Business
The Download
The weekly intelligence briefing for podcast industry executives.
Episodes
The archive
30 episodes, newest first.
- Spotify Opens the Cash Register: Memberships, the 90% Headline, and Apple's Video AnswerSpotify launches paid podcast memberships with creators keeping 90% of revenue. We separate the headline from the fine print, set it against Apple's paid-video move, and ask where YouTube fits.
- The Video Window Gets Priced: Shetty's $100M, Barstool on Netflix, and a Baseline Worth QuestioningA look at exclusive video windows, a talent deal reported at up to $100M, and the audio-based ad revenue baseline those deals are outgrowing.
- Amazon's Podcast Ad Stack Keeps Filling Up, and Talent Deals Follow the VideoAmazon Ads adds Barometer's episode-level brand suitability to its DVA+ platform. We look at how Amazon has been assembling podcast supply, what talent signings and video-first moves say about where value sits, and what executives should do next.
- The $2.86 Billion Pool: Why Everyone's Fighting Over the Same Ad DollarsPodcast ad revenue cracked $2.86 billion in 2025, but the growth story is splitting into winners and everyone else. Reid walks through the CPM math, Whatnot's $20 billion live-commerce bet, Audacy's exclusive MeidasTouch deal, and a wave of non-endemic entrants piling into podcasting — and asks whether the pool is deep enough for all of it.
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- Follow the Money: Murdoch's $300M Bet, OpenAI's Ad Spend Spike, and the Talent Bidding WarReid breaks down three capital flows reshaping audio in one week: James Murdoch's Vox Media podcast buy, OpenAI's sudden explosion in podcast ad spending and its TBPN acquisition, and the seven-figure talent deals now on the table for former Hard Fork hosts and the Audacy-MeidasTouch tie-up.
- The $100 Million Signal: Jay Shetty, the iHeart Exit, and the New Platform WarsSpotify and Netflix's deal for Jay Shetty's 'On Purpose' becomes the lens for a bigger story: what happens to legacy radio conglomerates when premium podcast talent stops needing them, and what the numbers say about who's actually positioned to win the next five years of audio.
- The Merger Nobody Confirmed: SiriusXM's Numbers, the YouTube Deal, and the iHeart WhisperSiriusXM posted a strong quarter and a splashy YouTube ad-rep deal — but the real story is the merger talk nobody on the earnings call would touch. Plus: two more newspapers sue OpenAI and Microsoft, and a niche ad platform shows where programmatic goes next.
- The Ad Stack Land Grab: Murdoch's Vox Play, Sirius's Numbers, and the 44% Ad Load Nobody's Talking AboutMurdoch buys into podcasting, Sirius posts real ad growth, and buried under both stories is the actual power move: who owns the ad server. Reid breaks down why the infrastructure fight matters more than the marquee deals.
- Netflix Wants Your Podcast, SXSW Wants Your Badge MoneyReid Mercer breaks down the video platform land grab for premium audio IP, SXSW turning podcasting into a paid pillar, the political ad money flooding in ahead of midterms, and why CTV is quietly coming for audio budgets.
- Ad Load Hits a Ceiling, Disney Buys the Pitch, and the NFL's AI DenialReid Mercer breaks down Q2's 23% podcast ad surge and what a record ad load really signals, Disney+ and Netflix bidding up football podcasts, Spotify's Twitch experiment, and the NFL's messy AI accusation.
Talent
Talents in this show
Each one has a profile of their own.
About
What the show is
From network strategy and M&A moves to ad tech innovations and monetization tactics, The Download delivers the insider analysis that shapes decisions at the highest levels of audio. Essential listening for leaders at major networks, ad platforms, and anyone building the future of podcasting.
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