This Week’s Influencer: Brands See the Benefits When They Go Indie; Creator Economy on the Rise; Spotify’s Carousel Starts Spinning; and more….

What do an e-commerce giant, an online therapy platform, and a shipping powerhouse all have in common? They all have the same secret weapon when it comes to podcast performance, and they’re spilling it on the new Media Roundtable: Special Edition.

This week, we’re going back to Podcast Movement Evolutions at SXSW, where Miranda Romano (SVP, Media, Oxford Road) moderated a performance-unlocking panel, “The Power of Independence: Why Brands Are Betting on Independent Creators.” Sharing their indie wisdom was an all-star panel of brand leaders:

• Brynn Greenelsh (Audio Marketing, Auctane–Stamps.com & ShipStation)

• Jessica Williams (Global Brand Marketing & Partnerships, Shopify)

• Brittany Clevenger (Senior Director of Growth Marketing, BetterHelp)

Join us as they cover: Becoming a Household Name, Unmatched Access, Ask An Expert, and more. Let’s dig in.

“Get on the small shows, and it’ll be so worth it.” – Brittany Clevenger (Senior Director of Growth Marketing, BetterHelp)

Household Names – Not every creator is a household name, but sponsoring them can turn your brand into one, and that just makes sense. The giant shows have countless sponsors, but for an indie show, you might be one of one.  That makes you the most important brand for the die-hard audiences that love the show. Our ORBIT data agrees: indie podcasts are 80% of our top 15 performing shows. When you show up for indie creators, the creators’ fans show up for you.

Your All-Access Pass – When you place an ad on a giant show, hosted on a giant network, you’re not talking to the host. When you partner with an independent creator, it’s easier to hop on a call with them. You can spitball, workshop the creative to fit their voice, make the ad work for them and your brand. You don’t just have a host on autopilot reading copy points; they’re eager to make the ad land for their audience. Our panelists agree, unmatched host access unlocks unmatched performance.

Here to Help – Independents offer amazing performance, but they might not have their processes buttoned up yet. To ensure success, Brittany recommends working with an agency (we swear we didn’t tell her to say it). Her point: there’s no need to do this work on your own. You can hit ROI heights with many brilliant indie shows, but to do it at scale, you need extra agency savvy and bandwidth.

For more insights from brand leaders who understand the power of independent creators, check out the full chat via the links below:

The Classifieds

A Momfluencer Makes her Influencer Debut

Network: Dead Center Talent LLC / Monthly Downloads: 30k

Being a parent is hard, and it’s not getting any easier. It’s difficult for moms to trust outside perspectives and feel like their struggles are seen. Momfluencers have become a broader trend in the face of this uncertainty. Allisa Rose centers her content around her home, her husband, her child, her family, and her friends. In her vlogs she presents a bubbly visage, consistently showing the daily struggle of a working mother while engaging with her audience in a gracious and positive way.

Whether she’s updating her son’s nursery, testing Costco products, or decorating for the holiday season, she always provides an honest perspective on how her life is going and what she’s doing to make the most of it. For female skew advertisers looking for a great spokesperson for their DTC products, this is a great channel to test in Q2. Don’t cry over spilled milk! Click below for more information.

Get The Deal

Thanks for Everything, Sal Saperstein

Network: Studio71 / Monthly Downloads: 15k

What do you get when every episode’s starting point is a trivia question, and what gets discussed after is so much more interesting? A hilarious mix between Jeopardy and an open mic night, that’s what. Comedian and show creator Ike Barinholtz hosts a weekly sit-down with equally funny people to test their knowledge, dive into their personal experiences, and showcase the deep bonds he’s made with his friends. He’s interviewed fellow show creator Mindy Kaling in the first episodes, whom he has worked with extensively since 2012, as well as Running Point star Kate Hudson.

As Barinholtz has many comedy credits to his name (MadTV, The Studio, Eastbound and Down, etc.), there’s no telling how many amazing guests are on deck for future episodes. This is a superb opportunity for those looking for efficient comedy options that can lean into the creative element for personal endorsement. It’s funny that you ask for more details, because they can be found via the link below.

Get The Deal

In Case You Missed It

The Creator Economy Is Getting Ready to Enter a Bull Market

At YouTube’s NewFronts, Coach’s VP of Marketing Kimberley Wallengren and Unilever’s Chief Media Officer Ryu Yokoi both described shifting from one-off creator deals to long-term partnerships. Coach cited “meaningful lift in consideration” among Gen Z and “supercharged acquisition,” while Unilever framed its creator strategy around building emotional craving rather than functional messaging. YouTube’s Brian Gargan urged brands to scale creator content with AI-powered paid formats. eMarketer projects social creator marketing will reach $21 billion in spend in 2026. If major brands are only now shifting from one-off buys to longer-term commitments, that tells you the creator economy is still early in development, but showing signs of promise. Scalability and measurement are only going to improve, and when they do, even more dollars will follow.

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The Media Hierarchy Enters a New Realm

Podcast News Daily flagged that Comcast Advertising is now pitching television as an add-on to podcast campaigns. This rationale is spurred by its own study showing a 207% lift in consumer intent to seek more information when TV is paired with podcast ads, and 1.6x brand recall improvement, while also noting AI search summaries reduce brand recall by 23%. Oh, how times have changed. Audio, print, outdoor, and, yes, even digital were once complements to a TV schedule. Now Comcast, one of the largest television networks, is positioning TV as a complement to podcasts, and that is a pretty eye-opening signal of how the media landscape has evolved. Cross-channel halo effects are nothing new. TV may still be presented as the lead channel, yet the fact that podcasts are now central enough to shape the story is notable.
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Spotify Wants More Than Your Ears

Spotify introduced swipeable carousel ads in the Now Playing view, giving brands a way to feature up to six products with images, links, and pricing. It also launched branded, 100% share-of-voice takeovers on flagship playlists such as Rap Caviar, Today’s Top Hits, and New Music Friday, with Priceline and GNC among the early pilots. Combined with new A/B testing and automated bidding tools in Ads Manager, this rollout reflects Spotify’s push to build a more full-funnel ad suite. If you are a DTC advertiser already active on Spotify, Carousel ads are a logical test. Playlist takeovers feel more useful for launches, tentpole moments, and promotional windows, assuming you can secure them early. None of this is groundbreaking, but it is encouraging to see Spotify expand its through-the-funnel options for marketers.

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#SaveTheLiveReads

This Housewife Gets Real About Function Health

Taking center stage in this week’s #STLR is the co-host of the Humble Brag Podcast, Cynthia Bailey, with one of the most vulnerable and raw hooks we’ve ever had in our weekly highlights.  Starting off with a deeply personal story about her mother’s recent health struggles, Cynthia underscores the importance of family support and the ongoing effort it takes to care for loved ones. That’s where Function Health naturally comes in as she connects her experience to how the platform has helped her expand her knowledge and prioritize meaningful testing.

What really elevates the read is her specificity, calling out particular health markers she’s paying attention to, which makes her testimony feel thoughtful, credible, and relatable. The balance between personal storytelling and brand messaging is perfection, never forced, just reinforced with a layer of scientific backing. Her tone stays gentle yet purposeful, carrying a quiet urgency that makes the message land without feeling heavy-handed. And by the time she closes with her call to action, it’s clear this “humble brag” is anything but. If you want to see how a great ad can be functional yet relatable, listen via the link below.

Listen Here

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OXFORd In The News

Video Finds the Audience, Audio Wins Them Over

Oxford Road‘s SVP of Media, Miranda Romano, is making waves with a new LinkedIn article that Sounds Profitable flagged for its readers. Her argument? The creator ecosystem is a marketing funnel—and the industry needs to start selling it like one. Short-form video drives discovery at the top, but long-form audio is where trust gets built and conversions actually happen. The data backs it up: Oxford Road’s research shows YouTube views are up to 25% less effective at driving purchases than pure audio downloads. The takeaway for publishers and sellers: stop treating video and audio impressions as interchangeable, because reach and resonance aren’t the same thing.

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Downloads Don’t Drive Our Decisions, Results Do

Oxford Road‘s Director of Podcast Media, Courtney O’Connor, joined the PodBiz podcast to break down how brands actually spend in podcasting—and why the old playbook doesn’t work. Podcast News Daily picked up the conversation, highlighting Oxford Road’s “matchmaking” approach that prioritizes creator-audience fit over download thresholds. As Courtney put it: “I personally have bought podcasts with 65 downloads.” The takeaway? Endorsed media built on trust is still the best engine, and connecting the right brand with the right creator is everything. Listen to the full episode here and read the coverage here.

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