

Sounds Profitable
Bryan Barletta
The pace of change the podcast industry is undergoing is staggering. The implications for podcasters, hosting providers, podcast listening app developers, and advertisers and agencies are enormous. And so is the growth potential. Presented as a companion to the weekly newsletter of the same name, our podcast provides you with direct access to our narrated articles, interviews with industry experts, bleeding-edge research, and can't miss industry news recaps. That Sounds Profitable, right? Assumptions and conventional wisdom will be challenged. Easy answers with no proof of efficacy will be exposed. Because the thinking that got podcast advertising close to a billion dollars annually will need to be drastically overhauled to bring in the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars podcast advertising deserves.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 30, 2023 • 4min
Amazon's Interactive Audio, Positive Holiday Shopping Indicators, 2024 Programmatic Strategies
Here's what you need to know for today in the business of podcasting: Amazon launches interactive audio ads on both ad-supported Amazon Music and Amazon Publisher Direct on Alexa in the U.S. [Source]Consumers are celebrating (and shopping for) the holidays like its 2019 by Alyssa Meyers [Source]Ad-tech firms and political agencies prepare for another year of spending heavily on CTV by Marty Swant [Source]The JAR Audio Podcast Landscape featuring Sounds Profitable Research by Roger Nairn and Laurissa Cebryk [Source]Digiday Programmatic Selling Strategies: Navigating identity, deals and making the most of CTV and video [Source]

Oct 27, 2023 • 7min
Podcasting's Brand Safety Boom, Netflix Frequency Drop, Wondery Podcasts on CTV
Here's what you need to know for this week in the business of podcasting:Less is More: ARM’s Podcast Ad Break StudyBrand Safety, Programmatic Growth, and DAI Dominance in IAB ReportWondery Podcasts to Air on CTV ChannelsNetflix Lightens Ad LoadQuick Hits: How Branded Podcasts Might Be One Key To New Listeners by Tom Webster. The potential reach for podcasts about favorite brands is about 106 million Americans 18+, according to The Power of Brands in Podcasts: A Podcast Landscape Study.Good Tape, Issue 1 now available. The first issue of a new print industry magazine featuring journalism and cultural criticism of podcasting is now available for order. Readers of The Download can get 10% off with promo code SP10.Archives to Earbuds: Podcasts for Cultural Institutions. This coming Monday, Jessica Alpert of Rococo Punch will moderate a panel of experts, hosted by The Podcast Academy and presented by the Leo Baeck Institute.Here’s how our top podcasts of the year get listeners to stay by Karen Burgess. Pacific Content takes a look at five branded podcasts that successfully use storytelling to not just perform well as branded content, but as podcasts in general.McDonald’s jingle, 20 years later by Alyssa Meyers. A history of the fast food jingle that’s still going strong two decades later, showing the power of well-curated sonic branding.YouTube Culture & Trends Report 2023. 55% of respondents watch content that no one else they know watches, indicating the trend of hyper-personalized content is growing. Good news for podcasting!CoHost Announces the Launch of its Prefix That Aims to Demystify Podcast Audiences for Brands and Agencies. The new prefix provides both advanced audience demographics and B2B analytics that track what companies are listening to the podcast.

Oct 26, 2023 • 4min
Podcast Ad Frequency Study, YouTube Trend Data, IAB Podcast Revenue Report, & more.
Here's what you need to know for today in the business of podcasting: What is the Optimal Number of Ads in an Audio Ad Break? by Lisa Prentis JacobsU.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Study 2023: Drivers, Strategies, and Tactics for GrowthYouTube Culture & Trends Report 2023…as for the rest of the news: -AdExchanger shares what they overheard at the Prebid Summit, MarketingBrew shares what they overheard at Advertising Week, and Maria Novikova shares her top ten podcasts to stay abreast of news in adtech and marketing tech.

Oct 25, 2023 • 9min
Sports Podcast Branding Potential, Phones Dominate Shopping, Spotify's Podcast Strategy
Here's what you need to know for today in the business of podcasting: Mobile phones are the most popular devices used to shop, report says by Alyssa MeyersHow brands can engage with the next generation of sports fans by Alyssa MeyersIn pursuit of profit, Spotify looks to AI rather than original content for its podcasting future by Ariel ShapiroSound To Screen: How To Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck by Steven Goldstein…as for the rest of the news… next Monday Jessica Alpert of Roccoco Punch is moderating the webinar Archives to Earbuds: Podcasts for Cultural Institutions, and Signal Hill Insights’ Jeff Vidler discusses takeaways from the newest Sounds Profitable study The Power of Brands in Podcasts.

Oct 25, 2023 • 9min
How Branded Podcasts Might Be One Key To New Listeners
This week, Tom Webster takes a look at Brand Fans, and how branded podcasts could actually grow the overall audience for podcasting. Written by Tom WebsterEdited by Bryan BarlettaAudio edited by Gavin GaddisHosted by ART19Sounds Profitable: Narrated Articles is a production of Sounds Profitable. For more information, visit soundsprofitable.com.

Oct 24, 2023 • 5min
Wondery CTV Play, DTC Brands on Programmatic Audio, Did Somebody Say McDonalds?
Here's what you need to know for today in the business of podcasting: Wondery launches three podcast FAST channels on Amazon Freevee by Sara Guaglione [Source]DTC Brands Experiment with Programmatic Podcast Ads but Find Mixed Results by Phoebe Bain [Source]Here’s how our top podcasts of the year get listeners to stay by Karen Burgess [Source]McDonald’s jingle, 20 years later by Alyssa Meyers [Source]As for the rest of the news… Spotify’s Q3 earnings show a surprise operating profit, and MarketingBrew gives 7 main takeaways on influencer marketing from Advertiser Week New York.

Oct 23, 2023 • 6min
Apple’s Podcast Advertising Potential, Netflix's Ad Frequency, UK Podcast Upfront, & More
Here's what you need to know for today in the business of podcasting: Apple considers selling more podcast ads by Ashley CarmanNetflix’s Answer To Subscriber Churn? Fewer Ads by Alyssa BoyleThe 25-year-old media planner and the screenshot industrial complex by Brian MorrisseyHow major podcast players are moving ‘beyond’ audio formats by Ella SagarCTV Ad Targeting Is Getting More Advanced – But Data Quality Is Not by Alyssa Boyle

Oct 20, 2023 • 9min
YouTube's RSS Ingestion, New Branded Podcast Study, Antiquated Keyworld Blocking, & More.
Here's what you need to know for this week in the business of podcasting:The Power of Brands in Podcasts, A Podcast Landscape StudySpotify’s Dave Byrne on brand safety, suitability measures.Study: listener prefer relevant podcast ads, more forgiving than with music.YouTube RSS Integration and AdvertisingQuick Hits:Confused About Video? The Listeners Aren’t! by Tom Webster. While the question “what is a podcast” can lead to complicated responses from podcasters, respondents to The Podcast Landscape study are pretty confident in what qualifies as a podcast.YouTube passes Netflix as top video source for teens by Kif Leswing. A long-running Piper Sandler study finds for the first time ever YouTube has passed Netflix as top video source for teens. Given the many podcasts Netflix has commissioned, one wonders how much teen traffic they’d regain if those podcasts were also available in the Netflix app. Brands are taking notice of Gen Alpha by Jasmine Sheena. Given existing legislation makes existing targeting methods difficult as the oldest Gen Alpha member is 13, brands are resorting to more creative projects to meet younger audiences where they’re at, which could include the rising popularity of Kids & Family podcasts.ARN takeover bid for SCA by Chris Pash. If successful, the acquisition bid would lead to Australia having two national media organizations with independent ownership of each other. Streaming-powered tools come to Spotify from PodNews. The new system will allow users to upload and monetize video podcasts on Spotify, access enhanced analytics reporting, and use a new clickable promo system to cross-promote an episode with other podcasts on Spotify.

Oct 19, 2023 • 5min
Reframing YouTube Podcasting, CTV Measurement Needs Transparency, Millennials Love Podcasts, & More
Here's what you need to know for today in the business of podcasting:Confused About Video? The Listeners Aren’t! by Tom WebsterMeet the MillennialsPublishers pitch their methods for growing and engaging audiences to marketers by Sara GuaglioneTV Measurement Is Transforming – But Buyers Need More Transparency by Alyssa Boyle…as for the rest of the news: As for the rest of the news… writer Will Page expresses concern that many authors still don’t know how Spotify’s royalty structure works for audiobooks, and Edison Research’s Share of Ear for in-car listening shows AM/FM radio consumption drops 21 percentage points for respondents whose primary vehicle has Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

Oct 18, 2023 • 5min
Keyword Blocklist Danger, Spotify’s Brand Safety Play, ARN Aims for SCA, & More
Here's what you need to know for today in the business of podcasting: Streaming-Powered Tools Coming to Spotify [Source]ARN takeover bid for SCA by Chris Pash [Source]Dave Byrne on Spotify’s “Sensitive Topics” Tech [Source]Why publishers are the new brand ambassadors by Kayleigh Barber [Source]…as for the rest of the news: a new AdExchanger Talks episode pleads with brands not to add terms like ‘Israel’ and ‘Hamas’ to keyword blocklists, and a new 30 second Allstate ad stresses ‘there’s a podcast about that.’ According to Magellan AI data, Allstate’s current estimated podcast ad spend for the year is a hair over $61,000 as of the end of September.