Spotify on Amazon DSP in Australia, Utility in Rural Podcasting, & More

by Gavin Gaddis and Emily Ely

Spotify Gives Aussie Advertisers Access to Audio, Video Inventory Through Amazon Ads

Amazon Ads and Spotify have announced a strategic partnership to give Australian advertisers programmatic access to Spotify’s audio and video inventory through Amazon DSP. The deal combines Amazon’s vast shopping and streaming data with Spotify’s 751 million monthly listeners, leading to a more funneled and targeted ad campaigns across audio, video, and connected TV. The new collaboration enables podcast advertisers in the growing Australian market to incorporate Spotify’s high-quality content alongside Amazon’s wide-ranging CTV inventory for more effective full-funnel planning, activation, and measurement in a single solution.

The Rural Podcast as Civic Infrastructure by Tom Fox

As storytelling-focused media faces funding pressures and programming cuts across the country, Compliance Podcast Network founder Tom Fox sees a void opening. Not just in local news coverage, but in human interest storytelling. Local archives of lived experience and community memory. Podcasters rooted in rural communities have an opportunity to pick up the mantle and provide that service traditionally provided by public media. A service that comes with a built-in sponsor ecosystem. Local colleges, community banks, tourism bureaus, family-owned businesses, they all have a vested interest in the existence of a trusted local platform. As Fox says, a local barber or chamber of commerce investing in a local podcast isn’t just buying ad space, it’s an investment in relevance, credibility, and community connection.

SXSW 2026: Podcasting Emerges as Major Conference Theme

This year at SXSW, podcasting had a notably strong presence with over 20 official sessions and live shows with key voices in the industry, including Kara Swisher, Scott Galloway, Brené Brown and Esther Perel. This is a great example of how deeply podcasts have embedded themselves into tech and entertainment. Highlights included a live Scalable recording during Podcast Movement Evolutions featuring sisters Cherie and Jean Luo of “Tiger Sisters,” who built their “kitchen-table” show into Spotify's No.1 business podcast by treating it like a tech startup. Beehive also announced plans to support audio podcasts and paywalled video. Elsewhere at the conference, TikTok and iHeartMedia launched a new podcast network, and longtime YouTubers Rhett and Link made an appearance and explained why they decided to quietly close their “Ear Biscuits" podcast. Podcasting’s takeover of SXSW indicates that the industry is experiencing massive growth as it becomes more ingrained in the wider entertainment landscape.