Goalhanger Launches The Accelerator Fund, New Fox Creator Studios Head, & More

by Gavin Gaddis and Emily Ely

Podcasting outperforms other media to deliver campaign reach and attention boost, says Acast survey by Ellie Hammonds

A new survey of 3,501 UK adults conducted by Acast and Nielsen found that adding audio podcasting to a media campaign is 33% more effective at increasing brand consideration than radio alone. The report, titled Podcasts’ Incremental Impact UK, also found that Acast podcasts boosted campaign reach by 25% for AM/FM radio, 21% for broadcast video on demand (BVOD), and 15% for live TV. 48% of the individuals surveyed said they would consider a brand or product advertised in podcast audio, and 46% of respondents found podcast ads more entertaining than other formats. Additionally, 55% of respondents said adding podcasts to campaigns adds more credibility than live TV (53%), BVOD (51%) and subscription video on demand (47%).

Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger Launches Content Creator Fund Initiative ‘The Accelerator’ (Exclusive) by Lily Ford

The Hollywood Reporter has exclusive coverage announcing UK podcast production company Goalhanger is launching a content creator fund initiative, dubbed The Accelerator. The program will offer select UK creators up to £10,000 in content investment alongside mentorship and access to Goalhanger’s production infrastructure. Also published this morning, The Media Leader’s Ellie Hammonds has a new article on Goalhanger’s subscriber revenue growth. Back in January it announced reaching 250,000 premium subscribers, generating an estimated subscription revenue of £15 million per year. Memberships are live for eight of the 14 shows with the average subscriber paying £60 split between monthly and annual payments, granting access to ad-free listening, early access to shows, and bonus content. Despite the rise of paying subscribers, advertising remains the business’s biggest revenue stream. The majority of listeners consume content for free, with only 1-2% of each show's audience converting to paid membership. Goalhanger says keeping both streams of revenue healthy is important to its business model.

Advertising Was Built for Reach. Attention Doesn’t Work That Way by Kirby Grines

Grines argues the way audiences consume content doesn’t align with advertising methods optimized for reach and frequency. Impressions alone can’t capture the state in which someone encounters an ad. Someone on autopilot scrolling a social media feed is far different from someone actively paying attention, but both are an impression. Grines notes that Crocs, Procter & Gamble, and JCPenney have gotten into the vertical microdrama trend to make branded content promoting their products using extended narratives. Narrative-based ad distribution builds attention through engagement and repetition rather than direct insertion of standalone creative. The narrative trend in advertising could benefit podcasting, as branded audio fiction could act as an affordable alternative to full-cast microdramas.

Book Output Topped Four Million in 2025 by Jim Milliot

New industry data from Bowker finds in 2025 the amount of books published with ISBN numbers increased 32.5% year-over-year (y-o-y) from 2024. Traditionally published books reached 642,242, up 6.6% y-o-y, and self-published works jumped 38.7% to over 3.5 million in 2025. As Tom Webster notes on LinkedIn, the fact that over four million new books were published (in the U.S. alone) last year did not trigger controversy about whether we’ve reached “peak book.” By comparison, as James Cridland notes in the comments of Webster’s post, there were just 207,907 new podcast feeds globally in 2025 according to Listen Notes data. Something to keep in mind the next time you hear ‘there are too many podcasts.’