOS 27 public betas, including a rebuilt Siri powered by large language models and Apple Podcasts video expanding to Mac desktops and Apple TV.
Podstock CEO Michael Paretzky argues podcast back catalogs are losing strategic value as most downloads happen in a show's first 30 days, urging publishers to invest in new content and integrated advertising instead.
The Association of National Advertisers releases its first Inclusive Marketing Case Study Compendium, spotlighting 100 award winning campaigns from brands like Kraft Heinz, McDonald's, and Major League Baseball.
Unilever scales its creator network to 300,000 people using AI for vetting and briefing while keeping strategy and relationships human, part of a projected $13.7 billion influencer marketing market by 2027.
To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.

Today in the business of podcasting:
Buzzsprout has brought its official podcast, Buzzcast, back to Spotify months after pulling it, with co-founder Kevin Finn citing fixes to Spotify's video lock-in issue and a desire for broader multiplatform distribution.
Megaphone shifts to the Spotify Ad Server on July 17, raising the maximum ad duration to 90 seconds while dropping VAST tag support, a change to the migration first reported in May.
DAX U.S. President Brian Conlon pushes back on the "shrinking attention span" narrative, pointing to Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2026 finding that 45% of Americans 12 and older listened to a podcast in the past week.
Ad Results Media argues digital audio is built for a privacy-first future, citing AdsWizz data on contextual targeting and SiriusXM Media research on consumer trust as reasons marketers should layer first-party and contextual signals instead of chasing cookie replacements.

To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.

Today in the business of podcasting:
Podcast Movement 2026 opens public voting on conference sessions for the first time, with nearly 800 submissions from more than 500 speakers. Voting runs through July 21, and 50% of the New York City conference's schedule will be decided by community vote.
Tom Webster publishes The Podcast Atlas, Part Two: What The Screen Adds, with five findings on video podcasting as an ad environment, including a shorter path to purchase and the highest attention levels of any format in the study.
Bloomberg's Soundbite checks in on Apple Podcasts' video rollout four months after launch, finding encouraging early numbers from Acast and Transistor.fm but analytics that can't yet separate audio plays from video plays.
Owl & Co's Streamonomics previews Q2 earnings season through engagement data across nine platforms, showing Netflix viewing hours declining while Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube keep growing.

To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.