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The Media Roundtable isn’t just another industry podcast; it’s an open lab where the sharpest minds in podcasting, advertising, and media break down the forces shaping the audio landscape—and reconstruct them in real time. 

We created this show in service of the Chief Audio Officer: the marketer responsible for making audio campaigns not just sound good, but drive results. For many brands, audio advertising is a highly effective secret weapon–but it can be difficult to navigate, requiring specialist expertise to untangle its nuances. From brand safety to ad load, from recapping the latest industry news, to redefining what a podcast is in this day and age, we tackle the issues that matter most to a CAO, in the most entertaining way possible. 

You’ll hear from a wide range of voices—past guests include T-Pain, David Spade, Ashley Flowers (Crime Junkie), Ben Shapiro (The Daily Wire), and Ira Glass (This American Life), to name a few—alongside leading brands, publishers, and our own team of experts. If you’re invested in audio, whether you're buying the ads, creating the content, or just curious about the business, Media Roundtable is your ear to the ground with an eye on the future–and it’s time you listen.

Media Roundtable

This week on the Media Roundtable, we’re sitting down with Lex Friedman (not to be confused with Lex Fridman), one of podcasting’s original builders and a leader who’s shaped the business of podcasting since Day 1.

Before launching his own consulting business, Lex played a part in nearly every major chapter of the industry, including Chief Business Development at Midroll, Chief Revenue Officer at ART19, Head of Podcast Partnerships at Amazon, and Head of Podcast Strategy at Wondery. Along the way, he’s helped define how ads get sold, how shows get funded, and how podcasting itself gets defined.

In this episode, Lex opens up on what made podcast ads such a “win-win-win” from the start, why early pitches were simply “talk radio…on demand,” and how a listenership of “completionists” continue to set podcasts apart. He even drops an acoustic guitar analogy to explain why the word podcast isn’t going anywhere, no matter how the platforms try to rebrand it.

"Stop apologizing for podcasting being what it is—because it’s clearly working."

—Lex Friedman

The conversation covers: Ad Load Tipping Points, Completionist Behavior, Consolidation and Mega-Deals, and more.

Let’s go.

Watch the conversation on Youtube: https://youtu.be/HjDmqUiBSQg

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Stop Apologizing": Lex Friedman on Why Podcasting Will Always Evolve and Why That's a Good Thing

Finally, some insights brand builders and performance marketers can agree on.

We gathered CAOs in finance, food, jobs, and boots to share everything they’ve learned as they’ve scaled podcasting to enviable levels–and whether you’re brand or performance, you’ll benefit from their wealth of experience

On The Media Roundtable, we have one of our favorite conversations from the 2025 CAO Summit. Conor Doyle (President, Oxford Road) moderated ”No More Maybes: Scaling Podcast Performance with Precision,” where he gathered some of the sharpest CAOs who have scaled podcasts and agreed to share their secrets. 

Conor sat down with:

• Gladwell Mwangi (Director of Paid Media, Whole Foods)

• Kezia Koo (Former Sr. Director, Global Growth & Performance Marketing, Indeed),

• Megan Smith (Director, Media Strategy, Tecovas), and

• Nick Fairbairn (Vice President, Growth Marketing, Chime)

These audio evangelists candidly shared how they grew podcasts with confidence and their hard-won lessons from the journey.

They’re talking: Measurement Quality, Podcasts Play Nice, Thoughtful Success, and more. Let’s dig in.

“ Every single time we ratchet up the quality of our measurement, it's telling us time and time again, that podcast is efficient, it's driving revenue and bringing customers in.”

– Kezia Koo (Former Sr. Director, Global Growth & Performance Marketing, Indeed)

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Inside the 2025 Podcast Ad Playbook from Leading Brands: Whole Foods, Chime, Indeed, and Tecovas

Want to see more clearly in podcasting? You need to hear the audio experts who’ve returned from the Summit.

The world’s only podcast solely dedicated to audio ads is back! Presenting Ad Infinitum Season 3, Episode 11 - "When the Helmets Come Off: Kraig T. Kitchin at CAO Summit 2025"

Host Stew Redwine (Executive Creative Director, Oxford Road ) welcomes back Kraig T. Kitchin (Senior Strategic Advisor for Oxford Road & Bonafide Audio Legend) to break down their biggest takeaways from an inspiring 2025 Chief Audio Officer Summit.

“[The CAOs] brought their best material and they didn't hold back vulnerabilities of the goods, the bads, and the uglies of what it is they do.”

Kraig T. Kitchin • (Senior Strategic Advisor for 
Oxford Road • & Bonafide Audio Legend) 

Our dynamic duo’s talking: Taking Off Your Helmet, Audio’s Edge, Human in Middle, and more. Let’s dig in.

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Ad Infinitum S3E11 - When the Helmets Come Off: Kraig T. Kitchin at CAO Summit 2025

This week on the Media Roundtable, we’re taking you back to the CAO Summit for a tactical conversation on one of media’s most resilient channels: radio.

Guest moderator and radio legend Kim Komando leads a panel featuring Nick Macco (Legacybox), Mike Janigian (DraftKings), and Rion Swartz (brand-side growth leader, previously at LegalZoom) on why we shouldn’t write the obituary for broadcast radio just yet.

“Radio is a ‘cucaracha’—we keep trying to stamp it out, and it just keeps coming back.”

—Kim Komando

The panel’s playbook for turning “old-school” radio into modern performance media includes Not Overcomplicating Attribution, Fostering Creative Continuity, Thinking Beyond Genre, and more. One thing’s for sure about radio: it’s ALIIIIIIVEEEEEEE!

Let’s get into it.

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“Radio is a Cucaracha”: How Brands are Making the Most of Tried-and-True Reach — From the CAO Summit

This week, the Media Roundtable is giving you an all-access pass to one of the most talked-about sessions from this year’s Chief Audio Officer Summit: Flipping the Script: Feedback From Hosts to Brands.

Our own Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road) sat down with three powerhouse hosts: Ashley Flowers (Crime Junkie), Nick Viall (The Viall Files), and Kim Komando (The Kim Komando Show) to share what they really need from advertisers to create great ads that actually work!

“Brands, I understand you want to be safe and risk-averse... but know your audience. My audience wants to talk about dating, and there's a little bit of raunchiness and just a little bit of honesty... [an unconventional ad read] worked with that audience. It's memorable; it made them laugh. It also connected what the brand was trying to get across.”

 —Nick Viall (The Viall Files)

The panel delivered a playbook of what works—and, crucially, what doesn’t—when engaging top creators. Let's dive in!

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Ashley Flowers, Nick Viall, and Kim Komando Flip the Script: Host Insights from the 2025 CAO Summit

This week on the Media Roundtable, we’re bringing you inside the opening fireside chat from the 2025 Chief Audio Officer Summit, featuring two of the most influential independent voices in media today: Steven Bartlett (Host of Diary of a CEO, Founder of FLIGHTSTORY) and Ben Shapiro (Host of The Ben Shapiro Show, Co-Founder of The Daily Wire).

In conversation with Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road), and with a stunning oceanfront sunset as their backdrop, our guests get into the real trade-offs of staying independent, even and especially in the face of nine-figure offers; the discipline behind their respective growth; and how brands can unlock outsized results when they lean into creator-led partnerships.

“Independence, in this moment, is a good marker for a lot of listeners and audiences of authenticity. People want to feel like they're not just tuning into an institution. They want to feel like they're turning into a person.”

—Ben Shapiro (Host of The Ben Shapiro Show, Co-Founder of The Daily Wire)

The fireside chat covers: Experimenting for Exponential Growth, Striking the Right Ad Load Balance, and Letting Creators Cook. 

Let’s dive in.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steven Bartlett and Ben Shapiro on the Power of Independent Media: CAO Summit 2025 Fireside Chat

This week on the Media Roundtable, we’re taking you inside Podcast Movement 2025, where the industry gathered in Dallas just as breaking news hit the scene: Sounds Profitable has merged with Podcast Movement.

On this episode, host Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road) recaps the event with team members Courtney O’Connor, Julia Palermo, and James Ingrassia—plus a special guest appearance from Bryan Barletta, the founder of Sounds Profitable and newly named President of Podcast Movement. Together, they unpack what the merger means for creators, advertisers, and the future of industry events–and everything else they took away from this year’s Podcast Movement.

Bryan shares how he plans to evolve the conferences, balance creator and advertiser needs, and bring new focus to content and measurement. The team reflects on hot topics and perennial trends from the week: rising podcast consumption, the video surge, programmatic momentum, and frequency as the new buzzword. These topics are not going away–so get the scoop from those with boots on the ground.

““The [podcasting] space changes every two years. It feels like a brand new industry.”

—Bryan Barletta, founder of Sounds Profitable and President of Podcast Movement

The recap covers: the Sounds Profitable + Podcast Movement deal, why the flagship event is moving to New York, for good; what advertisers should expect next year; and our team’s takes on the evolving conversations on video, attribution, and programmatic.

Let’s get into it.

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Podcast Movement 2025 and Beyond: Bryan Barletta Tells Our Team What Comes Next

This week on the Media Roundtable, we’re bringing you the inside story from the 2025 Chief Audio Officer Summit, where the people shaping the future of podcasting and audio advertising gathered to ask one big question: Where do we go from here?

This episode is a recording of Dan Granger’s keynote presentation of Oxford Road’s annual State of Audio Advertising report, which gave attendees the answer.

The free report is now available too–download it now for the full experience at oxfordroad.com/soaa25.

In his address, Dan touches the industry’s most pressing topics—attribution, fragmentation, and the rise of video—and calls for marketers to mobilize around standards that unlock growth. He introduces new data from Oxford Road’s “What Brands Want” survey, challenges assumptions about channel spend versus consumption, and gives Chief Audio Officers in attendance a road map for the year ahead.

“When we define the medium, we can align on metrics. And when we align on metrics, we can unlock scale.”

—Dan Granger, CEO of Oxford Road

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The State of Audio Advertising 2025: Finding Our Frequency at the CAO Summit

This week on the Media Roundtable, we’re giving you a front-row seat to the 2025 Chief Audio Officer Summit for a case study breakthrough that could change the way podcast advertisers think about YouTube—or at least how they measure it–forever.

Led by our own Giles Martin (EVP, Strategy & Insights, Oxford Road), this session marks an industry first: using passive panel data to measure the true impact of podcast simulcasts on YouTube. The pilot study, developed in partnership with Keith Friedenberg of Media IDentity Graph (MIDG), measures what marketers have only guessed at—and proves YouTube podcast ads can deliver statistically significant lift.

This episode is a companion to our groundbreaking white paper, Inside the Walled Garden: Breaking New Ground on YouTube Podcast Measurement, available NOW for free download: https://oxfordroad.com/simulcast.

The team is talking: Cracking the Simulcast Code, What YouTube Viewers Really Look Like, The Lift That Bucks the Trend, and more.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time YouTube podcast impressions have been specifically measured—and we’ve been able to put a number on what they contribute to a client’s business."

—Giles Martin

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Our Industry-First Breakthrough on YouTube Podcast Attribution (CAO Summit Exclusive)

This week’s archival pull from What’s a Podcast? The Extended Interviews features one of the voices that helped build the podcast industry as we know it: Guy Raz.

Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road) sits down with the creator of How I Built This to talk about how we built this—i.e. how podcasting went from media exile to mainstream power player—and what’s worth protecting as the lines between audio, video, and algorithm blur.

“[As a listener], you’re giving me your time—and your time is more valuable than money.”

—Guy Raz

The team is talking: The Podcast Intimacy Advantage, Video as an Add-On, Goodbye to Gatekeepers, and more. 

Let’s dive in.

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How We Built This: Guy Raz on Intimacy, Independence, and What's Worth Preserving in Podcasting

Building on last week’s episode with Carl Cameron from Fox News, part two offers a behind-the-scenes look at journalism’s devolution on Media Roundtable, with Frank Sesno, the Emmy Award-Winning, CNN Washington Bureau Chief, and Director at George Washington University. Frank IS journalistic integrity in human form, and bemoans the current state of media, declaring, “It’s a Mess.” but suggests questions are the answer and offers a vision of possibility for values-driven brands.

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The State of the Fourth Estate is a Mess; Questions are The Answer

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