by Gavin Gaddis
A new Magellan AI case study details its work with American Public Media to bridge the gap between the value of APM’s content and what it could demonstrate to buyers. Magellan AI attribution reinforced podcasts and streaming content as “accountable components of a modern media mix, not discretionary brand-only spend.” After a year integrating Magellan AI into its digital audio sales and campaigns, APM posted its strongest digital sales since 2021.
As video podcasting grows and platforms like Netflix enter, podcasting sits at the crossroads of audio, video, and streaming. Ad Results Media's new Playbook tackles the opportunities and ambiguities of podcasting's evolution. Podcasting’s Netflix era isn’t just a story about growth; it’s a measurement challenge for the industry. Shows that solve for proving cross-platform value (e.g., holistic measurement that aggregates reach and frequency across RSS and streaming) will have more opportunity to thrive.
This fall, Syracuse University launches its Center for the Creator Economy, offering education, research, and industry partnerships in digital content and entrepreneurship. It will also begin offering a minor in the creator economy. According to IAB data, 2025 saw over 1.5 million full-time equivalent digital content creators in the U.S., more than the number of licensed physicians and active lawyers listed in the Federation of State Medical Boards and American Bar Association data. But while doctors and lawyers have well-defined curricula, the vast majority of the creator economy is fully self-taught. Syracuse University's dedicated, accredited creator economy curriculum professionalizes the field for the next generation.
Audio On the Move is a new holistic study aiming to provide the audio industry with a comprehensive view of how and when Canadians are listening. The new Signal Hill Insights report will encompass digital audio, terrestrial and digital radio, streaming, satellite, podcasting, and emerging platforms (including share of time spent for all forms). Pattison Media and Spotify have signed on as inaugural subscribers of Audio On the Move. The first edition of the study is slated to be released in late spring 2026.
Partner Update Spotlight
For the last six years we’ve sent regular monthly updates to all of our partners about everything going on at Sounds Profitable. But we know that we all get a lot of emails, so going forward we’ll be sharing monthly highlights in this newsletter along with details about where to find partner-specific information.
So with that, it's been a busy spring for us and our partners. Podcast Movement Evolutions at SXSW wrapped in a big way. We're already confirmed to return to Austin next year, we’ll have dates to share once SXSW confirms the festival dates. We also made our Advertising Week Europe debut, drawing nearly 450 attendees across 16 panels on our Business of Podcasting stage in just two days. Sessions from both events are now available on our YouTube channel.
Looking ahead, we're excited to see many of you at The Podcast Show London next month. For partners, be sure to check Slack for our ticket discount code and custom graphics generator so you can share with your social networks that you’ll be there.
We're also deep in planning for the first-ever Sounds Profitable Business Summit, taking place September 14–15 at Terminal 5 in NYC. Tickets will go on sale soon and are only available to Sounds Profitable partners. So if you’ve been thinking about becoming a partner and don’t want to miss out on NYC, reply to this email and let’s chat.
…as for the rest of the news:
Oxford Road’s April 2026 ORBIT rankings show True Crime with the second-highest podcast ad spend and top-20% efficiency—but not as a monolith. This month’s ORBIT takeaways examine how True Crime audiences and formats demand nuanced ad buys.
The Podcast Index has a daily New Feeds Report tracking feeds created in the past 24 hours.
The TED podcast WorkLife is returning with new host Molly Graham.
The Scalable podcast is now a part of Acast’s podcast network.
Anne Claessen has been appointed Chief Operating Officer at The Podcast Guys.
We Need To Talk, a podcast hosted by Paul C. Brunson, passed 500,000 YouTube subscribers in 603 days of publication. The show’s growth is attributed to the “FlightStory blueprint” used to grow The Diary of a CEO.
SiriusXM Media host and content creator Denise Salcedo is scheduled to host a special live podcast event at the Hotel Circa in Las Vegas on Friday, April 17 at noon PDT. The event, the day before WrestleMania 42, will feature a lineup of “powerful women,” including wrestling celebs.
