Podcasting By The Numbers

In today's show, we dig into what really drives podcast discovery, why podcast ads outperform every other channel, and how Apple is upgrading the big‑screen experience. Edison Podcast Metrics® shows the top decision drivers: topic (64%) and host (53%). Guests matter less (38%), and trailers, cover art, and kid‑friendly labels barely register. The takeaway: topic and host do the work. Magellan AI a...

Today’s episode hits three big shifts in podcasting: automation, audience behavior, and measurement. Podeo launches with a clear promise — turn podcasts into video people actually watch. It converts full episodes into long‑form video and auto‑uploads them to YouTube, instantly expanding a show’s reach on the world’s biggest video platform. At Podcast Week in New York, the Podcast Study 2026 droppe...

Headliner is pushing podcast automation forward with its new YouTube Video Clips Automation, turning any YouTube Podcast Playlist into nonstop, styled, captioned, auto‑published clips — freeing creators from the busywork and keeping shows growing on their own. At Podcast Week’s kickoff, Ira Glass reminded the Sounds Profitable crowd of “what podcasts do better,” arguing that deeper storytelling cr...

Substack is making a bigger play in audio with a new podcast tab — a dedicated space that helps creators reach their current listeners while boosting discovery for new ones.  It centralizes shows from Substack writers and reflects a fast‑growing ecosystem where podcasters on the platform now earn over $200 million a year.  It’s another step in Substack’s push to become a full home for independent...

This episode breaks down the shifting metrics shaping podcast and platform advertising. Glenn Rubenstein of ADOPTER Media warns that YouTube’s rushed view‑metric changes inflate counts while making each view worth less — and says Spotify’s skip‑ad tests only weaken measurement further. We also dig into Magellan AI’s Q2 2026 report, which shows that judging podcast ads after one week captures less...

Today, Audiencelift launches Preferred Apps & Players, giving podcasters real control over where their audiences grow. Listeners discover shows across 50,000 premium publishers and pick exactly where to listen—Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Overcast, and more. With Verified Growth™, creators can finally see the full listener journey instead of chasing raw download totals. We also spotlight FOX...

This episode covers three major shifts in podcasting. First, Caloroga Media unveils Linnet, a browser‑based AI studio that handles scripting, recording, editing, mixing, artwork, video, and publishing in one place—built to match real production quality and keep creators fully in control. Then we dig into new survey data showing a growing divide between fast, high‑volume video creators and slower,...

This episode looks at three stories shaping the podcast landscape right now. First, Bobby Bones marks ten years of The BobbyCast, a show that’s grown from a passion project into a multi‑platform force — now pulling in 92 million monthly social impressions, reaching 5.4 million followers, launching the Nashville Podcast Network, and expanding all the way to Netflix. Then we break down new publishin...

This episode brings together three big stories shaping the podcast world right now. First, Audacity v4 has landed with a major redesign — a cleaner interface, customizable workspaces, new clip‑editing tools, expanded plugin support, and a more flexible recording workflow. The core app stays free, even as Audacity promotes its optional cloud‑saving service. Then we zoom out to listener behavior: 62...

This episode zooms out to the real tension in the creator economy — not content, not algorithms, but the disconnect between creators, audiences, and advertisers. Each group thinks they’re listening, but they’re operating on assumptions that haven’t matched reality in years. Part 5 brings the whole series together, showing where those gaps line up and how the ecosystem gets smarter once everyone st...

Part 4 cuts through one of podcasting’s biggest myths: the idea that the medium skews male.  It doesn’t. Across markets, gender is nearly balanced — and the real story lives in the deviations. France and the UK lean more female, while the US, Germany, and Australia sit near the global baseline. Category behavior sharpens the picture: True Crime skews female, News and Sports skew male, and Comedy a...

Gen Z matters — just not in the oversimplified way advertisers keep assuming.  New data shows Gen Z’s podcast behavior is intensely market‑specific: Sports dominates 18–24s in France, Comedy leads in the UK and Australia, and personas across the U.S., France, and Australia reveal wildly different interests from auto and fitness to sustainability, fashion, Pride, and summer travel.  Treating Gen Z...

Part 2 digs into who’s actually listening to podcasts — and spoiler, it’s not just Millennials. Sure, 25–34 is the biggest group across major markets, but the full picture shows real spread: Gen X, Gen Z, Boomers, even Gen Alpha all show up in meaningful ways. Different ages lean into different genres too — teens hit Sports, 18–34 loves Comedy, 35–44 leans Society & Culture, 45–54 goes Educati...

We start with the creator blind spot — the fact that 27% of podcasters don’t listen to other shows in their niche. Some avoid influence on purpose. Others get swallowed by production. Either way, it shapes how they create and how disconnected they can become from the listeners they’re trying to reach. Who Actually Listens to Podcasts is a five‑part reality check for creators and advertisers who th...

Audacy is quietly shutting down Creator Lab on November 1 — the hosting and monetization platform it rebranded from Podcorn after a $22.5M acquisition.  Despite a splashy 2025 relaunch and YouTube integration this spring, the service never caught fire, hosting just 426 shows.  And the weird part?  Audacy hasn’t acknowledged the shutdown. The site still promotes Creator Lab, and they’ve advertised...

Quince is absolutely flooding podcast ads — $7.5 million in July, outspending everyone, with BetterHelp and Amazon trailing behind. Hero Bread, Accenture, and Lululemon are the surprise climbers, jumping fast in month‑over‑month growth. YouTube had its classic “oops” moment: The Parent Tap got banned, appealed, denied instantly… and then reinstated once an actual human looked at it. The algorithm...

Podbean basically walked in waving its IAB certification like, “These numbers aren’t vibes — they’re science.” With fully standardized metrics, your downloads finally mean what you think they mean, and sponsors can stop squinting at your analytics like they’re reading tea leaves. Meanwhile, Meta has resurrected its podcast dreams — not on Facebook, but on Threads, the app that somehow became every...

Conservative podcast audiences are shifting fast heading into the 2026 election cycle. Edison Podcast Metrics shows major gains for Megyn Kelly, Shawn Ryan, and Candace — while Dan Bongino, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and Mark Levin are trending down. Podbean creators also faced a major analytics glitch after an anti‑bot update wiped out all Apple Podcasts downloads, leaving many stuck with inac...

We’re digging into the plot twists shaking up the podcast world.  First: YouTube’s own data reveals that video podcasts . . . aren’t being watched.  Nearly half of YouTube‑first listeners are treating the platform like a giant audio app — even as creators obsess over lighting, angles, and perfect hair.  We’ll break down new Edison Research numbers showing podcast listening hitting 115 million Amer...

This week in podcasting, the power plays are everywhere. Triton Digital’s Q2 Ranker shows the charts in motion — comedy dominating, news surging ahead of the midterms, and creator‑led shows climbing fast. Spotify drops a shiny new ad‑skip button that could reshape creator revenue and listener loyalty. And Audacy locks in MeidasTouch as its exclusive audio partner, adding one of the most fired‑up a...

Today, the platforms are doing… whatever this is. Flightpath finally snapped and launched Automation Playbooks, basically telling the ad‑tech world: “Stop breaking our deals.”  Repeated ads, broken campaigns, Ad Ops stuck re‑flighting orders like it’s a full‑time cardio routine — Playbooks step in to fix the chaos and give publishers control again. Meanwhile, listeners are sending mixed vibes abou...

In today’s episode, we break down three major shifts shaping the future of podcasting. First, Covatic’s new Smart Campaigns engine is giving publishers real‑time control over targeting — optimizing live campaigns for actual business outcomes like sales, sign‑ups, visits, and purchases. Early results show major conversion lifts across retail, B2B, auto, and charity. Then we look at Buzzsprout’s big...

In this episode, we break down how to clean up your podcast workflow and keep podfade far away.  Nearly half of new shows die by episode three — but with the right strategy, mindset, and production habits, yours won’t be one of them. You’ll get five quick, practical ways to stay consistent, stay creative, and keep your show moving forward. We also cover a sharp industry update: Cineverse’s new VAU...

Two major events hit the city in the same week, each speaking to a completely different side of the industry. First, the Sounds Profitable Business Summit, where ad‑tech leaders, operators, and revenue strategists map out the future of podcast monetization. Then, just days later, Podcast Movement NYC, the creator‑driven gathering packed with producers, editors, marketers, and storytellers shaping...

This podcast breaks down the real shifts happening across the audio industry — from brand‑safe ad tech to Gen Z listening culture to the rise of video‑first podcasting.  This episode dives into the forces reshaping how podcasts are made, monetized, and consumed. We unpack the tools changing the game — like Basis and Barometer’s episode‑level brand suitability — and explore why Gen Z treats podcast...