PodBiz | Where's The Money In Podcasting?

Can programmatic advertising really open up new revenue streams for mid-tier publishers and independent creators? In this episode of PodBiz, Norma Jean Belenky and John Kiernan speak with Stacy Newhuis, Senior Vice President of Marketplace at SoundStack, about the evolving business of podcast monetization, ad tech, and industry trends. Stacy shares how SoundStack has evolved to champion tech-agnos...

Where is the real money in podcasting, and how can AI bring radical transparency to brand suitability? In this episode of PodBiz, Norma Jean Belenky and John Kiernan speak with Dr. Tamara Zubatiy, CEO and Co-Founder of Barometer, about brand safety, brand suitability, and the rapid rise of programmatic advertising in podcasting. Tamara shares how she transitioned from researching Human-Centered AI...

How can podcasting move past guesswork to build true, privacy-first audience demographics? In this episode of PodBiz, Norma Jean Belenky speaks with Emma Raz, Director of Commercial at NumberEight, about the evolution of audience targeting and demographic data in podcasting. Emma shares how number eight was built post-GDPR to move beyond unreliable surveys and household IP tracking, using observed...

Where is the money in podcasting really going—and how is ad measurement evolving to keep up? In this episode of PodBiz, Norma Jean Belenky and John Kiernan sit down with Matt Shapo, Senior Director of the Measurement Center at IAB, and Jason Adamski, Director of Audio at IAB, for their very first in-person recording at the IAB Lab in New York City. Matt and Jason break down spending trends across...

How do you make a great podcast easier to find? Andrea De Marsi, founder and CEO of PodSEO and co-founder of Spreaker, joins PodBiz to break down one of podcasting’s longest-running challenges: discoverability. Andrea explains why simply creating great content is not enough. Podcasters also need to think like marketers, from optimizing how their shows appear in Apple Podcasts and Spotify to buildi...

What happens when a podcast conference stops trying to be everything to everyone and starts creating the right experience for the people actually in the room? Podcast Movement is heading to New York September 17th and 18th and with a completely reimagined format, and Molly DeMellier, Head of Communications at Sounds Profitable, joins PodBiz to break down what attendees can expect. This year separa...

If advertisers already understand the value of podcasting, what needs to happen for the industry to capture a bigger share of their budgets? David Krulewich, founder and CEO of Mission Media AI, joins PodBiz to look at where the money is moving across podcasting and the wider advertising ecosystem. David makes the case that the opportunity is no longer limited to selling podcast ads show by show....

What separates a podcast ad campaign that drives real business results from one that simply delivers a large number of impressions? Andy Maxwell, co-founder of Earmax Media, joins PodBiz to explain why successful podcast advertising starts with understanding exactly what a brand is buying. Audience fit, ad position, campaign measurement and the quality of the creative all affect whether a listener...

What does it take to build a sustainable podcast business now that the easy money has disappeared? Helen Parker, managing director and co-founder of Strange Magic, joins PodBiz to discuss what podcasting looks like as the industry moves beyond its speculative boom years and into a more mature phase. Drawing on her background in technology and nearly six years leading Chalk & Blade, Helen expla...

What if a podcast campaign is working but the advertiser’s measurement tools cannot see the full impact? Jim Ballas, President of Measurement at Magellan AI, joins PodBiz to discuss podcast attribution, audience data and how better measurement can help publishers sell more effectively while helping advertisers spend more confidently. Promo codes and basic reporting do not always capture every acti...

What changes when podcasters stop renting access to an audience and start building a media business they own? Ainsley Rossitto, Head of Podcasts at beehiiv, joins PodBiz to discuss audience ownership, podcast monetization and the tools creators can use to build stronger direct relationships with listeners. Downloads show that an episode was accessed, but they do not tell creators everything they n...

Are subscriptions really the most sustainable source of owned revenue in podcasting—and in media? In this episode of PodBiz, Norma Jean Belenky speaks with Eric Barnett, Vice President of Revenue at Supporting Cast, about the power and strategy behind podcast subscriptions. Eric breaks down how publishers, networks, and independent creators can build owned revenue streams, structure high-convertin...

What if the most valuable podcast audience is not listening to one of the biggest shows? Podcast advertising has traditionally been driven by scale, with major brands concentrating their budgets on the largest and most recognizable podcasts. But highly engaged niche audiences, creator-led communities and influence across multiple platforms are creating new opportunities for both brands and podcast...

In this special one-year anniversary episode of PodBiz , hosts Norma Jean Belenky and John Kiernan step away from interviewing a guest to reflect on the biggest lessons from the show's first year. Together they discuss why they launched PodBiz, the three monetization models that emerged again and again across more than 50 interviews, why transparency is still one of podcasting's greatest competiti...

Is programmatic advertising really just an automated machine, or does the real money in podcasting come down to relationships? In this episode of PodBiz, Norma Jean Belenky and John Kiernan speak with Rebecca Dalby, VP of Demand at Triton Digital, about the nuances of programmatic audio and monetization. Rebecca shares her journey from fast-moving consumer goods to the podcasting industry, detaili...

Can independent podcasters compete without millions of downloads? Liam Heffernan thinks they can, but only if they stop treating downloads as the whole story. As Founder and CEO of Mercury Podcast Network, Liam has built a business around supporting the independent shows that often get overlooked by larger networks. For him, the opportunity in podcasting is not just about scale. It is about helpin...

What happens when a YouTube creator mindset collides with traditional podcasting? For Stella Young, the answer is a completely different way of thinking about audience growth, monetization, and ownership. As the founder of Tiny Legends and co-host of This Is TV Now alongside Dane Cardiel, Stella entered podcasting after years in the YouTube ecosystem. What she found was an industry that often view...

How do you build a podcast business that's truly your own? After leadership roles at NPR, Apple, Netflix, Wondery, and Amazon, N'Jeri Eaton made a decision that more podcast professionals are considering: stop building for someone else's platform and start building something you own. In this episode of PodBiz, Norma Jean Belenky speaks with N'Jeri about creator ownership, independent production, a...

How do you build the infrastructure for a podcast market that's about to become larger than the United States? For years, podcast industry conversations have largely centered around English-speaking markets. But according to Rodrigo Tigre, President and Co-Founder of Ozen.fm, the next major growth story may come from somewhere else entirely. Rodrigo has spent more than two decades working in digit...

How can a membership model transform your podcast from an unpredictable hobby into a recurring revenue stream? In this episode of PodBiz, Norma Jean Belenky and John Kiernan speak with Joe Fucigna, a creator membership specialist, about the power of direct-to-fan monetization models. Joe shares how he helps podcasters transition away from unpredictable advertising cycles to build thriving communit...

How do podcast publishers actually know what inventory they can sell? According to Sean Howard, most of the industry historically hasn’t. In this episode of PodBiz, Sean Howard, founder and CEO of Flightpath and co-founder of Fable and Folly, breaks down one of the biggest operational problems in podcast advertising: forecasting ad delivery in a medium built around unpredictable audience behavior....

How do you measure the value of a podcast when the industry still can’t fully agree on what counts as a listener? Tom Webster has spent decades helping the audio industry answer exactly that question. From traditional radio research to podcast analytics, audience behavior, and platform evolution, his work has shaped how podcasting understands itself and where it’s heading next. In this episode of...

How do you build a podcast business when your audience is highly specialized, deeply regulated, and incredibly difficult to reach? Dan Kendall has spent nearly a decade proving that small, focused podcast audiences can create outsized business value. As the founder of Health Podcast Library and creator of Digital Health Today, Dan built one of the earliest podcast ecosystems dedicated to healthcar...

If you don’t own your audience, are you actually building a business? This week on PodBiz, Michelle Jackson, founder of Creators Getting Paid , breaks down why most creators struggle to monetize and what’s actually required to turn a podcast into something sustainable. Her work sits at the intersection of independent creators, community building, and revenue transparency, giving her a clear view i...

If podcasting is growing, why is monetization still uneven and who actually captures the value? This week on PodBiz, Brendan Monaghan, CEO of Libsyn and former co-founder of Megaphone, breaks down podcasting from the platform layer: hosting, monetization, and the infrastructure shaping the industry behind the scenes. With experience spanning Spotify, Megaphone, and The Washington Post, Brendan bri...