🧠 Bryan Barletta is building a smarter podcast industry

Presented by Ukumi

😮‍💨 How did you think this was going to end?

Burnout doesn’t always arrive with flames. Sometimes it shows up as apathy. As the episode that doesn’t excite you. As the outline that feels like obligation. You didn’t mean to create a machine that feeds on your energy, you just forgot to build exits.

Sustainable creativity requires an ending you can live with. One where you pause, recalibrate, maybe even disappear for a bit. Not everything has to keep going. But you do.

🎙️ Signal Flow: Bryan Barletta

Industry game changers and valiant minds share their wisdom, adversities, and paths to innovation.

Bryan Barletta is the founder of Sounds Profitable, a trade association focused on advancing the podcast industry. With over 16 years of experience in advertising and technology, he played a pioneering role in launching the world’s first shakeable mobile rich media ad in 2009 and has held senior positions at leading podcast platforms such as Megaphone (acquired by Spotify) and Claritas (first podcast attribution company). A passionate advocate for digital audio, Bryan launched the inaugural Podcasting at SXSW – Sound Summit in 2024, a groundbreaking event that united major players like ESPN, Wondery, and SiriusXM with celebrities and podcast hosts, including Marsha Cooke and Nick Viall. Since then, he has continued championing podcasting’s prominence on the global stage, bringing the business of podcasting to high-profile industry events such as Cannes Lions, POSSIBLE Miami, and Advertising Week New York.

Editor’s note: The following interview has been edited for flow and clarity.

I got fired a lot early in my career. Usually for pointing out things that were broken. Eventually, I realized: if you’re going to point out a problem, you better bring a solution, too.

That shift—from critique to creation—is what led me to launch Sounds Profitable.

We started as a newsletter and some consulting. Now we’re a trade association working with over 200 partners around the world to grow listenership and monetization options for podcasting.

I think the biggest thing I set out to do, albeit naively, was to get the apps on board with a unified approach to podcasting. I saw them as browsers, not walled gardens. I still believe unification is important, but we’ve shifted our focus to helping creators and companies do more with what we do have.

Not everything needs to be reinvented. Sometimes it just needs to be better understood.

I don’t think there’ll ever be another opportunity like podcasting. It’s one of the last remaining open digital mediums. Anyone can upload a file and be heard globally. That’s incredible and worth protecting.

But it also means a lot of people are making it up as they go. Our job at Sounds Profitable is to help turn “making it up” into something scalable, ethical, and smart.

I think one of the biggest misunderstandings about podcasting is that host-read ads are somehow outdated. They’re not. They’re just hard to scale. But the trust and connection in a good host read? You can’t fake that. You shouldn’t want to.

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I’ve learned the power of shutting up. I used to hate awkward silences. I'd rush to fill them, prove I was smart, keep momentum going. But I’ve found more value in listening, in curiosity. These days, I use AI tools that literally tell me when I’m monologuing. It’s humbling. It helps.

I have two young kids. I still find ways to listen to three or four hours of podcasts a day, even if it’s mostly kids shows and actual play podcasts for D&D. Our family favorite right now is Greeking Out from Nat Geo.

If Sounds Profitable had a sonic logo? Honestly, it would probably be a kid saying something. When we first launched our podcast, I had my oldest kid, Theo, read the section headlines. And at the end of the show, I'd be like, hey, Theo, anything else you want to say to the audience? He once yelled “tubes!” because we’d gotten him this bathtub playset with tubes. It was chaotic and joyful. And that’s still the spirit I try to bring to the work.

I don’t want to just be the ad tech guy. I want to be someone who moved the space forward. Someone who made it a little more welcoming, a little less confusing, a little more fun. If my legacy is “he made podcasts make more sense” I’ll take it.

Podcasting is chaotic, joyful, weird, and constantly changing. That’s what makes it hard. That’s what makes it worth it.

🎧 Podcast of the Week: This is Love

From the team behind Criminal, This Is Love explores all the unexpected ways love shows up between people, animals, places, even moments in time. If you’re into stories that restore your faith in humanity (or just want to feel something real), this one delivers.

🥾 Further Exploration: How Video Podcasts Are Reshaping the Industry

Business Insider reports that video podcasting isn’t just booming, it’s rewriting the rules. With Hollywood talent moving into the space and YouTube dominating podcast discovery, creators are now thinking visually as much as sonically. Whether you’re camera-shy or ready for your close-up, this piece makes one thing clear: video isn’t optional anymore, it’s opportunity.

ICYMI:

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🥼 Inside a podcast Mayo Clinic trusts with its name

💡 The Quiet Spark

A weekly question to ignite fresh thinking, stir self-reflection, and fuel your creative process behind the mic.

What’s one creative risk you secretly admire in another podcast?