PODCASTING’S SMALL, BEAUTIFUL AGE IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE

By: Oxford Road

OCTOBER 16, 2019 by Max Willens

Digiday’s Max Willen writes that the “Beautiful Age” of Podcasting is coming to an end. This article does such a great job of covering the ever-changing landscape of the podcasting world and what the future holds that we believe it should be considered a must-read for anyone in the podcast space. Nice closing quote from General Danger as well. Enjoy!

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The IAB’s fifth annual podcast upfront could be the last one where platforms do not dominate in the proceedings.

While last year’s IAB Upfront presenters focused, for the first time, on measurement and targeting, the unofficial theme of this year’s podcasting is platforms. Whether that includes events on stage — Pandora is a first-time presenter this year — or gossip off it, podcasting appears to be going in the direction of every other digital media format: dominated by a handful of platforms, with smaller individual publishers and networks getting creative to fight over what’s left.

Some publishers will have some advantages when that switch happens. And a number of key questions, such as how advertisers balance between host-read and network-optimized ads, or how platforms will monetize shows on their platform, remain. But as podcasting speeds toward becoming a billion-dollar market by 2021, up from the $479 million generated in 2018, that growth will come from brand advertisers, who demand scale and ease from sellers.

That means podcasting will inevitably become more like the display ad ecosystem: commoditized, automated, audience-driven rather than contextual. The podcast ad world has been craft; it’s destined to be mechanized.

“It’s really hard to scale the program-specific, custom host-read stuff,” said an executive at one media agency that invests in audio. “It used to be death by a thousand cuts. … If you were interested in doing podcasting as a client, and you could work with two or three big partners, that is much more interesting than trying to do a hundred different deals.”

The balance of power has not tipped yet, in part because the biggest platforms are still getting their ducks in a row; many of the acquisitions that brought podcasting onto platforms including Spotify and Pandora were made less than a year ago.

“I think they’re still learning about what they bought,” said Stephen Smyk, svp of podcasting and influencer spending at the media agency Veritone One.

But the rest of the industry is trying to get itself ready for a world where marketers expect mass reach and compliance with industry metrics. Late last week, Stitcher’s ad network, Midroll, gave shows in its network a timeline for moving over to a different hosting solution, as part of a gradual shift toward an impression-based system that would allow Midroll to sell advertising differently.

“The rubber’s hitting the road,” Stitcher CEO Erik Diehn said. “There’s so much inventory out there right now that’s inefficiently transacted when you do it on an episode-by-episode basis.”

That efficiency will allow more brand dollars to pool into the space. Brand advertising now constitutes 38% of podcast revenue, according to IAB figures; branded content accounts for another 10%. Those buyers are accustomed to simplicity and scale, two things that buyers say podcasting, to date, has struggled to deliver.

Other players in the industry are acting accordingly. In August, Art19, the enterprise podcast hosting and monetization platform, announced it had launched an ad network, which would allow buyers to place ads on a listener-by-listener basis across 200 different shows.

While individual publishers will never be able to deliver the scale that platforms offer, some hope to counter by rolling their podcasting into the multifaceted deals they are trying to construct for advertisers. Being able to construct an ad program that includes digital, print, audio and other formats could give publishers a head start in proving out how podcast ads fit into multi-touch attribution models, Soon said.

“What we’re seeing is these platforms really following where the dollars are,” said Zoe Soon, the IAB’s vp of mobile. “It’s on publishers to say, ‘We have this audience; here are the ways we can reach them.’”

Others, such as Barstool Sports, are planting a flag. Late Tuesday, ahead of Barstool’s first-ever upfront, CEO Erika Nardini uncorked a rant on Twitter about where podcast advertising was going, vowing that Barstool, which generates a third of its revenues from podcast ads, would never go full programmatic.

“When you make ads the skippable middle man, they will get skipped,” Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “When you are a part of only one piece but not the entire conversation, you will get lost.”

“This is unsurprising and media gentrification at its finest,” said Dan Granger, the CEO of Oxford Road. “Podcast started as a free-for-all, and those of us who were early enough into the space all benefited greatly. But now they are going to start imposing new rules and processes that dilute the value of every impression beneath what it was before.”

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Max Willens is a reporter at Digiday, where he covers platforms and publishing. Prior to arriving at Digiday, his work has appeared in WIRED, Ad Age, Newsweek and Crain’s New York Business. Thank you Max for allowing us to reprint here.

ORBIT: The Oxford Road Benchmark Intelligence Tool

Joe Rogan Didn’t Make the Top 15. Critical Role Did. Here’s What $1.6 Billion in Performance Data Actually Reveals.

The first podcast rankings based on ROI, not downloads. Built on real campaign results from hundreds of advertisers.

After more than a decade of development, Oxford Road is unveiling ORBIT: a first-of-its-kind Benchmark Intelligence Tool built on real campaign outcomes from across the industry.

ORBIT aggregates over $1.6 billion in verified podcast spend, across hundreds of advertisers and 120+ genres, then normalizes it into one question: What actually worked?

It doesn’t tell you which podcasts are popular. It tells you which ones drive ROI. Which ones convert. Which ones are worth the check you’re about to write.

The First ORBIT Rankings

Below are the Top 15 Performing Podcasts, ranked by advertiser results over the past 12 months.
These are the shows that consistently outperformed benchmarks and delivered measurable ROI.

What ORBIT Reveals

Big reach ≠ big results: Joe Rogan and most tier-1 mega-shows didn’t crack the Top 15. Only 3 of the top performers (20%) are household-name podcasts. Advertisers systematically overpay for reach while ignoring shows that deliver better returns.
Comedy and politics dominate. 11 of the top 15 performers are comedy or news/politics shows—the exact categories many advertisers deliberately avoid due to brand safety concerns. Controversial content, when aligned with brand values, drives action.
Stop buying your own industry. We tested it: Tech companies don’t perform better on tech podcasts. Finance brands don’t win on business shows. There’s no statistically significant lift from matching your industry to your genre. Your customers listen to the same shows everyone else does: comedy, true crime, politics. The genre silo is costing you discoveries.
Faith-based shows overperform. Religious podcasts, particularly Christianity-focused content, rank in the top 6 genres for consistent ROI across multiple verticals—a finding impossible to surface without normalized, goal-based data

How Orbit Works (And Why It’s Different)

ORBIT normalizes performance across different advertiser goals—whether that’s target CAC, desired ROAS, or cost per qualified lead. This allows direct comparison across campaign types, something download-based rankings can’t provide.

The difference:
Many tracking tools tell you who’s advertising and estimate spend, count ad occurrences, or measure downloads and reach

ORBIT shows which podcasts made money and which ones didn’t
We factor in what advertisers paid, what they were trying to achieve, how it was measured, including survey-based attribution data, and whether the investment delivered ROI. That’s the difference between counting impressions and measuring profit.

Our methodology:

Minimum 3 distinct advertisers per show
Minimum 3 paid drops per advertiser
At least 50% of placements must exceed advertiser goals
12-month rolling analysis updated monthly
Attribution-normalized across pixels, codes, URLs, and modeling

For Chief Audio Officers

ORBIT eliminates guesswork from podcast planning:

De-risk initial buys by seeing which shows have proven track records with similar advertisers
Optimize faster with normalized performance data across attribution models
Find hidden gems before they become expensive tier-1 shows
Break category assumptions with data that shows where your customers actually listen
Scale with confidence, knowing which placements consistently deliver ROI

The era of buying podcast ads based on download numbers is over. ORBIT shows you which shows drive performance, before you spend a dollar.

“This is what happened when real companies spent real money. If you want to know which podcasts work, start here.”
— Dan Granger, CEO, Oxford Road

Subscribe to The Influencer for monthly ORBIT updates

So What is a Podcast? We Polled Over 4,000 People, Launched a Docuseries, and May Have Started a Revolution.

What’s a Podcast?: The Revolution Redefined

Twenty years ago, “What’s a podcast?” was an innocent question—asked with curiosity, maybe confusion. Today, it’s a loaded one, with real consequences for creators, platforms, advertisers, and the future of the medium itself.

“ Why does the definition of a podcast even matter? If we don’t define it clearly, we leave it to others to decide.”

Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road & Veritone One)

That’s why we’re taking the question head-on with two major releases this week:

In collaboration with Edison Research we surveyed over 4,000 Americans, and interviewed 30+ creators, executives, and thought leaders to propose a clear, inclusive, and actionable definition of podcasting. This is more than semantics—it’s about protecting the open, intimate, creator-first medium we all believe in.

Download the White Paper Here

In this new three-part documentary series, hosted by Allyson Marino (Founder, Lipstick & Vinyl), we trace the evolution of podcasting from pirate radio roots to today’s billion-dollar ecosystem.

️Episode 1: The Genesis – The Accidental Revolution (2004-2013)

From MP3 uploads by the great Robin Williams to Adam Carolla’s marketing test runs, we explore the DIY spirit that launched a media movement.

Featuring Ira Glass, Adam Carolla, Leo Laporte, and more.

Episode 2: The Explosion – Mainstream and the Pod-Demic (2014-2022)

Serial broke podcasting wide open—and brands, platforms, and creators flooded in. Then came the COVID boom, and eventually, a sobering correction.

Featuring Bryan Barletta, Pete Birsinger, the Meiselas brothers, and more.

Episode 3: The Crossroads – Identity Crisis and the Future (2023-Present)

With the rise of video podcasts and closed platforms, the power has shifted. Can we protect the creator-led, listener-first DNA of podcasting while embracing growth?

Featuring Guy Raz, James Cridland, Dan Franks, AJ Feliciano, and more.

Watch Here

Listen Here: Spotify

Listen Here: Apple

Help Shape the Future

We’re not here to gatekeep—we’re here to rally. Podcasting has always thrived when creators, platforms, and advertisers build together.

So we’re inviting YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and others to help create a shared definition, an open attribution framework, and a future where the medium remains open, inclusive, and built to last.

Sign the Petition Here

Podcasting has never been just another media channel. It’s personal. It’s powerful. And it’s ours to protect.

“This is what made podcasts special. And this is what we must preserve—lest we find ourselves defined out of existence.”

Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road & Veritone One)

PODCASTING’S SMALL, BEAUTIFUL AGE IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE

ORBIT: The Oxford Road Benchmark Intelligence Tool

Joe Rogan Didn’t Make the Top 15. Critical Role Did. Here’s What $1.6 Billion in Performance Data Actually Reveals.

The First ORBIT Rankings

What ORBIT Reveals

How Orbit Works (And Why It’s Different)

For Chief Audio Officers

“This is what happened when real companies spent real money. If you want to know which podcasts work, start here.”
— Dan Granger, CEO, Oxford Road

So What is a Podcast? We Polled Over 4,000 People, Launched a Docuseries, and May Have Started a Revolution.

What’s a Podcast?: The Revolution Redefined

Here’s What We Learned: The Influencer Opens the 2024 Archives

PODCASTING’S SMALL, BEAUTIFUL AGE IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE

ORBIT: The Oxford Road Benchmark Intelligence Tool

Joe Rogan Didn’t Make the Top 15. Critical Role Did. Here’s What $1.6 Billion in Performance Data Actually Reveals.

The First ORBIT Rankings

What ORBIT Reveals

How Orbit Works (And Why It’s Different)

For Chief Audio Officers

“This is what happened when real companies spent real money. If you want to know which podcasts work, start here.”— Dan Granger, CEO, Oxford Road

So What is a Podcast? We Polled Over 4,000 People, Launched a Docuseries, and May Have Started a Revolution.

What’s a Podcast?: The Revolution Redefined

Here’s What We Learned: The Influencer Opens the 2024 Archives

“This is what happened when real companies spent real money. If you want to know which podcasts work, start here.”
— Dan Granger, CEO, Oxford Road