Episode Details

This week in the business of podcasting:

• Tom Webster of Sounds Profitable audited iHeartMedia radio stations across three mid-size U.S. markets and found that less than 4% of weekday airtime in Pittsburgh features locally produced content, while Indianapolis registers effectively zero. The research challenges the premise that a SiriusXM acquisition would meaningfully reduce local programming that, by most measures, has already disappeared.
• New S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows podcast listening among U.S. online adults grew 10 percentage points in early 2026, reaching nearly 60% — a figure that aligns with Sounds Profitable's own Podcast Landscape 2025 research when video-only listeners are factored in.
• Nielsen has integrated Triton Digital's Podcast Metrics Demos+ data into its Nielsen Media Impact planning platform, giving ad buyers a more complete picture of the podcast audience alongside other media channels for more precise campaign planning.
• A new report from the Nigerian Podcast Index examines 329 shows across more than 20 hosting platforms and finds that while English-language content gives Nigerian podcasting global reach, the absence of local measurement infrastructure keeps the market largely invisible to international advertisers and investors.

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