Sounds Profitable

Today in the business of podcasting:
A Signal Hill Insights survey of 6,161 Canadians finds AM/FM radio still holds 46% of in-car listening, while 68% of Canadians dislike AI-generated podcasts and only 4% like them.
The Podcast Study 2026 identifies "Prime Prospects," the 18% of podcast consumers who value the host and show growing consumption, as a major opportunity to grow podcast superfans, who make up 17% of the audience.
Apple's iOS 27 update has Safari blocking a first handful of ad tech companies, including The Trade Desk, LiveRamp, ID5, and Permutive, a quiet blocklist that was the talk of Advertising Week New York.
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:
Sounds Profitable Partner Tom Webster and ADOPTER Media's Glenn Rubenstein host a free webinar on October 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET, using new Podcast Atlas analysis to profile podcasting's heaviest buyers, the Super Spenders.
Audacy's Leah Reis-Dennis argues in a Sounds Profitable guest article that outdated podcast advertising advice needs a rewrite, citing 22% lower CPA on mid-sized shows, the value of host expertise, and the discovery role of video.
Barometer's AI contextual brand suitability and targeting segments are now available in Amazon Ads DVA+ for podcast campaigns, with episode-level pre-bid targeting across major platforms and supply side partners.
An AdExchanger column from Krystina Rubino and Lindsay Piper Shaw says podcasting is having its viewability moment, and that buyers should ask what kinds of impressions they are getting heading into 2027.
Dhar Mann says the $100M creator-brand deal target he set as Advertising Week New York's first chief creator officer is already pledged by CMOs, though contracts are not expected this week.
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.

This week in the business of podcasting:
Sounds Profitable's Podcast Landscape 2026 shows podcast reach holding steady at 74% of U.S. adults, while Netflix debuts as the third most-used podcast platform and video viewing climbs to 44% weekly.
Acast's Greg Glenday, Oxford Road's Dan Granger and Triton's Sharon Taylor explain how they reached scale, why measurement remains the industry's biggest problem, and why they believe podcast advertising is still early.
International Podcast Day brought a wave of announcements, from free Podcast Movement NYC sessions and a Headliner credit giveaway to a redesigned Podigee platform and Flightcast's Collaborative Publishing.
To find links to these, and every article covered in this week'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:
Sounds Profitable's Podcast Landscape 2026 finds U.S. podcast reach holding steady at 74% of adults, with Netflix arriving as a top-three platform and weekly video podcast viewing rising to 44%.
ExchangeWire asks whether podcasting is rated highly enough in the media mix, as UK weekly listening grows to 27% and ad execs weigh in on attention, host-read ads, and attribution.
Oxford Road CEO Dan Granger and Sounds Profitable's Bryan Barletta explain why the host is podcasting's most valuable ad asset, and why they favor a "both-and" monetization strategy.
Acast's Podcast Pulse 2026 shows 86% of Australian podcast fans consume both audio and video, and that podcasters were the only creator category to gain commercial trust in the past year.
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.

This week Tom Webster shares Part One of The Podcast Landscape 2026, our annual study of how Americans consume podcasts, drawn from a census-weighted survey of 5,473 US adults. Podcasting's audience is large and stable, but it is increasingly consuming in places not built for podcasts. Tom gets into five findings:
Reach held steady, with 74% of adults having consumed a podcast and 39% in the past week
Netflix is the third most-used service for podcasts, ahead of Apple Podcasts
Podcast-native apps kept shrinking as a most-used platform
Video kept growing, with 44% watching a video podcast in the past week
More people are consuming podcasts together with others
Plus, Tom points to his Podcast Movement NYC keynote on the Netflix finding.
Read the full issue here.