đWomen Aren't Leaving Podcasting. They're Never Starting; 92% of Your "Video Podcast" Audience Isn't Watching
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Todayâs reading time is 5 minutes. - Miko Santos (13 December 2025)
đď¸Today, weâve got the inside scoop on:
Women Arenât Leaving Podcasting. Theyâre Never Starting.
92% of Your âVideo Podcastâ Audience Isnât Watching
WaPo Bets on AI Podcasts to Win Young ListenersâWho Donât Trust AI to Connect Them
Podcast Insight: The Podcasts Youâve Never Heard Of Are Crushing the Ones You Have
PodBusiness : Audacy just dropped their 2026 predictions, and buried in the promotional copy are some genuinely useful signals about where audio advertising is headed.
Job Board : Magellan AI - Measurement Success Manager
SOUNDS PROFITABLE
Women Arenât Leaving Podcasting. Theyâre Never Starting
Podwires Rundown : The podcasting industry loves to obsess over retention. Podfade rates. Churn metrics. The slow bleed of creators who burn out after twenty episodes. But what if weâve been measuring the wrong problem entirely?
New data from Sounds Profitableâs The Creators 2025 study reveals a startling asymmetry: 15% of male podcast consumers are active creators. For women, itâs 8%. Nearly half. And hereâs the uncomfortable partâthis isnât about women abandoning the medium. Women who start podcasts actually have higher retention rates than men (69% vs 67%). The problem is upstream. Theyâre not showing up to the starting line.
Tom Webster, Partner at Sounds Profitable, analyzed creator demographics in The Creators 2025 study and found a persistent gender gap that predates the video podcasting era. The research suggests the industryâs failure to cultivate visible female role modelsâcombined with the rising pressure of video productionâmay be raising barriers to entry that donât affect everyone equally.
The Key Points
15% of male podcast consumers are active creators vs. just 8% of womenâa gap that persists across all creators (active or lapsed) at 23% vs 12%
Women who do create podcasts have a 69% retention rate, outpacing men at 67%âthe issue is entry, not exit
Among active creators, video adoption is virtually identical: 71% of women use video vs 70% of men
The gender gap existed before the âvideo or dieâ narrativeâbut video expectations may be accelerating the problem
Webster argues the industry hasnât been intentional about showcasing female success stories as aspirational models
Why It Matters: The podcasting industry has spent years celebrating its low barrier to entry. Record in your closet. Launch with a USB mic. Build something meaningful in the margins of a busy life. But if that promise only resonates with half the population, weâve been telling ourselves a convenient fiction. The data suggests potential creators are self-selecting out before they ever hit recordâand the rising expectation of being âcamera-readyâ may be narrowing those margins further. This isnât a retention problem to optimize. Itâs a pipeline problem to fix.
The Big Picture For podcasters and producers, this research demands honest self-reflection. Are your panels, guest rosters, and recommended listens reinforcing a narrow vision of what a successful podcaster looks like? For networks and platforms, the question is whether your creator programs and marketing materials reflect the full range of people who could build something hereâor just the people who already have.
The actionable path forward isnât complicated. Celebrate audio-first creators. Feature diverse success stories in trade coverage and conference lineups. And maybe stop pretending that âyou need video to succeedâ is universally true advice. Itâs true for some creators. For others, itâs a barrier disguised as wisdom.
Hereâs what the data actually tells us: women who create podcasts are committed. Theyâre not dabbling. Theyâre not more likely to quit. The industryâs job is to stop losing them before they ever begin.
The microphone is ready. The question is who weâre inviting to use it.
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OXFORD ROAD
The Podcasts Youâve Never Heard Of Are Crushing the Ones You Have
Podwires Rundown : The advertising industry has a crush on celebrity podcasts. Every time a famous face launches a show, media buyers trip over themselves to secure inventory. The PR machine cranks up. CPMs skyrocket. And somewhere, a show thatâs been quietly converting listeners into customers for eight years gets passed over for the hot new thing.
Oxford Road just dropped a reality check.
Their latest ORBIT rankingsâbuilt on $1.6 billion in actual campaign performance dataâreveal that âOGâ podcasts (shows launched before March 2020) arenât just competitive with the new class. Theyâre wiping the floor with them. The data is unambiguous: 75% of todayâs top advertising performers launched before the pandemic. These arenât legacy shows coasting on name recognition. Theyâre conversion machines, honed by years of audience trust that no celebrity launch can replicate overnight.
Hereâs the uncomfortable part: Oxford Road specifically calls out the âbrand taxâ advertisers pay for famous names. One unnamed celebrity podcast costs nearly 19 times more per drop than Critical Roleâyet the gaming show delivers superior conversion results. Let that sink in. Youâre paying a 1,900% premium for... what, exactly? The privilege of saying youâre on a famous show? Cool story. Howâs your ROAS looking?
Summary: Oxford Road, the worldâs largest podcast advertising agency, released new ORBIT rankings analyzing 12 months of campaign outcomes across hundreds of advertisers. The findings, drawn from the industryâs largest index of podcast advertising performance data, demonstrate that established âOGâ podcasts consistently outperform newer entrants on actual sales metricsânot downloads, not impressions, but customer acquisition and return on ad spend.
The Key Points:
75% of top-performing podcasts launched before March 2020âlongevity signals execution quality, not genre heat
OG shows deliver a 12% efficiency premium over newer entrants, thanks to compounding listener loyalty
The âbrand taxâ is quantifiable: one celebrity podcast costs 19x more per drop than Critical Role while delivering worse conversions
Genre doesnât predict performance: the Top 15 spans 9 categories from Leisure to True Crime to Alternative Health
Multi-year listener relationships create defensive moats that new shows cannot replicate quickly, lowering discovery costs
Why It Matters: The podcast advertising market has been chasing the wrong metrics. Buyers prioritize chart positions, celebrity names, and download numbersâvanity metrics that donât necessarily translate to sales. Oxford Roadâs data suggests the industry systematically overpays for âheatâ while undervaluing the compounding returns of trust built over years. For advertisers working with finite budgets, this isnât an academic distinction. Itâs the difference between efficient customer acquisition and lighting money on fire for bragging rights.
The Big Picture: For podcasters, this data is a permission slip to stop chasing trends. Your show doesnât need a celebrity host or a viral TikTok moment to command advertiser attention. What it needs is timeâtime to build trust, time to develop host-listener intimacy, time to prove you can actually move product. Thatâs not a sexy narrative. But itâs the one that pays.
For podcast producers and ad sales teams, the actionable insight is clear: stop underselling your catalog. Those mid-tier shows that have been publishing consistently since 2017? They may be worth more than the flashy new acquisition. Build your pitch around conversion data, not downloads.
For advertisers and media buyers, the ORBIT rankings suggest a simple due diligence step: ask for performance data, not just audience data. A showâs ability to drive action is not correlated with its position on the charts. And that celebrity podcast eating 40% of your budget? You might get better resultsâand lower CPAsâfrom shows youâve never heard of.
The industry loves new. The data loves old. Choose accordingly.
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THE PODCAST HOST
92% of Your âVideo Podcastâ Audience Isnât Watching
Podwires Rundown : The podcasting industry spent the last two years telling creators they had to pivot to video or die. Conference stages filled with panels on camera setups. Newsletter after newsletter declared audio-only podcasting a relic. Creators whoâd built loyal audiences over a decade were told their format was obsolete.
The data tells a different story.
New analysis from Sounds Profitable, surveying 5,000 American podcast consumers, found that 47% of people who use YouTube as their primary podcast platform consume most content as audio-only. Theyâre pressing play and immediately looking awayâto drive, to clean, to scroll another app. The video is playing. Nobodyâs watching it.
A separate study from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights quantified the behavior more precisely: only 8% of podcast consumers âjust watch video.â That leaves 92% who are listening at least some of the time. REALLY? Yes. Really.
Let that sink in. The industryâs dominant narrativeâthat video is now table stakes for podcast successârests on a fundamental misunderstanding of how audiences actually behave. YouTubeâs rise as a podcast platform does not equal video consumption. It equals distribution through a video platform. Those are not the same thing.
Summary: Katie Paterson at The Podcast Host synthesized findings from Sounds Profitableâs 5,000-person survey and Cumulus Media/Signal Hill research to document a significant gap between video podcast production trends and actual consumption behavior. The data reveals that the majority of podcast consumersâeven those using YouTubeâcontinue to engage primarily through audio, raising questions about the industryâs push toward video-first content strategies.
The Key Points
47% of YouTube podcast users consume content as audio-only, according to Sounds Profitableâs survey of 5,000 Americans
Only 8% of podcast consumers âjust watch videoâ, per Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights research
92% of the audience is listening at least partially, meaning video-dependent content fails the majority of consumers
The most common way indie creators use YouTube is publishing audio with a static image or audiogramânot full video production
Peak podcast consumption times (commuting, chores, workouts) are incompatible with active video viewing
Why It Matters: Creators have been told to invest in cameras, lighting, studio setups, and video editing workflows based on the assumption that audiences demand visual content. The documented consumption patterns suggest this advice may be systematically misdirected. A creator who spends $5,000 on video production equipment to reach an audience thatâs 92% audio-first has made a resource allocation decision based on industry narrative rather than audience behavior. For independent podcasters operating with limited budgets, the stakes of this miscalculation are significant.
The Big Picture: For podcasters and producers, the actionable takeaway is what Paterson calls the âlook-away testâ: if someone can press play and understand everything without watching the screen, your podcast works. If it doesnât, youâve built something that fails 92% of your potential audience.
This doesnât mean video has no value. YouTube remains the largest podcast discovery platform in the United States. Clips drive social media engagement. But the data suggests video should enhance audio content, not replace it. The moment an episode requires watching to followâpointing at things, reacting silently, showing graphics without descriptionâyouâve lost the majority of listeners.
For the industry, these findings demand a harder look at who benefits from the âvideo or dieâ narrative. Camera companies? Studio rental services? Platforms that monetize video ads at higher CPMs than audio? The push toward video production has costs that fall disproportionately on independent creators. The benefits accrue elsewhere.
The audience has been clear about what they want. They want to listen. The question is whether the industry is willing to hear them.
AUDACY
Audio Advertisingâs 2026 Playbook: Measurement, AI, and the Creator Effect
Podwires Rundown: Look, Iâll be honest with you. When a major audio company publishes a âtrendsâ piece in Ad Age, your skepticism meter should be running. But hereâs the thingâAudacyâs 2026 forecast actually contains some insights worth unpacking for podcast executives.
The throughline? Measurement is finally catching up to reach. For years, audio has been the medium everyone knows works but struggles to prove works. That narrative is shifting, and if youâre not paying attention to what that means for your advertising strategy, youâre leaving money on the table.
The Summary: In a recent Ad Age piece, Audacyâs leadership outlined six trends they believe will define audio advertising in 2026: breakthrough broadcast measurement capabilities, AI-driven personalization, hybrid audio-video content strategies, creator-led performance marketing, hyper-local targeting, and the enduring power of sports audio. The company points to attribution tools from Claritas, Podscribe, and Magellan AI as game-changers finally connecting on-air exposure to tangible business outcomes. Audio already reaches 96% of Americans dailyânow advertisers can prove what that reach actually delivers.
The Key Points:
Advanced attribution tools are finally closing the measurement gap for broadcast audio, connecting exposure to brand lift, web traffic, store visits, and conversions
AIâs role in audio isnât replacing hostsâitâs increasing ad relevance, enabling programmatic buys, and automating campaign optimization behind the scenes
Three-quarters of listeners feel connected to businesses their favorite hosts recommend, making creator-voiced ads the highest-performing format
Sports audio fans are 4X more likely to purchase from advertisers and 6X more likely to download brand appsâand 2026âs calendar includes the World Cup and Winter Olympics
Hyper-local targeting now enables zip-by-zip, behavior-by-behavior audience buys while maintaining mass reach when needed
Why It Matters: For years, podcasters and audio creators have known something advertisers couldnât quite quantify: audio builds trust in ways other media canât replicate. The measurement revolution Audacy describes isnât just good news for broadcast radioâitâs validation for the entire spoken-word ecosystem. When attribution tools prove that creator endorsements drive action, it shifts budget conversations from âaudio is nice to haveâ to âaudio is essential.â The 96% daily reach stat isnât new. Whatâs new is proving that reach converts.
The Big Picture: Hereâs the uncomfortable part for podcasters: most of these trends advantage larger players with sophisticated ad tech stacks. But the creator economy insight cuts both ways. If creator-voiced, story-driven ads outperform scripted spotsâand the data says they doâthen independent podcasters with genuine audience relationships hold leverage they might not realize they have. The actionable play? Stop reading scripts. Give sponsors experiences, not talking points. Let them hear you actually use the product. Audacyâs own advice: âGive creators experiences instead of scripts. Let them talk like fans, instead of spokespeople.â
The measurement tools mentionedâPodscribe, Magellan AIâarenât exclusive to broadcast. Podcasters should be demanding attribution data from their ad partners and using that proof to justify higher CPMs. The days of âtrust us, it worksâ are ending. Thatâs good news if you can prove performance. Not so good if you canât.
THE WASHINGTON POST | EDISON RESEARCH
WaPo Bets on AI Podcasts to Win Young ListenersâWho Donât Trust AI to Connect Them
Podwires Rundown: So hereâs a fun one for you.
The Washington Post rolled out âYour Personal Podcastâ this weekâan AI-powered audio experience where algorithm-selected news stories get summarized by two synthetic hosts chatting back and forth. Users can customize topics, duration, even pick their preferred AI voice personas. The whole pitch? Meet younger, more diverse audiences where they are. Give them fast, personalized, engaging news consumption.
Sounds reasonable. Except.
Edison Research dropped findings this week showing 61% of 18-29 year olds believe increased AI use will hurt peopleâs ability to form meaningful relationships. Thatâs not a typo. The demographic the Post is chasing with robot hosts? Theyâre the most concerned AI damages human connection.
REALLY? Yes. Really.
The Summary: The Washington Post, partnering with Eleven Labs, launched an AI-generated audio product letting users customize news briefings by topic, length, and AI host personality. The product lives exclusively in the Postâs appâno RSS feedâand will soon allow users to pause and ask questions out loud. Meanwhile, Edison Research and SSRS found that while 56% of all Americans believe AI negatively impacts relationship-building, concern runs highest among young adults, with 61% saying AI hurts meaningful human connection versus just 12% who see benefit.
The Key Points:
WaPoâs âYour Personal Podcastâ uses AI hosts to summarize roughly four stories in 4-8 minute episodes, updating throughout the day based on user behavior
61% of Americans aged 18-29 believe AI will negatively impact peopleâs ability to form meaningful relationshipsâthe highest concern of any age group
The Post explicitly frames the product as targeting âyounger, more diverse audiencesâ seeking faster news consumption
An upcoming feature will let users interrupt AI hosts mid-episode to ask questionsâwhat the Post calls âa podcast you can talk back toâ
Qualitative research from Edison found young people expressing concern that AI reliance makes it âharder for you to interact with other peopleâ
Why It Matters: Hereâs the tension nobodyâs talking about: The Washington Post is betting that younger audiences want algorithmic, personalized, AI-delivered content. Edisonâs research suggests those same audiences are deeply skeptical that AI can deliver genuine connectionâthe very thing that makes podcasting work. The Postâs product chief even admitted theyâre measuring âhabit-based metrics rather than volume.â Translation: they want daily check-ins, not deep engagement. But if young listeners donât trust AI to connect them with anything meaningful, why would they form habits around synthetic hosts?
The Big Picture: Whatâs the political calculation here? Iâll tell you.
Legacy publishers see declining attention spans and think the answer is removing humans from content delivery. Faster. Shorter. Customized. No host to wait for, no schedule to follow. But podcastingâs entire value proposition is built on parasocial relationshipsâthe trust listeners place in real humans who show up consistently. The Post is essentially asking: what if we stripped that out entirely?
The Edison data suggests younger audiences arenât buying it. One 27-year-old respondent put it plainly: âI think people are social by nature and we need other people.â
For podcasters, the actionable insight is almost too obvious: Your humanity is your moat. While publishers race toward synthetic content, the audience most comfortable with technology is also the most aware of what it canât replace. The Post may capture some casual news briefing minutes. But deep listener loyalty? The kind that drives purchases, downloads, and advertiser ROI?
That still requires a pulse.
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