This Week's Influencer: ORBIT Blows Up B2B Conventional Wisdom; Dan and Bryan Fix Podcast Measurement; Ad Load Is Coming for You; and More…

The AMP Accords shared some big goals for better measurement in July. But what does real tangible progress look like today? Find out on this week’s installment of The Media Roundtable.

Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) and Bryan Barletta (Partner, Sounds Profitable) join forces for a crossover episode with The Download podcast. They’re covering the industry’s shift away from downloads, the Bumper Score, and how to avoid a repeat of the iOS 17 drama. Let’s dig in.

“[Podcasters] build this stage and this venue and they fill it with people, and then they gotta drag it across the desert by themselves. Why don’t we put some wheels on this thing?” – Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road)

Opportunity vs. Impressions – When there’s uncertainty in the buying chain, that friction comes at a cost. Over the last few decades, we’ve seen a shift from buying ads as an opportunity for exposure to buying actual, measurable impressions. Podcasts are a holdout, with inconsistently defined downloads that force buyers to guess how many people received an ad. If the industry wants to move forward, there needs to be a standard metric.

Score One for Bumper – The Bumper Score is our newest directional tool to understand real podcast consumption. Creators can see how their show rates compared to a benchmark for actual podcast consumption, as opposed to just looking at download numbers. Buyers can make better decisions based on those scores. That’s why Oxford Road is partnering with Bumper to help get more reliable data on who’s truly consuming the shows. (Want to learn the Bumper Score for your show? Find out more here.)

Ghosts of iOS 17 – Look, no publisher wants a sequel to the iOS 17 debacle, where all traffic metrics instantly tanked, even when consumption was steady. The Bumper Score is our next step towards clarifying true ad consumption without upsetting the market. High-scoring shows can command a premium (because they’re worth it), while low-scoring shows can start fixing their traffic before it hurts their bottom line.

The industry improves with big goals and incremental steps in the right direction. The Bumper Score is the next move towards better data and better podcasting decisions. For more insights on the score and why it matters, check out the full episode of The Media Roundtable below.

Your Monthly ORBIT Report – September 2026

The Business of B2B: Look Outside the Business Sector

B2B podcast advertising comes with a built-in assumption: If you’re selling to businesses, you should advertise on business podcasts. But is it true? To separate the leads from the sales, we turned to ORBIT (the Oxford Road Benchmark Intelligence Tool).

ORBIT isolated performance by using actual campaign data representing over $2 billion in advertiser spend. Special shout-out to our top three performers: This Past Weekend (#3), Deep Questions with Cal Newport (#2), and Today, Explained (#1).

Turns out B2B success goes far beyond the business genre. In fact, in our analysis of the best-performing podcasts for B2B advertisers, only two business podcasts made the cut. We saw multiple winners in the comedy, leisure, and education categories. Ready to maximize your B2B ROI ASAP? ORBIT has you covered.

• B2B Winners Know No Bounds: B2B performance isn’t about genre. Our top 15 shows span eight categories, including comedy, true crime, and society & culture. The takeaway: You won’t know if a show works for B2B by looking at the genre. Sure, genre fit is a reasonable starting point, and business shows definitely have a place in a B2B campaign. But don’t stop there: Move to proven shows when building your actual media plan. Buying every show in a genre is less efficient than buying the right shows.
• Breaking News: Surprise Genre Nabs Top Spot: The #1 and #11 shows in our ranking are news programs. B2B brands that blacklist the news genre do so at their own loss. For marketers armed with ORBIT, the smart play is to buy the best and skip the rest.

Marketers, ready to take care of business? For the complete September ORBIT Rankings and Insights, check out the full report below.

Read the Full September ORBIT Report Here

The Classifieds

The Doctor Will Debunk Those Medical Rumors Now

Network: The Outloud Group / Episodic Downloads: 2.1 million

October is both Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Health Literacy Month, and as social media becomes more commonplace in our lives, knowing where you can get quality medical information becomes tricky. Thankfully, Dr. Mikhail “Mike” Varshavski is here to the rescue. An actively practicing D.O., the host of Doctor Mike has been tearing down health misinformation on the internet for ten years now, and his 15 million YouTube followers know they can always trust him to tell the truth.

Whether he’s giving his audience a behind-the-scenes look at a doctor’s life, or debunking the latest trending topic in the healthcare industry, Dr. Mike brings his signature humor and realness to every video. If you’re looking for a content creator to support during Health Literacy Month, you cannot go wrong with Dr. Mike. Click the link below if you’re ready to find the cure for your testing woes.

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The Anatomy Class You Actually Want to Take

Network: Centus / Episodic Downloads: 61,000

Our second health-focused YouTube channel is for anyone who wants to better understand human anatomy and learn why your body does certain things. Brothers-in-law Jeremy Jones and Jonathan Bennion created Institute of Human Anatomy to help increase access to cadavers that many in the medical space struggle to acquire. Yes, you read that right: They use real cadavers on this channel. But don’t worry: They also have videos for the squeamish among us.

Video topics include the difference between a FIFA player’s heart and a non-athlete’s heart; what Vitamin D does for the body; and why diabetes is such a dangerous disease. This channel is perfect for those looking to reach audiences engaged with health and fitness. If you’re ready to break down the science behind this great opportunity, move your bones to the link below.

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In Case You Missed It

Ad Load Is the Programmatic Tradeoff Nobody’s Talking About

As programmatic podcast buying becomes more common, advertisers and platforms are confronting the risk of heavier ad loads and excessive frequency. AdExchanger reports that 82% of surveyed media buyers now buy audio programmatically, up from 41% in 2022, while expanded DSP access is making podcast inventory easier to buy at scale. The tradeoff is that impression-based campaigns can expose individual listeners to significantly more ads. We know podcast performance improves when there’s less ad clutter. Ad load may move around seasonally, and Podscribe noted a decrease in its latest Benchmark Report. However, the longer-term trend is clear: podcasts are carrying more advertising, whether through direct buys or digital delivery. As programmatic makes it easier to scale inventory, marketers need to keep ad load and frequency top of mind.

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Amazon Adds Podcasts to Its DSP – The Measurement Gap Closes

Amazon DSP added podcasts to its audio mix, allowing podcast exposure to be measured alongside streaming audio and other media. Amazon says this is helping advertisers better understand audio’s contribution to downstream actions like purchases and new-to-brand customers. Audio has long been disadvantaged by last-touch measurement. Take it from Amazon: better integration and measurement across channels should make it easier for marketers to see podcast and streaming audio’s role in driving outcomes.

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Radio Rules the Road, But the Map Is Changing

Mobile devices have surpassed AM/FM radio as the leading device for in-car audio consumption among Americans 13–34. Edison Research at SSRS found that mobile devices now account for 46% of daily in-car audio time, compared with 43% for radio. A decade ago, radio held a 47-point advantage. Edison notes that some mobile listening still consists of streams from traditional radio stations, but the impressions are now just delivered through mobile devices instead of that Alpine radio you installed in the dash. The car remains one of radio’s biggest advantages, and AM/FM still leads in share of listening across the total market. But younger consumers are increasingly turning to digital-first, and over time that will change the balance. Radio delivers scale, but marketers should also recognize where listening behavior is trending.

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#SaveTheLiveReads

The Viall Files Team Up with Wayfair for a Patio Refresh

Nick Viall and Natalie Joy of The Viall Files bring this week’s #STLR with a seasonal Wayfair endorsement centered on making the most of outdoor living. We see this show come up a lot here in the STLR section, and for good reason: The hosts know how to do a personal endorsement. As the weather starts to cool, the couple shares how they refreshed the screened-in porch at their lake house entirely with Wayfair products, turning it into one of their favorite places to spend time.

That real-life example feels especially timely, as listeners get ready for fall gatherings or simply want to enjoy their outdoor space a little more. The hosts also highlight Wayfair’s range of styles and price points, along with Wayfair verified products, which undergo a 10-point quality inspection. By pairing a personal home refresh with specific shopping tools, Nick and Natalie make Wayfair feel like an approachable resource for a much-overdue seasonal update for their favorite spaces.

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OXFORd In The News

Three Agencies, One Stage, One Message: Engaged Views Only

At the Sounds Profitable Business Summit during Podcast Movement NYC, Oxford Road joined Adopter Media and Right Side Up in announcing that all three agencies will only count YouTube’s Engaged Views metric when buying YouTube podcast advertising. The move directly responds to YouTube’s August decision to change its public view definition in a way that effectively doubled view numbers. Podnews, Sounds Profitable, and Podcast Business Journal all covered the announcement, with coverage framing it as a rare moment of competitors aligning publicly to push the industry toward a consistent standard.

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