Ad Buyers Align on Engaged Views, Bumper x Oxford Road, & More

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Ad buyers draw a line on YouTube's "Engaged Views": At last week's Sounds Profitable Business Summit, ADOPTER Media, Right Side Up, Oxford Road, and YMH Studios committed to counting only YouTube's "Engaged Views" when buying ads on the platform. The move answers YouTube's August decision to count a view after a single frame plays, a change that roughly doubled raw view counts.
• IAB on video plays: At its 2026 Podcast Upfront, the IAB argued podcasting is underbought, noting digital audio takes 16% of media time but only 2% of ad spend even as podcast revenue grew 17.6% to nearly $3 billion in 2025. The IAB also stopped short of backing a single unified standard, pointing instead to existing podcast and digital video definitions.
• Bumper's partnership with Oxford Road: Oxford Road is bringing Bumper's new Bumper Score into its planning and buying, rating shows from 0 to 200 on their ability to deliver ads to verified listeners across audio and YouTube. Bumper co-founder Dan Misener says better data means greater trust, and greater trust leads to more investment.
• NPR wants to sign more independent creators: NPR is looking beyond in-house production to strike more distribution and ad-sales deals with independent creators while letting them keep their IP. It recently teamed with Casey Newton and Kevin Roose to distribute and sell ads against their new AI-focused video podcast "Machine Gods."
• Women athletes are running the creator playbook: A new Digiday report finds pro women athletes using content creation to supplement thin salaries and build brands that outlast their careers, with Snapchat's "Snap the Gap" cohort growing an average of 1,491% and pulling in 16 million story views. The common thread is ownership over how they show up and who they reach.

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