

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

Jul 24, 2025 • 5min
Looking @ Super Listeners, Recognizing Comedy Podcasts & More
Today in the business of podcasting: a look at Spotify's "super-listeners", what Tom Webster learned from a magician that applies to podcasting, and the Just for Laughs festival is awarding a Podcast of the Year during this year's festival. Find links to every article mentioned by heading to the Download section of SoundsProfitable.com, or clicking here to go straight to today's entry.

Jul 23, 2025 • 6min
How Podcasts Are Overtaking Late-Night, Apple on Listener Privacy, & More
Today in the business of podcasting: Apple details how they protect listener privacy in listening reports, Steve Goldsten writes on how podcasting has largely usurped the classic late-night talk show, Sharon Taylor argues why video podcasting narratives leave audio behind, and an interview with OpusClip's Louis Roberts. Find links to every article mentioned by heading to the Download section of SoundsProfitable.com, or by clicking here to head straight to today's entry.

Jul 23, 2025 • 10min
What I Learned From The Longest-running One-Person Show in Vegas
Audience engagement is the true magic that makes shows stick, who better to learn from than actual magicians?
Written and narrated by Tom Webster
Edited by Bryan Barletta and Gavin Gaddis
Audio editing by Gavin Gaddis
Register for Sounds Profitable's next research webinar.Find the full article here on Sounds Profitable.

Jul 22, 2025 • 7min
Modern Podcast Monetization, AI @ Ad Awards, & More
Today in the business of podcasting: what the death of The Late Show might say about linear TV in general, a look at Joe Budden's income streams, advertising awards race to tighten up generative AI guidelines after Cannes Lions, Spotify launches Audiobooks+ in European markets and Canada, and 6AM City seeks to automate local newsletter production with Good Daily's AI. Find links to every article mentioned by heading to The Download section of SoundsProfitable.com, or by clicking here for today's episode post.

Jul 21, 2025 • 6min
Apple Podcasts Data Upgrade, Public Broadcast Funding, & More
Today in the business of podcasting: Apple Podcasts have new listener reports (and Dan Misener has a suggestion for a future one), The New York Times looks at the audience of multi-hour chat podcasts, an overlook at how public broadcasting is impacted by the Senate rescinding $1b in funding, Nicolle Wallce's MSNBC podcast now is aired on MSNBC proper, and Sounds Profitable won the 2025 Content Marketing Institute award for Best Data Storytelling.Find links to every article mentioned by heading to The Download's section of SoundsProfitable.com, or by clicking here for today's specific post.

Jul 18, 2025 • 11min
Audioboom Acquires Adelicious, Podcasting's Growth Mindset, & More
This week in the business of podcasting.
Audioboom has acquired Adelicious
Selling the health & fitness podcast mindset
Content creators shut out of the Emmys for a second year running
The power of podcast search optimization
Google is indexing Instagram
Video podcasting and YouTube production is creating jobs in an otherwise hurting Hollywood.
Find links to every article discussed by heading to the Download's section of SoundsProfitable.com, or clicking here to head straight to the post for today's episode.

Jul 16, 2025 • 7min
Emmy Creator Shutout, SiriusXM Play Reveal, & More
Today in the business of podcasting: SiriusXM launches an ad-supported tier, Audioboom acquires Adelicious, how Kids & Family podcasts are perfect for the "nag factor", content creators once again left out of the Emmys, and Acast reports on a podcast campaign run for KFC in Australia. Find links to every article discussed by heading to the Download's section of SoundsProfitable.com, or clicking here to head straight to the post for today's episode.

Jul 15, 2025 • 5min
Gemini Now Sees Instagram, IAB Tech Lab AI Scraping Initiative, & More
Today in the business of podcasting: Google is now indexing Instagram, Ausha's Jennfer Han talks about a recent BBC Studios case study, Digiday looks at the creator industrial complex, and IAB Tech Lab is working on an intiative to monetize LLMs scraping content and give control back to publishers. Find links to every article discussed by heading to the Download's section of SoundsProfitable.com, or clicking here to head straight to the post for today's episode.

Jul 14, 2025 • 4min
Audioboom's Q2, Video Podcasts Drive Hollywood Jobs, & More
Today in the business of podcasting: Audioboom posts profit in Q2, CMOs seek stability and cutting out the middleman with content creator marketing, and the LA Times covers the burgeoning video production job market caused by the rise of YouTubers and video podcasting. Find links to every article discussed by heading to the Download's section of SoundsProfitable.com, or clicking here to head straight to the post for today's episode.

Jul 11, 2025 • 10min
YouTube Restricting Reuploads, Retaining Podcasting's Spark, & More
This week in the business of podcasting:
There's preservationists who want to save the soul of podcasting, there's growth advocates that welcome the YouTubeifiaction of podcasts. Tom Webster argues both are right, and that binary might be hurting podcasting's ability to preserve its "soul."
The Podcast Host and Alitu CEO Colin Gray talks about the sort-of surprise that was seeing Alitu on stream during Apple's WWDC presentation, as well as his experiences over 15 years of working in podcasting.
YouTube is preparing a crackdown on mass-produced and repetitive video content with some wording updates to the guidelines that run their monetization program.
Spotify has ensured pod.link's future by giving the company back to Nathan Gathright, the original developer.
Find links to every article discussed by heading to the Download's section of SoundsProfitable.com, or clicking here to head straight to the post for today's episode.


