Political Radio Spend Jumps Before Midterms, How TikTok Boxing Impacts Categories & More

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Political ad spending on radio has jumped 22% in the past month to $124 million, and with AdImpact projecting $6.1 billion in total 2026 political advertising, the post-Labor Day rush is a reminder of how much election money still flows to audio heading into the fall.
• A new IAB white paper argues radio's attribution gap with digital is closing fast, crediting pixel-based attribution, dynamic ad insertion, and identity resolution with giving audio the kind of digital-like precision advertisers expect.
• Steven Goldstein breaks down where podcasting actually fits at Spotify, noting podcast ads make up roughly 4% of Spotify's revenue while subscriptions drive about 89%, so the platform will keep prioritizing listeners over publishers.
• Kirby Grines uses TikTok streaming a live championship boxing match to argue that traditional media categories are collapsing, as social, streaming, creator, gaming, and TV now all compete for the same finite attention that podcasting fights for too.

To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.