Sounds Profitable, Coleman Insights and Locked On Podcast Network are hosting a webinar on Thursday, November 5 at 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT. The session presents new research among 2,000 Americans showing that roughly half of podcast consumers say podcasts keep them company when they don't have people around, and that some hosts feel like friends. The presenters will cover what the findings mean for creators, networks, advertisers and brands, including why community matters to sports podcast fans. Registration is open now.

The Streaming Wars weighs in on Apple’s recent iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS 27 releases that block Safari connections to identity-resolution providers at the domain level. Apple's reasoning is that sharing an email address to register for a site "doesn't authorize an invisible third party to build a cross-site tracking profile." Across publishers using Aditude's technology during the rollout, effective CPMs fell 4% on iOS and 11% on Mac, though the article presents that as an early snapshot of one customer base. Apple separately blocked The Trade Desk's ad-serving domain, which broke Safari ad delivery until a fix shipped in Safari 27.2 on October 26, while the Unified ID 2.0 restrictions remain. The article argues that larger publishers with logged-in audiences and direct advertiser relationships can defend pricing better than smaller publishers that depend on outside identity providers and open auctions.

AdExchanger reports that beehiiv is adding automated audio ad insertion to its programmatic platform, rounding out the podcast offering it launched in April. Publishers can open their inventory to programmatic buyers alongside direct-sold host-read ads, which also lets them monetize back catalog episodes. AdsWizz fills the programmatic inventory and can serve ads into third-party podcast platforms through existing RSS feeds, while publishers keep 50% to 60% of programmatic podcast revenue with no impression or download minimums. Publishers choose which advertiser categories can bid, and a prioritization waterfall keeps programmatic demand from outranking direct deals. More than 2,100 publishers now distribute podcasts to Spotify and Apple Podcasts through beehiiv, with that number growing about 20% a month since launch. "The most successful content creators today are not single channel, but multichannel," said co-founder and CEO Tyler Denk, who added that video podcast distribution is expected by the end of the year.

Acast reported record Q3 2026 net sales of SEK 802.3m, up 25% (18% organic), with North America up 54% and now the group's largest segment, according to its interim report. EBITDA reached SEK 73.7m, a 9% margin against 6% a year earlier. Listens and views grew 4% while average revenue per listen or view rose 20% to SEK 0.69, and Europe grew 5% in the quarter. The acquisition of Backyard Ventures, a US network of 200+ creators across audio, YouTube, newsletters and social, contributed SEK 28m in sales. Acast's Podcast Pulse 2026 research found that 88% of listeners now consume both audio and video, up from 78% last year, and CEO Greg Glenday said the quarter shows "a model that scales: strong growth, expanding margins and a growing North American business."

…as for the rest of the news:

Submit a press release or job posting for free.