Sounds Profitable

This week in the business of podcasting:
Podcast Week in New York opened with the Sounds Profitable Business Summit, where This American Life's Ira Glass argued that podcasts build deeper audience connections than influencer content and that the depth makes their advertising more effective. A later panel tackled Spotify's skip button test, with Right Side Up and Acast pushing the industry toward better ad quality and more transparency.
Writing in The Roast, ADOPTER Media's Adam McNeal makes the case for pinning YouTube ad deals to "engaged views" rather than the platform's newly inflated public view count, arguing buyers should anchor contracts to the more meaningful metric while they still can.
Spotify is expanding its Partner Program for podcasts to more than 35 new markets this fall, its largest geographic rollout yet, citing a 140% jump in video podcast consumption and working with hosts like Acast, Libsyn, and Omny so creators can opt in without switching distributors.
At the IAB Podcast Upfront during Podcast Week, the IAB released a new video podcast measurement guide and argued a brand-new medium-agnostic framework like the AMP Accords is not needed, pointing buyers instead to existing IAB Tech Lab standards and clarifying which one applies where.
Apple's fall operating systems bring a wide batch of new Apple Podcasts features across iOS 27, tvOS 27, and macOS 27, with video as the throughline: a redesigned Apple TV app, video playback on macOS, full transcripts and chapters, and a new Search in Show tool.
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:
The IAB used its Podcast Upfront during Podcast Week to release new video podcast measurement guidance, declining to adopt a single medium-agnostic standard like the AMP Accords in favor of two existing IAB Tech Lab frameworks.
Spotify is expanding its Partner Program to more than 35 new markets this fall, opening audio and video podcast monetization to creators across Latin America and Europe while partnering with hosts like Acast, Libsyn, and Audioboom.
Acast's Podcast Pulse 2026 study of 4,300 listeners across 13 markets finds audiences no longer see audio and video as competing formats, with 88 percent now consuming both and trust in podcast host recommendations climbing.
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:
Apple's fall software releases bring a wave of new Apple Podcasts features across iOS 27, tvOS 27, and macOS 27, led by a video-first redesign. A revamped Apple TV app adds video podcast playback and channel browsing, while full transcripts, chapters, and a new Search in Show tool arrive across devices.
Amazon Music is expanding its global video podcast partnerships, integrating shows hosted on ART19, Omny Studio, and Flightcast, with SiriusXM, Megaphone, and Libsyn to follow. Video is rolling out to new markets including the UK, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan, and publishers keep control of hosting, ad inventory, and targeting.
The Podcast Study 2026, built from a nationally representative survey of 1,205 listeners, finds 82% see the host as a significant reason they tune in and that listeners remember and act on host-read ads more than other formats. The research also maps new revenue paths through ad-light subscriptions and interest-based targeting.
NPR unveiled a packed fall slate headlined by Machine Gods, a video-first, twice-weekly show from Hard Fork creators Kevin Roose and Casey Newton. The public radio outlet also announced Your Turn with Allison Aubrey and a weekend expansion of Planet Money's The Indicator.
Members of the Podcast Standards Project are meeting tomorrow during Podcast Movement to push for features that improve the open podcasting ecosystem. The gathering is open to anyone who builds for open podcasting, member or not.
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 Week in New York kicked off with the Sounds Profitable Business Summit, where This American Life's Ira Glass argued that podcasting's depth and audience connection make it more effective for advertisers than most influencer content. Panelists also pushed back on Spotify skip-button anxiety, making the case that better ads and more data transparency beat fear.
Genius Sports CRO Josh Linforth lays out how athlete-tracking technology is reshaping athlete-led media, using the Chris Paul partnership to show how the same data players rely on can feed fans directly and reshape sponsorships around content like athlete-led podcasts.
PRX named Chief Operating Officer Jason Saldanha its next president and CEO, effective October 15, succeeding Kerri Hoffman after more than a decade leading the organization, launching Radiotopia and moving over $200 million to independent creators.
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:
Podcasts Take Over New York — Podcast Week NYC kicks off with three back-to-back events: the Sounds Profitable Business Summit today and tomorrow, the 2026 IAB Podcast Upfront on Wednesday, and Podcast Movement closing out Thursday and Friday. Tom Webster has teased a keynote built on The Podcast Landscape 2026 data he expects to spark real industry debate.
Magellan AI's Q2 2026 Podcast Measurement Benchmark Report — New benchmarks show roughly 41% of podcast ad site visits land within seven days and 76% within 30, so reading a campaign too early can undercount results by more than half. Host-read ads posted a 3.22% median response rate against 2.09% for produced spots, and video shows outpaced audio-only.
Zero Seconds by Adam McNeal — ADOPTER Media's Adam McNeal argues for demanding YouTube "Engaged View" reporting in ad contracts, after founder Glenn Rubenstein warned the platform's new view metric can nearly double public counts without more real engagement. Any network holding its CPM flat on inflated views effectively hands itself a raise buyers can only counter up front.
Substack Adds a Dedicated Podcast Tab — Substack rolled out a dedicated podcast tab in its app to help creators reach current listeners and get found by new ones, noting podcasters collectively earn over $200 million on the platform. It is a notable carve-out for podcasting's brand from a company that once folded blogs into simply being "a Substack."
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.