Sounds Profitable

Podcast Movement is coming to New York City! Tickets are now on sale for the two events running September 14-18: the Sounds Profitable Business Summit and Podcast Movement NYC. The open call for Podcast Movement 2026 speakers is open until Tuesday, June 30.
The era of growing a podcast audience by making people curious about podcasting is over — the people who were going to discover the medium on its own merits already have. New research shows YouTube and social feeds now dominate how listeners find shows, but the single most effective discovery tool is still a friend's recommendation. The practical upshot: stop over-investing in the channels ranked lowest by your own listeners, and start making your show easy to describe, share, and recommend.

Tom Webster argues that LLMs have advanced faster than most people realize, and that pretending otherwise is magical thinking. He traces his own journey from basic prompt use to running local models on a home server, all without a coding background, to show that these tools are accessible to anyone willing to engage. And he has some pointed advice for anyone still on the fence about embracing AI in their work.
Written by Tom Webster
Edited and narrated by Gavin Gaddis

Find the full article here.

Today in the business of podcasting:
New Edison Research Podcast Metrics data shows Netflix and Tubi are gaining traction as video podcast platforms, with 14% of U.S. weekly podcast consumers using Netflix and 4% using Tubi, while YouTube leads at 64% and Spotify follows at 42%.
A reported $100 million deal has taken Jay Shetty's podcast On Purpose into exclusivity with Spotify and Netflix, with Spotify handling global ad sales and Netflix securing the video rights, raising questions about whether major exclusivity deals can successfully pull audiences off YouTube.
Several new podcasts are launching in connection with the U.S. 250th anniversary, including Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise with President Barack Obama, First America from Pushkin Industries and Critical Frequency, and The Indigenous Setlist from Indigenous House and Little Bear Audio.
YouTube is hosting a free live webinar on June 17 to help podcasters set up Channel Memberships, covering perks, pricing tiers, and strategies for converting casual viewers into paying members.
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:
Bumper has opened its podcast analytics dashboard to creators of every size, introducing a free tier alongside new Pro and Enterprise plans and making its independent Bumper Score available across the board, while Enterprise subscribers also gain access to a new Bumper MCP server connecting podcast data directly to AI tools.
Two notable proposals are stirring debate in the open podcasting community on GitHub, one calling for a standardized way to disclose AI generated content in RSS feeds and another suggesting a method for verifying which apps are actually downloading episodes, an idea that could reshape how podcast apps get paid.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has ordered Google to let publishers opt out of having their content used to power AI search features, giving the company nine months to roll out the changes and requiring it to publish regular compliance reports.
New data from streaming measurement firm Digital i shows YouTube overtaking Netflix in daily audience attention, with Australia ranking among the top viewing markets worldwide and Netflix's own YouTube channel pulling in significant reach.
A new analysis argues that short form video isn't killing long form content but reshaping its role instead, with short clips driving discovery and habit formation while podcasts and longer series build deeper audience attachment over time.
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:
SXSW 2027's PanelPicker application period opens June 23, with live AMAs scheduled and Podcast Movement Evolutions confirmed to return Monday through Wednesday of the event.
The Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting unveiled its first unified impression framework for audio and video podcasting, ratifying four cross-platform exposure definitions to give advertisers and publishers a shared basis for measuring podcast inventory across audio and video.
Tom Webster's latest Sounds Profitable article reflects on a year of deepening AI use, arguing that the real question for creators is not whether AI was involved but whether they are proud of what they made.
Both Sport Social Network and Quill + CoHost have new articles this week in the Sounds Profitable thought leadership article series.

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:
Tom Webster reflects on a year of rapid AI adoption — from pasting into ChatGPT to running open-source language models on a home server — arguing that the real question for creators is not whether they use AI, but whether they stand behind what they publish.
The Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP) Task Force has released its first unified impression framework, defining Podcast Play, Podcast Audience, Ad Impression, and Ad Audience to enable cross-platform comparison of audio and video podcast inventory for the first time.
SXSW 2027's PanelPicker submission process opens June 23, with live AMAs and office hours scheduled through July, and Podcast Movement Evolutions confirmed to return for the conference.
DIRECTV Advertising's Drew Groner argues that sports rights fragmentation across streaming apps has undermined the reach of national ad buys for local and regional sports fans, while CBC Podcasts opens a pitch call for a new narrative sports feed.
Podscribe's May 2026 Industry Ranker shows Crime Junkie and The Daily holding the top two spots for audio reach, The Oprah Podcast jumping from #7 to #4, and Shopify leading advertiser spend across ten industries represented in the top ten.
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.