Ira Glass: Podcasts go deeper, and so do the ads. Listen · September 15, 2026 · 5.2 minutes to read * In the opening Sounds Profitable Business Summit session, with plenty of ear-catching audio, Ira Glass from This American Life highlighted "what podcasts do better". Podcasts go so much deeper than what most influencers are putting out there, he said - and that means a deeper connection - which also means that the ads work harder. The Business Summit kicks off Podcast Week in New York City; with buyers and networks in one room, the summit included a number of well-attended talks and plenty of networking time. * TYT has named Airwave as exclusive advertising sales partner, in a seven-figure deal. Airwave is expanding its in-house sales operation; the company will represent premium advertising opportunities across TYT's podcast, digital video and live programming. * Krystina Rubino from Right Side Up and Greg Glenday from Acast spoke about the Spotify skip button at the Sounds Profitable Business Summit. Glenday said that he spoke to a number of creators who pulled their shows off Spotify as a result. However, "digital display has already had a similar reckoning," Rubino said, highlighting the viewability metrics that are now used for display advertising, following ad-blockers. "If your ads suck," she said, "maybe you should do better." She added: "We have ruined many websites with ad banners." "If you're afraid of sharing consumption data with your advertisers, you have a deeper problem." * At the Sounds Profitable Business Summit, Julie Snyder, Jimmy Saunders and Sarah Koenig from Serial announced a new, always-on narrative podcast focusing on New York. It'll be called Metro, and launches in October. It'll have "companion-but-short-form video" for social. "You heard it here first", they said - let's hope they didn't read Podnews on Sep 7. * Elsewhere in New York yesterday, Steven Bartlett and Authentic launched OBSN, a tool "designed for the world's most ambitious and consequential creators". At its heart will be a platform providing news, analysis and live experiences for the creator economy. * First look: Supercast has launched live streaming, expanding the premium subscription platform with a new way for creators to reach communities. The company, which is part of Red Seat Ventures, launches live streaming to all Supercast creators today. * A new company called Podeo launches today, helping to turn podcasts into "video that actually gets watched". It takes the audio of a podcast episode, and builds a long-form video of the whole episode - and uploads it automatically to YouTube. There are some examples on the Podeo website. * In the UK, Leeds-based audioadpro has launched ADSTEM, a new planning ad-tech tool providing media planners with geo-mapping tools and enriched audience data. The proprietary technology is now live for client partners. * Voxlumo is a transcription service focusing on the Arabic language, one of the fastest-growing languages in podcasting. The tool also does English and German, and produces WebVTT, SRT and TXT formats. * Every time we mention Ausha, we need to change our podcast transcription from saying "OSHA". What we'd really like is some form of custom vocabulary, so we can tell our transcription tool how to spell Ausha correctly. Step forward... Ausha, which has launched custom transcription vocabulary to its transcription tool. The tool is available to all users, whether or not they host their podcast with Ausha. Podcast ads in Japan. Made simple. Paid content. Following our recent financing announcement, Robot Start is expanding its international outreach through Audiostart, our gateway to podcast advertising in Japan. Audiostart gives global brands and agencies a simple way to access Japan's growing podcast market. Through Robot Start's partnerships with major radio networks, together with a network of more than 450 independent podcasts, advertisers can access approximately 80% of Japan's popular podcast titles. We support advertisers looking to reach listeners in Japan with campaign planning, publisher coordination, and execution. For companies exploring the Japanese podcast market, Audiostart offers a practical entry point without the need to navigate the market alone. If you are exploring podcast advertising opportunities in Japan, we'd love to connect. Tips and tricks - with audiencelift. * Understanding your podcast statistics has never been more important - dig in to the differences between a play and a download in our guide. * It's not spring any more, but it's always time to spring clean your podcast to ensure it won't podfade. Podcast news - with Airwave.

Super Group gets green light to acquire Right Side Up.