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Its newly launched sports podcast chart features multiple football and basketball shows, reinforcing how sports content is driving watch time and engagement on the platform. Our take: Disney鈥檚 lawsuit is about more than one executive; it鈥檚 an attempt to retain an edge in a category that is becoming vital to media revenues.

Go further: Read our Travel 2025 Infopack and/or watch our 鈥淏ehind the Numbers鈥� podcast on summer travel. Editor's note: This content is part of 蘑菇AV鈥檚 subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, we discuss if folks will start consuming news on WhatsApp, how people get their news on digital channels, and some interesting generational gaps that exist regarding social media news consumption. Join host Marcus Johnson, along with director of reports editing Rahul Chadha and vice president of media, content, and strategy Henry Powderly for the conversation.

Our latest forecast for 14 countries and three regions shows sustained healthy growth for podcast listenership in most markets, even as the boom years are winding down.

Netflix is eyeing video podcasts to capitalize on the medium鈥檚 growing popularity. Moving forward with a plan that combines podcasts with interactive ecommerce features could open a new revenue stream. Despite its promising advertising potential, Netflix needs to remain cautious with price increases and content investments to avoid driving subscribers to other platforms.

Upgrades to existing services include podcast-generation capabilities in Docs and agentic AI deployment in Gemini Code Assist, which is now connected to Gemini 2.5. The software giant also introduced a voice-cloning feature and launched its Lyria text-to-music model, which can be used to create audio for online content or video podcasts.

Podcasts. After a blowout year for podcasting in 2024, US creator revenues from podcasts are fast approaching $1 billion. The majority of those revenues will come from ads and brand sponsorships. (Our podcast revenue forecast excludes YouTube.). For more on creator podcasts, look out for our upcoming report, 鈥淯S Creator Podcast Revenues 2025,鈥� publishing in March. Other channels.

The tools, which are expected in the coming months, will help students make study guides and podcast-style summaries of teacher-uploaded content. Educators can create custom AI agents, or Gems, built on specific curriculum and share them across schools or districts.

Podcast ad revenues, by comparison, will reach $2.5 billion this year. Advertising in games boost brand recall significantly鈥攁 PepsiCo study found that advertising in mobile games boosts recall to 21.9% compared with the average 5.5%, while Overwolf Ads found that PC gamers show 50% higher brand recall for integrated gaming ads.

"AI is causing a shift in the shopping landscape, and we are seeing tech companies really go for a kind of grab of commerce rather than just supporting it," said our analyst Carina Perkins on a recent podcast episode of the "Behind the Numbers.鈥�. The gap between retailer focus and consumer needs.

Podcast and streaming audio. Digital audio eCPMs were up 1.2% QoQ but down 6.7% YoY in Q2 2024. Both major digital audio formats鈥攕treaming audio and podcasts鈥攆ollowed similar patterns. But, the QoQ increase (0.4%) was smaller and the YoY decrease (8.0%) larger for streaming audio, indicating that it鈥檚 dragging down the overall digital audio category.

Go deeper with our recent Behind the Numbers podcast on Walgreens鈥� identity crisis.

Podcast listening, another key source of current affairs information, is significantly lower among Francophones. At just 29%, weekly podcast listening by Francophones was 15 percentage points lower than that by Anglophones. This is consistent with lower Francophone trust levels in digital media. Ecommerce penetration in Quebec mirrors the lagging digital adoption trend.

Consumers use YouTube for podcasts more often than other platforms. False. While YouTube is the leading podcast platform, audio remains the primary mode of podcast consumption (58%) and 61% of consumers use a platform other than YouTube most often, per a Westwood One Audio report. June 20, 2025. Google is testing a new capability in AI mode that allows users to 鈥�.

As 2024 heads into the last quarter, the tech and media landscapes face pivotal shifts. From a potential AI backlash to new Google consent workflows, and TikTok鈥檚 future, these medium-term predictions, shared by our analysts on a recent two-part episode of 蘑菇AV鈥檚 鈥淏ehind the Numbers鈥� podcast, spotlight the challenges and opportunities that may lie ahead.

The news: Substack, a subscription platform that houses blogs, newsletters, podcasts, and more, is working to become a jack of all trades that supports both legacy media figures and independent creators. An influx of news personalities and social creators have joined Substack鈥檚 user base, helping to boost the platform to 5 million paid subscribers, up from 3 million at this time last year.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, we discuss what to make of former Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive working on a new AI device, what an AI model with 鈥渞easoning abilities鈥� can actually do, and whether Ilya Sutskever鈥檚 new AI startup can create safe superintelligence. Join host Marcus Johnson, along with analysts Jacob Bourne and Grace Harmon, for the conversation.

Listen to the full podcast episode. This was originally featured in the Retail Daily newsletter. For more retail insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what would happen if TikTok is (or isn鈥檛) banned in America, what marketers get most wrong about consumers, will AI smartphones be impactful right out of the gate, will most companies eventually ask employees to be in the office five days a week, the world's favorite drinks, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Blake Droesch, Bill Fisher, and Carina Perkins.

Listen to the full podcast. This was originally featured in the 蘑菇AV Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of September. Each month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers they're watching based on which are making the most interesting moves: Who's launching new initiatives? Which partnerships are moving the needle? Which standout marketing campaigns are being created? In this month's episode, Committee members Arielle Feger and Sara Lebow will defend their list against analysts Zak Stambor and Rachel Wolff, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

鈥淥nce you understand the user deeply enough, the user can probably trust you if you show them relevant sponsored content, as long as it鈥檚 super personalized,鈥� Srinivas said on a TBPN podcast episode. All-purpose data: Many queries made in AI models are purely work-related and not personal, per Srinivas, which doesn鈥檛 provide enough insight to fully understand the consumer.

Go further: Listen to our recent podcast episode: 鈥淩eimagining Retail: Tariffs Are Here: Consumer Shifts, Surprising Outcomes, and Must-Watch Metrics.鈥�. This content is part of 蘑菇AV鈥檚 subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports.