Google acquires ProducerAI to upgrade music generation tools
Google has raised its AI-powered music generation offering by acquiring Producer AI, formerly known as Riffusion. It’s an AI play, and will allow Google Labs users to generate full songs and lyrics from prompts. Producer AI is already connected to Google via its use of Lyria 3, a music model which is part of Google’s DeepMind research laboratory. One of the platform’s most compelling attributes is a conversational interface, using Google’s Lyria 3 and Gemini AI platform. Producer AI remains a stand-alone service even as it moves into the Google cluster.
Pod-ad spending down under
Podcast advertising intelligence platform Magellan AI released its Australian podcast advertising benchmarks for q4 2025. The research methodology included analyzing nearly 10,000 episodes of podcasts popular Down Under. A proprietary model is used to estimate advertising spend. That model includes counting the number of ads and variation in ad load for single episodes, an estimation for the number of episodic downloads, and the cost of advertising per thousand episodes (CPM) derived from media kits and estimates.
- Key learnings:
+10% Y/Y spend: Australian podcast ad spending continued to climb in Q4, increasing 10% year-over-year - +53% ad spend in Retail: Spend in the retail industry increased 53%, with brands like Shopify, Chemist Warehouse, and 7-Eleven topping the list
- $1.7M spend for Financial Services: Spend in Financial Services topped all industries this quarter with brands like Wise, CMC Markets, and Bankwest at the top.
The public research deck can be downloaded HERE.
Ticket release
iHeartMedia and Charlamagne Tha God, one of the audio network’s biggest stars, release details of the fourth annual Black Effect Podcast Festival. The date is April 25, located at Pullman Yards in Atlanta. The public release promises “a day full of live podcast tapings and informative discussions aimed at aspiring podcasters in the Black community.” Key themes will include AI (of course), a section called “The Gen-Z Movement,” and an audio/media development panel. The whole thing is sponsored by State Farm, with other supporters including Nissan, and AT&T, Coca-Cola.
Tickets available HERE