Podcast Movement Buys Sounds Profitable // A Bet on B2B Communities + Future of Podcasting
August 22, 2025 by Adam Tung
RockWater Roundup
M&A analysis of the creator economy to make you a better operator and investor.
Today we discuss Podcast Movement’s acquisition of Sounds Profitable, a podcast trade organization. We analyze deal details, strategic rationale, founding story, mergers VS acquisitions, the future of podcasting, and a bet on premium B2B events and communities.
Let’s break it down…
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–TARGET: Sounds Profitable–
Overview
- Trade association and B2B media company educating and empowering the podcasting industry
- Founded in 2020 by Bryan Barletta, other partner is Tom Webster
- 5 associated members on LI
- Based in NY
Company Highlights
- 200+ industry partners and sponsors
- Leading voice for podcast business insights and data, published 20+ reports
- Daily newsletter “The Download” and other weekly research publications – 9,000 active subscribers, 55% open rate
- Weekly podcast “Sounds Profitable” focused on podcasting industry news, ad tech, monetization, research insights, and interviews with sector experts
- Quarterly Podcast Business Leaders Summit for executives
- Strategic partnerships include: Edison Research (producing influential studies like “The Creators”), Nomono (audio solutions for SXSW), Castify (OTT content apps), and Thrumm (music libraries for podcasters)
- Revenue estimate: Based on 200+ est paying members at $500 / month (not accounting for churn), plus industry sponsorships, my guess is that annual gross revenue is somewhere between $1.5 to 3M, though this is complete speculation
Business lines
- Membership model: $500 / month for business members, providing access to research reports, live webinars, consulting, educational programming, events, and 1800+ slack channel
- Sponsorships: Partner sponsorships across events, research, newsletters, and podcasts
Founding Story
- Bryan Barletta founded Sounds Profitable after leaving Megaphone in 2020. Goal of educating, growing, and supporting individuals looking to enter / work in / lead the podcast industry professionally.
- Tom Webster, formerly an SVP at Edison Research, left Edison in 2022 to join Sounds Profitable as a partner. Gave SP an important research capability boost
- Sounds Profitable maintains a strategic partnership with Edison Research, collaborating on key industry research projects such as “The Creators” study profiling podcast creators
- Sounds Profitable’s vision centers around a $500 / month membership that offers egalitarian access to research, webinars, educational programming, events, and 30 minutes of monthly consulting per member
- Positions Sounds Profitable as a vital educational hub and community platform stemming from deep research expertise and industry relationships
Capital Markets History
- Aug’25: Acquired by Podcast Movement
–BUYER: Podcast Movement–
Overview
- World’s largest podcasting conference and events platform
- Founded in 2014 by Dan Franks
- Annual flagship event draws 3,000+ attendees
- HQ’d in Dallas, TX
Company Highlights
- 11+ years as premier podcast industry gathering
- Events in major cities including Dallas, Denver, DC
- Attendees include creators, industry professionals, and service providers
- Flagship summer event, Podcast Movement, attracts nearly 4k+ podcasters and industry professionals from around the world
- Evolutions by Podcast Movement, launched in 2020, draws 2k+ attendees each spring for a segmented experience tailored specifically to creators and professionals
- Weekly newsletters reach 10k+ podcasters with news, insights, and tools to support growth and innovation
- The PodcastMovement.com website serves as a key hub for education, industry coverage, and community connection
Business Lines
- Events: ticket sales and sponsorships for annual Podcast Movement Conference and Evolutions Conference Series
- Marketing & Sponsorships: Industry partnerships and sponsorship opportunities across events, newsletters, and digital media channels
Capital Markets History
- Aug ‘25: Acquired Sounds Profitable
–DEAL DETAILS–
Overview
- Deal announced August 18, 2025
- Seven-figure transaction, no further financial details disclosed
- No public info on consideration mix e.g. cash vs stock
- SP partners Bryan Barletta and Tom Webster will own 50% of combined newco
- PM founder Dan Franks will also maintain equity in combined company, which I assume will be at or around 50%
Strategic Rationale
- Year-Round Engagement…
- Podcast Movement expands beyond annual flagship events by integrating with Sounds Profitable’s year-round educational programs, research, webinars, and community engagement.
- The combined offering will better serve overlapping audience of operators and builders in the audio and marketing industries
- Creates content flywheel; research feeds events, events generate community, community drives recurring revenue
- Expansion in Events, Programming, and Global Reach…
- Expands presence and programming at major international events like Cannes Lions, SXSW, and The Podcast Show London.
- Will bring industry-leading research to more countries, and participate in and sponsor more global events
- Overall…
- Combination will create a strong funnel to recruit, retain, and delight members via a growing and diverse portfolio of products and services
Post-Deal Operations
- Sounds Profitable retains independent brand and mission post-merger
- Bryan Barletta becomes President of the combined Podcast Movement and Sounds Profitable entity
- Tom Webster continues as lead in research and insights
- Dan Franks will focus on the Event Movement business, which continues to provide operational support to Podcast Movement
- Flagship Podcast Movement event will relocate to New York City starting September 2026
- PM Evolutions Event will be combined with podcast industry track at SXSW
- James Cridland of Podnews will become PM’s first editorial director
- Ending sale of virtual tickets, will now make PM content free and widely available as part of mission to educate all in a growing market
- Marshall Williams, founder of Ad Results Media, will remain a board member
–WHAT ELSE I FIND INTERESTING–
- I spoke with Bryan back in 2023 about his vision to build the de facto trade organization for podcasting.
- We also discussed his early strategic thinking to grow his business and enterprise value. Here’s what I specifically wrote to him…
- “You have a membership offering, which is scalable, growing, and has monthly recurring revenue. You have strong content capabilities, which are monetized via sponsorships and contribute to membership offering. You have a strong brand in the growing audio space, where there are tailwinds in customer usage and revenue flows. Further, audio is becoming a key component of all major media and marketing businesses.
- SP has upside. Expansion to int’l markets with localized offerings, premium offerings for high-budget clients, more referral partnerships, more B2B talent partnerships, expanding content to new mediums, etc
- It comes down to what you enjoy most doing, and what your ambitions are. I think smart advice is to continue doing what you love, growing at a steady clip, and focusing on profitability, with some brainstorming of what if“…
- …Looking back 2 years later, my takeaway is that Bryan and the team are executing well. Bryan exudes his mission, to improve the industry of podcasting, in every interaction one has with him. From phone calls, his deal announcement, our email exchange this past week about the deal news, and more. He has a very clear and simple goal; to serve the community that will shepherd podcasting’s future growth. To that point, Bryan noted in our exchange that there are very few people who could acquire SP and maintain both this mission, and the trust that Bryan and Tom have with their loyal members. And he emphasized that this is his focus VS working towards a larger exit opportunity in the new combined company.
- Now, how this combination, and what it means for a future potential liquidity event for the combined company’s shareholders, is uncertain. But it’s noteworthy that SP partners Bryan and Tom maintain 50% ownership of the new combined entity going forward – that’s a strong incentive to keep building! With the podcasting industry’s tailwinds, Bryan and his partners’ laser focus on serving their community, and overall growing market demand for premium B2B events (our own RockWater team is also focused on premium industry events), I believe that Bryan and the combined SP / PM shareholders are well setup to earn and grow equity value meaningfully over the years to come.
- NOTE: As an M&A and strategy advisor for podcast companies, I have much respect and appreciation for what Bryan and his team are doing. While I’m not an SP member, I still benefit from their stewardship of our growing audio community and market, and am excited to get involved in their events and global programming.
- Growing opportunity for premium B2B events + communities within creator economy.
- Premium, exec-focused B2B events and programming are a major opportunity for the creator economy and adjacent industries like podcasting. There’s lots of industry events that cater to broad audiences and various “tracks”, but it feels like there are few options that well cater to founders, executive operators, and investors. This is in contrast to traditional media and advertising, where premium events like Sun Valley and Cannes Lions have a longstanding history, and provide forums for dealmaking and “industry-steering”. Some could say that these events are overly exclusive, but imo they highlight that there’s a lot left to be desired for our creator and digital industries.
- I wrote about this in our deal analysis about Informa’s 2024 acquisition of Vidcon from Paramount. The acquisition of SP by PM highlights a similar playbook, in combining multiple event and community properties under one roof. This creates an opportunity to have complementary media / event brands that can integrate audiences, and cross-sell services and partnerships. Will be curious to see if more mid-market B2B community and events companies, particularly in the creator space, will deploy a similar playbook.
- While not a direct comp here, this deal also makes me think of Whalar’s recent $20M acquisition of the Business of Creativity (our deal analysis). Whalar is a diversified digital marketing and talent business, and BoC is a creative agency providing courses, events, thought leadership, and consulting services
- Specifically for this deal, the combination of Podcast Movement and Sounds Profitable will help create a larger flagship annual podcast industry event in NYC in the fall, and more meaningful partnerships and podcast industry programming tracks with established conferences like Cannes Lion and SXSW. This will drive more attendance, will recruit more advertisers at higher rate cards, and will also help funnel new recurring monthly SP memberships.
- Understanding Deal Dynamics: Merger VS Acquisition?
- Headlines on the Podcast Movement and Sounds Profitable deal often used the term “merger,” but details of trade reports clarify its an acquisition of Sounds Profitable by Podcast Movement. Specifically, SP sellers Bryan and Tom will roll over an undisclosed portion (could be 100% equity rollover, or less if cash was included in deal consideration, but details weren’t disclosed) of their equity to get 50% ownership in the new combined entity, and Barletta will assume a leadership of the combined business.
- These dynamics make this deal an interesting one, where it’s an acquisition, BUT has characteristics that make it feel like a true merger of equals, in that the sellers are actually taking over leadership and will maintain 50% share going forward – of note, we don’t know how governance is structured, and if the board helps be a tie-breaker (likely) if decision-making is split along ownership lines.
- Of note, true “mergers of equals” are rare, requiring specific conditions to be met, including similar size and market value, shared governance, and brand blending. The “merger” language choice is common in industry deals for deal branding and positioning. It portrays collaboration and helps maintain positive optics for employees, customers, and regulators. But, most business combinations that are labeled or marketed as “mergers” in the trades, are actually acquisitions.
- Why most are actually acquisitions:
- One company almost always pays a premium to acquire the other
- The acquiring company’s management team typically takes control
- The acquiring company’s name is usually retained
- Shareholders of the “acquired” company receive compensation (cash, stock, or both) that implies they’re selling
- Why the terminology persists:
- Companies often use “merger” language for PR reasons – it sounds more collaborative and less like a takeover, which can be important for employee morale, customer retention, and regulatory approval.
- The takeaway is that when you see “merger” in headlines, it’s best to look deeper to see which company is actually acquiring control of the other. Understanding this nuance helps clarify the transaction dynamics and the likely path forward for integration and growth.
I’m the founder of RockWater Industries. We do M&A and strategy advisory for creator economy and digital agencies. From buy / sell-side M&A and fundraising, to consumer research and go-to-market planning.
DM me on LinkedIn or email me chris@wearerockwater.com
