After five years working in the podcast industry and listening to colleagues offer post-conference recaps, I finally had the opportunity to attend my first Podcast Movement. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I was excited to spend two full days in New York City, arguably the cultural capital of the United States, learning about the state of the industry.

It’s no secret that podcasting has seen rapid evolutions (video podcasts, anyone?). It’s the buzz of the industry, the headlines of every newsletter, and the bottom line of endless LinkedIn think pieces. But sitting on the plane seeing podcasts like “Huberman Lab,” “Mr. Beast,” and “Diary of a CEO” under the “TV series” section of the in-flight entertainment, the shift truly hit home.

Turns out, the tension of this evolution was an overarching theme of the conference. 

WTF Is a Podcast, Especially on Netflix?

In their keynote talk, “WTF is a Podcast in 2026?” Arielle Nissenblatt, Lauren Passell, and Lindsey Weber tackled the industry’s new favorite question, “how do you define a podcast?” They shared street-interview style footage of Podcast Movement attendees answering, and as you may expect, the answers varied. One interviewee said, “Any effort you spend trying to define what it is, you will be immediately outflanked by a new delivery method or a new format or a new way of consumption, so I don’t have a definition.”

And they aren’t wrong. In his keynote presentation, “The Podcast Landscape 2026,” Tom Webster of Sounds Profitable presented data from the namesake annual study – where Signal Hill Insights serves as research partner – showing that for the first time ever, Netflix is now the 3rd most named platform for podcast consumption, behind YouTube and Spotify. He posed a critical question: what does this mean for the future of the industry?

And it’s an important question to ask. Our research has shown that consumers are increasingly consuming podcasts on their TV screens. It’s no surprise that streaming TV services want a piece of the podcast pie. But unlike open platforms, like YouTube and Spotify, Netflix is a walled garden. Not just anyone can have their podcast featured there. 

Tom rightfully questioned the power dynamics inherent in the platform. Streaming services can cancel your podcast at whim, just as they cancel the next season of your favorite TV show. And doesn’t that contradict the original, democratic ethos of podcasting, where anyone with a microphone and connection to the internet can share their voice?

What’s the Measure of Video Podcasts?

Other sessions were teeming with similar questions. What does the rise of video mean for audio-first creators? Does everyone need a video strategy tomorrow? 

Luckily, Sharon Taylor from Triton Digital assured us that it’s not so black and white in her talk, “Lead with Audio, Plan for Video.” Leveraging data from our joint research study, Demos+, she clarified that only 7% of monthly U.S. podcast consumers watch podcasts exclusively. 13% listen exclusively, and there is a meaty 80% who do both. These percentages vary also from genre to genre, meaning there is still a dedicated market for audio-first consumption with its own distinct use cases.

But the rise of video YouTube is more than just a content question––it’s also a measurement question. And it’s exactly the type of question that we’ve been thinking about at Signal Hill Insights. Fortunately, we were able to share our innovation in Paul Riismandel’s joint session with Brittany Hall of Libsyn, “Can a YouTube Podcast Help a Gen Z Audience Love Pizza Even More?” The short answer is, “yes.” This was confirmed in brand lift study findings that a campaign integration drove statistically significant lifts in consideration and awareness for a well-known national pizza brand. On top of that, awareness of a new specialty pizza nearly doubled.

Seeing a project I had collaborated on come to life on the Podcast Movement stage was certainly a proud moment. But beyond our 20-minutes of glory, it was a great snapshot of where podcast advertising is heading, and the emerging research methodologies that can prove measurable lifts. 

For Podcasting, the World

Zooming out from the U.S., another narrative emerged from the conference: globally, podcasting is more popular than ever. And where there are devoted audiences, there is a market for advertising. 

In her panel, “The Podcast Market Nobody’s Briefed You on Until Now,” Lemya Soltani highlighted the booming podcast consumption rates in countries like Indonesia and UAE, and pointed out how the ad buyer market hasn’t yet caught up. Similarly, Luciano Banchero of Posta and Manuela Walfenzao of Oronda Studio presented on the Latin American podcast market, where 168M listeners are already tuning in, and hungry for more content. They posed the same question as Soltani: when will the advertising industry catch up to the audience?

Amidst the keynotes, panels, and conversations, Podcast Movement left us with queries we can’t afford to ignore: Can podcasting stay open and democratic with streaming giants in the scene? What does it mean to be audio-first in a video-dominated world? How can our research tools evolve to capture where people tune in? When will ad spend catch up with the massive global audiences in places like LatAm and the UAE? 

Addressing questions like these can help lead the way forward, into new places of many, many types.