This Week’s Influencer: ORBIT Highlights Hidden Gems; Dan Takes the AMP Show on the Road; Listeners “Skip Ads” But Buy Anyway; and More…

How do you improve an industry you love? First, demand better data.

In a surprise twist this week, Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) takes a break from Media Roundtable to guest-star on the award-winning show podCast411. Host Rob Walch (Host, podCast411 and VP, Podcast Relations, DAX Global) interviews Dan about the specialist advantage, why better info wins, the key to building bridges across industries, and much more. Let’s dive in.

“I believe podcasting is the greatest canvas for the free and open exchange of ideas, but that has to be managed responsibly. And the tools to do so in many cases don’t yet exist.” – Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road)

Here’s to the Specialists – Dan started Oxford Road with a love of podcasting and a bold thesis: “Specialists can outperform generalists in the advertising business.” He realized early on that specialization wasn’t just an advantage but a necessity because podcasting rewards deep commitment. The same goes for advertisers: If you only dabble in the medium, you won’t reap the full rewards. It’s only when you fall in love with the medium and dive in that you can see game-changing results.

Better Information = Better Decisions – One of OR’s earliest goals was getting better data to inform better decisions. That’s what inspired our biggest projects, including our push for “podcast nutritional labels” so brands know what they’re buying. It’s the same guiding philosophy behind the AMP Accords, which will help the industry measure actual impressions, not downloads. Breakthroughs come from wrangling the right data (for proof, check out the groundbreaking global podcast industry estimates from Owl & Co). Marketers: if you also wish you had better data, see our work on the AMP Accords and join the effort.

The Bridge-Building Business – Podcasting is beautiful, messy, and complex. To help the industry, you have to connect all of its players. That includes unique voices on both the left and the right, as well as agencies, networks, hosts, and brands. It can be tricky, but Dan offers two bridge-building techniques: Get first-hand experience in as many industry roles as possible, and build diverse coalitions to tackle shared problems.

For never-before-seen insights into the why of Oxford Road, check out the full episode below.

Your Monthly ORBIT Report – June 2026

In the Entertainment & Media Category: Buy the Show, Not the Genre

Genre podcast buying can be a trap and that’s especially true when it comes to the category of Entertainment & Media. To help you decide which Entertainment & Media shows to pivot to or from buying, we turned to ORBIT (the Oxford Road Benchmark Intelligence Tool). Special shout-out to our top-performers: The Weekly with Jon Stewart (#3), Back to the Barre (#2) , and The Popcast with Knox and Jamie (#1).

Entertainment & Media is a lower-performing genre, one that trails more proven categories like True Crime, News, and Society & Culture. Yet, we’ve identified 15 Entertainment & Media programs that manage to shine, and there are promising sub-categories within our 15 winners that have demonstrated pockets of efficiency. Here’s what we found:

• It Pays to be Picky: Entertainment & Media sits in the bottom third of all our genres, but there are breakout titles. Our best advice? Don’t buy the genre indiscriminately, and don’t get hung up on size. The Entertainment & Media shows that tend to convert for advertisers are often built around specific, loyal communities and don’t always have a big infrastructure behind them. So, be selective and focus on the ORBIT winners. If you need to go deeper, talk to us, and we’ll help you find the pockets of efficiency.

• TV & Film Dominates the Conversations: Nearly every top entertainment show focuses on TV & film discussions. The shows connect with audiences who follow along to stay on top of weekly TV episodes and new-release films (much like how many of our top Sports category performers follow recent sporting events). Our sole music entry, Song Exploder, functions more like a TV & film show, with each episode going incredibly deep into a specific song. The point is clear: successful entertainment podcasts drive engagement by keeping track of their audiences’ interests and by keeping an eye on the current events calendar.

When marketers are selective, Entertainment can be a smart addition to your campaigns. For the complete June ORBIT Rankings and Insights, check out the full report below.

View The Full June 2026 ORBIT Rankings & Insights

The Classifieds

Un-Redacting Spectacular History

Network: True Native / Monthly Downloads: 35k

In celebration of Friday’s Juneteenth holiday, we’re spotlighting an illuminating podcast that celebrates Black excellence year-round. Produced by Airwave Media and available from True Native Media, Redacted History is a weekly series that covers complex and well-researched topics you don’t usually hear about. Each episode is narrated by Dr. André White Jr., a historian and voice actor who prides himself on creating thorough outlines of his research, which are then shared on the show’s Patreon.

The show also puts Black history at the forefront, covering the deep wounds still felt by the African-American community while also spotlighting overlooked triumphs. History is a top-indexing genre for many B2B advertisers looking to target high household earners and small business owners, making Redacted History a promising prospect for many brands. The show could also be a key testing opportunity for Gen Z lifelong learners and pop culture-minded young professionals. Join us in celebrating America’s diversity by clicking below for more information

Get The Deal

This Podcast Traded Networks, But It Kept Its Secrets

Network: Sony Podcasts / Monthly Downloads: 250k

Speaking of shows that work well for B2Bs: top-performing podcast Trading Secrets has found its new home. Host Jason Tartick recently made the move over to Sony Podcasts, and he’s brought his trademark flair and solid advice with him. Listeners tune in every week to hear Tartick’s interviews with well-known industry leaders, as well as his pared-down solo episodes in which he discusses more personal subjects.

Though many of the topics revolve around the world of business, finance, and tech, there’s also extensive overlap with influencer culture, reality TV, and self-help. The audience is largely made up of women aged 23-44, and for those already testing into Society & Culture, TV & Film, and Health & Fitness./ Trading Secrets would be a welcome addition to any new RFP. You can trade us some test dollars for the secret to high performance if you click below.

Get The Deal

In Case You Missed It

Spotify Publicly Aligns With AMP

Spotify is updating its Spotify for Creators analytics with new audience and engagement tools, including segment breakdowns for new versus returning listeners, episode benchmarks, historical performance data, and a redesigned discovery funnel. The bigger news: Spotify has adopted the Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting’s definition of a “play,” now defined as 30 consecutive seconds of content consumed per user per session across audio and video. Spotify is the first major platform to publicly align with AMP’s standards, and Oxford Road spent over a year building the coalition to make that happen. Thank you to every advertiser, publisher, and industry leader who helped get us here. And thanks to Podnews and Podcast Business Journal, who picked up the story early. To learn more about AMP, CLICK HERE.

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Mid-Tier Podcast Gold Rush Has a New Marketplace

DAX US, a division of U.K.-based Global, is partnering with Captivate to launch Captivate Marketplace, which combines programmatic, direct sales, and host-read ads for podcasters. The platform is focused on aggregating mid-tier creators, whose loyal audiences are harder for advertisers to buy efficiently. Captivate Marketplace will allow them to reach those audiences at a greater scale. If DAX and Captivate can package inventory with better targeting and flexible ad formats, it could give brands another way to scale podcast campaigns beyond the top shows.

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Turns Out “I Always Skip Ads” Is Not Exactly True

YouGov research found that podcast ads continue to drive consumer action, even though many listeners say they usually skip or ignore them. The study found that 60% of podcast consumers have taken some action after hearing or seeing a podcast ad, whether it’s visiting a website, searching for a product, using a discount code, or making a purchase. Podcast ads ranked as less annoying than other digital ad formats, while host-read ads remained the most trusted podcast ad format (you can download the report here). Surveys are useful, but what people say they do is not always the same as what they actually do. That helps explain the contradiction here: Listeners say they skip podcast ads, yet many still take action after hearing or seeing them. For marketers, the takeaway is not to ignore ad avoidance, but to avoid overreacting to self-reported behavior.

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#SaveTheLiveReads

Hungryroot Wins Because Host Hates Grocery Shopping

Josh and Ian from Lights Out deliver this week’s #STLR with a genuinely relatable endorsement for Hungryroot. Rather than leading with product claims, Josh frames the whole read around a universal truth: he loves good food but has zero interest in grocery shopping or meal prep. The credibility kicker comes early when he casually mentions his family actually pays for Hungryroot themselves.

From there, he walks through how it fits his routine, including a small but vivid detail about customizing a pasta dish by removing onions. Simple, specific, and never once sounds like he’s reading off a fact sheet. This is what a proper onboarding and true brand/host alignment sound like. Long live host reads like this!

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