Are podcasts at the front of the store?

• Are podcasts at the front of the store? Showing a preview of data from the upcoming Podcast Landscape 2026 study at Podcast Movement NYC, Sounds Profitable’s Tom Webster revealed that, for the first time, the top three places where people have “ever” consumed podcasts are not dedicated podcast apps. YouTube, Spotify and Netflix don’t show podcasts front-and-centre when using them, requiring users to dive into menus to discover any podcasts. Webster compared Netflix’s podcasts category as the equivalent of the CD range in a Walmart - just the most popular titles in a small selection which is hard to find; while a real podcast app like Apple Podcasts or Pocket Casts was the equivalent of Tower Records.

  • As for next steps, Webster suggested that we need to talk about Netflix, and its effect on podcasting; that podcasting’s stars need to give back and promote the medium; and that we need to tell our story as an industry. He said that Sounds Profitable will assemble a strategic group to discuss the findings more.
  • Speaking in a separate session, Rob Walch suggested that Netflix lists just 1 in 67,547 podcasts. (And doesn’t list yours.)

• More than 400 people showed up for the Sounds Profitable Business Summit earlier in Podcast Week, according to organisers, including more than 200 brand and agency buyers.

  • Here are all of the Sounds Profitable Business Summit photos - the download PIN is 8086. (And sessions are on YouTube)
  • Here are day 1 of Podcast Movement 2026's photos - the download PIN is 2045
  • It’s the final day of Podcast Week today, as Podcast Movement NYC concludes.

• You can now earn from Spotify in more places. Not at Podcast Week, Spotify announced that the Spotify Partner Program is expanding to a further 35 new markets, including much of Central and South America, and more countries in Europe. The program lets creators earn with advertising on Spotify’s free tier, and on revenue from Premium users for video. “Total monthly payouts to enrolled shows have increased by more than a third” since the platform expanded earlier this year. It also gives access to dynamic sponsorship adtech. The company lowered the eligibility requirements in January.

• Oxford Road has announced a marketing partnership to bring the Bumper Score to market, as “a shared, comparable read on the quality of a podcast’s audience”. Participating podcasts receive a private score from 0 to 200, based on an opaque, proprietary scoring method.

• Pivot is to go on tour across the US and Canada in November. It’s the second annual tour for the show. The 2026 Pivot Tour is presented by beehiiv, with supporting sponsor Quince.

• Signings: Tony Mantor: Why Not Me has joined the Inflection Network, and will be distributed through iHeartMedia. It’s a top ten show in the mental health and health/fitness categories … Libsyn has signed lifestyle media network All Chewed Up for hosting and advertising sales … Podgo and Earned Media Production has formed a strategic partnership to combine content production, distribution and monetisation.

• iHeart-owned Triton Digital released its August 2026 US Podcast Ranker. The ranker is based on participating publishers only; the top five is unchanged, with iHeart’s Stuff You Should Know as #1 podcast, and iHeart as #1 sales network.

• The SiriusXM renewal for Giggly Squad was, apparently, highly competitive, with multiple offers around $150 million, suggests The Anklers’ Like & Subscribe.

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• 22 Sep: The Host and the Power of Trust
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• 13 Oct: Beyond the Pre-Roll

Tips and tricks - with Audiencelift

• The Podglomerate recently spoke with YouTube’s Emma Sweet, outlining “what podcasters get wrong about YouTube”.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey comments on the top news stories about criminal justice, politics, social justice, policy and racism and welcomes a Conservative into 'The Bullpen’ for a fiery debate. It’s part of TYT.

The South Florida Standard looked like a legitimate local news site. It wasn’t. Florida Trib reporter Kate Payne originally flagged its nonexistent reporters, which prompted Question Everything producer Zach St. Louis to embark on his own investigation in which he discovered five other fake outlets connected to the same source. In a major breakthrough, he eventually tracked down the person behind them, someone with a past that made the whole thing even stranger.

MIT officials say AI is eroding the university’s unique, nerdy culture where students spent hours in study groups trying to figure out how to do their homework. These days, students just ask AI — without the messiness of, you know, talking to other people in the dorm. On the Season 2 premiere of Learning Curve podcast about AI and education, host Jeff Young dives into the issue, and looks at MIT’s push to save its culture from chatbots.

In Made By Humans artists talk about filmmaking, the grind, and the inspiration behind making award-winning animations. They explore craftsmanship and mythic wonder that bring their most iconic worlds to life - from Coraline and LAIKA’s upcoming film Wildwood to Jurassic Park and Project Hail Mary.

Twenty-five years after Canada went to war in Afghanistan, a new podcast by the Canadian War Museum explores the mission through the voices of those who experienced it. Hosted by journalist Anna Maria Tremonti and guided by War Museum historian Andrew Burtch, The Long War: Canada in Afghanistan takes listeners through eight episodes covering key chapters of Canada’s 13-year mission — from the early victories and efforts to build a democratic state to the counterinsurgency and the fall of Kabul.

One week after 9/11, letters laced with anthrax spores began arriving at newsrooms and Senate offices across the country. By the time it was over, five people were dead, seventeen more were sickened, and the United States was confronting its first major act of bioterrorism in real time. In Countermeasures, you’ll hear from the scientists on the ground 25 years after the attacks.