RAIN Notes: July 21
Settled (Anthropic)
Unlocked (Sureel and Symphonic Distribution) Continue Reading
Steve Goldstein: How Higher Education Built a Thriving Podcasting Community
Broad lessons of podcast success are fine, but in today’s guest column Steve explores smart niches — in particular, higher education. He gives us lessons learned at the recent Higher Ed PodCon in Cleveland. He found a huge range and depth of involvement in podcasting.
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Audioboom H1: rising revenue/profit , new partners, stock chart
London-based Audioboom released its financial report for the first half of 2026, documenting double-digit growth of revenue, profit, and EBITDA, with all public-facing metrics moving upward. Click for details, graphics, and a chart. Continue Reading
Podcast consumers: Leaning in and leaning back (Nielsen)
In the podcast industry’s ongoing effort to attract advertiser attention and buy-in, much of the effort is focussed on basic popularity metrics of the category. In a newly released survey study by Nielsen, the intent is to profile the listeners who are creating so much advertiser interest. Continue Reading
The mighty clip
Podcast clips are not to be underestimated — that’s a message delivered by Tom Webster of Sounds Profitable in a segment of The Podcast Atlas series.
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New boss pods, same as the old boss pods
The Joe Rogan Experience is atop the Top 50 Podcasts in the U.S. list for Q2, produced by Edison Research. Crime Junkie is next. Then The Daily. Then Call Her Daddy. It’s the same top four as a year ago (Q2 2025). But there are notable exceptions. Continue Reading
Podcast marketing: Powerhouse, yet skepticism is a barrier
Creators use podcast marketing, but spottily and with doubts. That is the conclusion of a survey conducted by B2B marketing agency Outcomes Rocket, which surveyed 861 marketing and PR professionals in May. Click for key findings and charts. Continue Reading
AM/FM Radio in Cars: A Multi-Billion Dollar Gamble for Automakers
The car dashboard continues to be a battlefield upon which radio fights to survive. Enter research authority Nielsen with a consumer study sponsored by iHeartMedia. The goal is to measure demand for traditional car radio and AM/FM listening on the dashboard. Click for details and infographic. Continue Reading
New audiobook survey: A boost for AI voicing; a blow to human narrators
In a lift for AI voicing services, and a blow to human audiobook narrators, we learn that consumers of audiobook fiction rate AI-generated multi-cast narration higher than human narration. Continue Reading
ChatGPT Justifies its name with new conversational audio interface
Open AI’s ChatGPT AI product enters the conversational audio field with an upgrade called GPT Live. On the technical side we are told about full-duplex architecture, the main output of which is AI listening and speaking in uninterrupted conversation, making the bot capable of communication that resembles normal speaking. We make unabashed Trekkie comparisons. Continue Reading
YouTube surpasses Spotify as UK’s preferred podcast platform (Edison)
It’s a clear milestone in the rise of video-native podcast consumption. Continue Reading
The “brand lift” of podcast advertising measured in new study
The efficacy of podcast advertising has been measured and documented for years. A new report from Signal Hill Insights promises a “fresh approach” to benchmarking the performance of podcast advertising. Continue Reading