Podcast advertising measurement “is broken”

• “Advertisers run multiple attribution systems because media players won’t align on how to measure ad response. We can’t even agree on a shared definition of a podcast.” So says the Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP) - launched to create “the first podcasting measurement framework”. Brought together by Oxford Road, the group, including voting members from Spotify, United Talent Agency, SiriusXM, DraftKings, Libsyn and others, have been working in secret since last summer, driven by what it calls industrywide confusion: both a lack of standardized metrics and disagreement about where podcasts end and social videos (as well as other forms of video) begin. The group suggests that “a billion dollars of demand is sitting on the sidelines”; it plans to introduce a new unified framework for use across audio and video at Oxford Road’s upcoming CAO Summit on July 22nd-23rd at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes CA, USA.

  • Our take: A definition of “podcast” is vital - because, without it, it’s impossible to track the growth of this medium, and the budget going toward it. The formation of this group, which appears to be representative of the podcast business overall - is a welcome step. It’s notable, however, that this group does not include the IAB, which runs existing podcast measurement guidelines, nor the trade association Sounds Profitable.

• The Australian Audio Awards took place last night - here’s a full list of the winners. The awards, which recognised both radio and podcasting, chose Mamamia Out Loud as the People’s Choice Award, and included separate awards for “independent” and “major” podcasts.

• Public radio station WBUR stands accused of “butchering episodes, newsletters and emails” to “hide the fact” that the hosts and producers of WBUR’s Circle Round, Rebecca Sheir and Eric Shimelonis, have left the show. In a press release announcing a fundraiser for a new project, the hosts say that they “managed to work a brief goodbye into our final episode, [but] we’d been hoping to do more.” In a statement, a WBUR spokesperson told us: “We’re grateful to Sheir and Shim for every story told, every child reached and every bit of magic we created together. WBUR will continue to offer Circle Round stories in the months and years ahead. We wish Sheir and Shim the very best in their next chapter.”

• The winners of the Quill Podcast Awards were announced. The fifth year of the awards, the winner of Podcast of the Year was The Melting Pod.

• SiriusXM Media and AdsWizz have announced an expanded relationship with LiveRamp, a targeting and campaign measurement solution.

• Reuters reports: Stephen Colbert’s 'The Late Show’ exit isn’t the end of late night. They’ve moved to podcasts.

• YouTube announced new features for podcast listeners using YouTube Premium. “On the go mode” gives podcast-app style controls for users who aren’t watching the screen; “Auto speed” is an intelligent speed playback control; and within YouTube Music, “Ask Music”, a personalised playlist generator, now can be used for podcast recommendations.

  • The company also released a new data point: In April 2026, YouTube Premium users (including trials) watched over 800 million hours of podcasts. YouTube hasn’t, though, released any recent numbers about how many YouTube Premium users there are; the last public number was 125 million in March 2025, so the number is a big number but not a very helpful one.

• Spotify announced the newest winners of Spotify’s Creator Milestone Awards, celebrating large streaming numbers. Winners get editorial features, social media spotlights and other opportunities. Silver awards - the highest awards given this time around - went to German-language Dick & Doof, and The Diary of a CEO.

• Muck Rack has announced it now gives access to more than 65,000 podcast transcripts. The company, used by PRs and journalists, monitors 2.4mn podcasts overall.

Thank you to our friends at iono.fm in Cape Town, South Africa, for becoming a supporter of Podnews. The company offers podcast hosting, web streaming and audio advertising, and its website has a full podcast directory of shows from South Africa and the wider region. Companies like iono.fm help keep Podnews free for everyone - no hidden Slack channels or members-only meetings here. We’re grateful to Francois and the team for their support. (And, if you’d like to be like them - here’s where to become a Podnews supporter).

Tips and tricks - with The Podcast Show London

• What is a podcast? - we’ve got our thoughts, but AMP’s aim, above, is to give a clear definition to help with budgets (and, indeed, define whatever the “podcast industry” is in future): and our woolly definition may not help…

Podcast News - with Airwave

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In the Podnews Weekly Review this week, a look at all the Spotify announcements to investors - and we speak to the co-founders of BIPOC Podcast Creators to learn why it has closed, and what the industry should do next.

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A true-crime show with a difference, I Want You To Know is a new podcast from the US National Center for Victims of Crime. Each episode has interviews with a victim from high profile cases, and then closes by giving them uninterrupted time to speak their truth and read their victim impact statement. The first episode features Kathy Kleiner Rubin, who survived an attack by Ted Bundy.

New from award-winning podcaster Danny Brown, Artifacts: Stories from the Emotional History of the Internet is a storytelling podcast exploring forgotten technology, internet culture, retro gaming, and digital nostalgia. From the Dreamcast and old internet forums to burned CDs and midnight launches, Season One examines why these memories still stay with us long after the technology disappeared.