Weekly Roundup – August 26th, 2025

"Yet Mrs. Robbins ultimately chose to stay with her network. Best known for satellite radio, SiriusXM has quietly become a dominant player in podcasting, rivaling Spotify and Amazon’s Wondery — largely because of its impulse to cater to talent.
It now represents half of the top 20 podcasts in the United States, according to Edison Research, a firm that has ranked podcasts since 2019. That is more than any other network.
To get there, SiriusXM has made some lucrative deals, outspending or matching competitors in the frenzied race to persuade increasingly famous podcasters, such as Mrs. Robbins or Alex Cooper of the show “Call Her Daddy,” to sign over their advertising and distribution rights. Headlines about $100 million podcast deals, including the comedy podcast “SmartLess,” raised eyebrows throughout 2024.
And yet, until these contracts end, typically in about three years, it may not be entirely clear whether they were worth their cost — particularly for a publicly held media company under pressure to turn around its losses."

"A season’s worth of prime-time NFL games will be shown on UK free-to-air television for the first time with Channel 5 picking up the rights to one of the league’s early Sunday kick-offs, sources with knowledge of the new multi-year deal have told The Athletic.
The American-owned broadcaster has a history of showing live NFL games overnight in the UK, including the Super Bowl, but from next month will also be able to offer regular-season games at 6pm (1pm ET, 10am PT) on its main channel, now known as 5, with another game on its Freeview channel 5Action in the later 9pm or 9.25pm window.
As well as these new viewing opportunities for UK- and Ireland-based NFL fans, the league’s long-term pay-TV partner in the region, Sky Sports, will continue to show two live games on its bespoke NFL channel on Sunday evenings, in the same 6pm/9pm slots, as well as the overnight games on Tuesday and Friday mornings."

"Google has sought to quell publisher fears over the impact of AI Overviews on their search traffic in the last few weeks, with Liz Reid, vp and head of Google Search, writing an extensive blog post stating that third-party efforts to measure the impact of AI overviews on referral traffic “inaccurately suggest dramatic declines in aggregate traffic.”
But publishers have seen this movie before. New publisher data reinforces the more familiar pattern: search referral traffic is declining year over year.
Digital Content Next (DCN), which counts the New York Times, Condé Nast and Vox among its approximately 40 member companies, checked in with 19 of them between May and June to see what was happening to their Google search referral traffic. The upshot: Google AI Overviews is indeed harming publisher traffic.
Organic search referral traffic from Google is declining broadly, with the majority of DCN member sites — spanning both news and entertainment — experiencing traffic losses from Google search between 1% and 25%. Twelve of the respondent companies were news brands, and seven were non-news."

"For small businesses in places like Prescott, Cottonwood and Flagstaff, radio advertising offers a cost-effective way to reach local customers. Unlike digital advertising, which often targets broad and less specific audiences, local radio stations cater directly to a community’s demographic. This allows businesses to craft messages that resonate with their customer base, ensuring better engagement and return on investment.
Additionally, radio advertising builds familiarity and trust. When local personalities endorse a business, it feels more personal compared to an online ad from a national chain. Small businesses – whether restaurants, retail stores or service providers – benefit from the authenticity and credibility that radio provides.
Community Engagement Through Radio
Local radio stations play a crucial role in supporting community events, fundraisers and public service initiatives. Whether promoting a festival in Prescott, a charity event in the Verde Valley or a new business opening in Cottonwood or Flagstaff, radio ensures these messages reach the right audience."