As the podcast industry debates the definition of a podcast and wades through unclear ad measurement tools, a secret industrywide taskforce has been meeting to combat the problem.
Since July 2025, a group of 12 podcasting leaders, including representatives from Spotify, SiriusXM and YouTube, have been discussing a possible shared podcast definition and sharing information on ad measurement, which varies by platform and by medium. The group was organized by podcast advertising agency Oxford Road, which sits on the taskforce alongside UTA agents, podcasting platform Libsyn, metrics platform Podscribe, podcast growth platform FlightStory and top podcasting advertisers DraftKings and BetterHelp.
The definition of what a podcast is has been thrown into question by the rise of video podcasts, which are increasingly appearing and competing alongside television shows. The issue in not having a standard definition is the fact that it then causes friction in the ad-buying process, as departments debate whether it falls under video, audio, creators or something else.
“What ends up happening is when advertisers are deciding whose budget this is to come out of, there’s oftentimes a tug of war, or it gets orphaned, because nobody knows,” said Oxford Road CEO Dan Granger.
On the ad measurement front, advertisers could previously use pixels, or a URL embedded in the podcast’s RSS feed, to identify listeners and see whether they made a purchase. But as YouTube became a dominant platform in podcasting and as some platforms moved away from pixels, advertisers found they could not standardize how they measure ads across the major podcasting platforms of Apple, Spotify and YouTube.
According to a prior survey from Oxford Road, 76 percent of brands said they would increase their podcast spend if YouTube attribution were standardized with audio, which could result in an additional $1 billion in ad spend.
The goal of the task force is to standardize exposure metrics, develop cross-platform performance measurement and agree on a universal podcast definition.
The plan is to share these proposals as well as an implementation guide at Oxford Road’s July advertising summit. Granger said the group is “in the process of landing solutions.” The chosen definition and metrics are to be determined by a vote of members, who’ve met at least monthly since the group’s inception. But because there were competing interests at play within the task force, as well as proprietary information and advantages companies may want to retain, Granger noted that members who disagree are also allowed to attach a dissent.
Proposing standardized metrics and a definition also doesn’t mean it will automatically be adopted across the industry or even by every company in the taskforce, but Granger said it views it as a first step. The plan is also to involve industrywide agencies like the IAB, which has also been studying the issue, and others going forward.
“Our hope is that through our advocacy and the conversations we’ve had, and the conversations we’ll continue to have, that we will see things kind of codified, but I think the reality is nobody’s legislating for this broadly right now, anyway, and the best thing that we can do is explain to people that there’s a commercial interest that they all have in trying to align as best they can,” Granger said.
Some task members also note that they have also been long aware of the issue and are taking it seriously.
“We’ve been hard at work with clients, measurement partners, DSPs, and task forces like AMP and IAB to ensure marketers can measure audio more accurately across the full funnel and show its true value. As longtime champions of an open podcast ecosystem, we are excited to help move the industry forward with partners and platforms where our creators, advertisers, and listeners are showing up,” said Keri Degroote, senior vice president of research and campaign effectiveness, SiriusXM Media.
