Podmastery: podcasting insights and advice for indie creators

54.8% of podcast listeners say shows already carry too many ads. 8.6% say they’d put up with a few more to keep their favourite shows free. That’s roughly one in 12, and honestly, I’d quite like to check he’s okay.
Same week, Joe Rogan re-signs with Spotify (Podscribe reckons his recent episodes carried 15 ads), and audio fiction network Fable and Folly says it’s closing because podcast advertising changed under it. Bit of a week for ads.
And if you’re thinking “but Neal, I don’t run any ads”… I know. This is still your problem. Your listener’s patience for being sold to doesn’t belong to each show. It’s one tank, the big shows have been draining it all evening, and by the time they press play on yours, your rate and review ask sounds exactly like a mattress advert. The people who walk first aren’t the casuals, either. It’s Mary. Your best listener.
I also owe you an asterisk on something I said recently about empty sponsor slots, and Spotify’s relaunched Memberships has accidentally pointed at the one asset nobody can skip, and nobody can take 10% of. The one thing to change on your next episode is at 08:22.
Chapters
00:00 Listeners have filed a complaint
00:44 54.8% say too many ads
01:34 Rogan’s 15 ads and a network closing
02:19 But I don’t run ads
04:37 Mary skips you
05:47 The asterisk
06:53 Beyond the pre-roll
07:30 The tenant put the rent up
08:22 Your one action this week
09:45 The small print
Links
The Podcast Study 2026 on ad load: podnews.net/press-release/podcast-ad-load-2
Beyond the Preroll, the follow-up: podnews.net/press-release/new-revenue-opportunities
Fable and Folly to close: podnews.net/update/fable-and-folly-closes
Spotify Memberships: podnews.net/update/spotify-memberships
The landlord and tenants episode: podmastery.co/episodes/opinion-podcasters-youre-the-landlord-the-platforms-are-just-tenants
When it’s bigger than one episode: podmastery.co/need-podcasting-help
Free 7-day podcast makeover email course: podmastery.co
Listener survey (free download as a thank-you): podmastery.co/listener-survey
Got your own opinion on this? I’d love to hear it: podmastery.co/get-in-touch

My script said “leave”. My mouth said “ditch out”. Nobody listening ever knew, and that’s exactly why your script is the problem, not your voice.
If you sound like you’re reading when you record, someone has probably told you it’s your voice. Smile more. Slow down. Warm it up. It’s very rarely your voice. It’s the page.
In this episode I play you the line I couldn’t get through last time, take Dennis (of imaginary biscuit tin fame) through the wrong fixes, and tell you what happened when I tried to say the same passage twice, word for word, with 30-odd years of practice and the script right in front of me. I couldn’t do it.
Most scripts are written to be looked at. Long sentences, the important bit buried mid-clause, words nobody says out loud. Your eyes can go back over a sentence. Your listeners’ ears can’t. Your mouth knows that, so it argues with the page the whole way through, and that argument is what people hear.
The fix takes one voice memo and a bit of humility. It’s at 07:57 if you want to skip straight to it.
Chapters
00:00 The line I couldn’t read
01:05 Dennis has a lovely voice
02:40 Scripts are written for eyes
04:30 One job: say it twice
06:22 Why good writers sound worse
07:57 The fix: let your mouth rewrite the page
Links
Ep 98, the quality floor episode: https://podmastery.co/episodes/heres-what-definitely-wont-make-your-podcast-sound-better/
When it’s bigger than how you sound reading: podmastery.co/need-podcasting-help
Free 7-day podcast makeover email course: podmastery.co
Listener survey (free download as a thank-you): podmastery.co/listener-survey

I recorded this one on a USB mic at a hotel desk, next to a kettle and some UHT milk I’m going to regret. If you can’t hear much difference, that’s the whole episode.
There’s a quality floor in podcasting. Below it, people leave. Above it, something odd happens: nobody notices anything at all. Nobody has ever finished an episode, turned to their partner and said “lovely compression on that one.”
Most of us got over that floor years ago, thanks to Descript’s Studio Sound, Adobe’s free Enhance Speech button and Auphonic. Nobody told you. So we keep buying things our listeners can’t hear.
In this episode:
The same hotel-room recording played twice, raw and cleaned up (try it in one earbud)
Why I stopped swearing by iZotope RX 11
Dennis, his vintage biscuit tin podcast, and the gear spiral that took the paint off his wall
The £300 metal box still sitting in my loft
Why February me was only half right about one-click audio tools
The wardrobe test: a free check to do before you buy anything else

Chapters:
00:00 The same recording, played twice
02:24 The quality floor (and when you got over it)
05:23 Dennis, the biscuit tins and my £300 box in the loft
07:39 February me was half right
10:31 What actually makes a difference
11:28 Your one thing: the wardrobe test
Links:
The Podmastery community founding-members waitlist: podmastery.co/podcasting-community
Got a problem that’s bigger than your sound? podmastery.co/need-podcasting-help
Auphonic (free for 2 hours a month): auphonic.com
The February episode I mention, When Tools Make Bad Audio Sound ‘Good’, Who Loses?: https://podmastery.co/episodes/when-tools-make-bad-audio-sound-good-who-loses/
Descript (affiliate link: you get a bargain, I get a kickback, that’s how this works):

There's a moment about nineteen minutes into a lot of podcast episodes where you can hear the host has checked out.
They made their point at minute six. It was quite good. But there were eleven minutes of slot left, so they made it again, slightly differently, this time with a story about their brother-in-law's conservatory.
This one's about the clock. The one radio had, the one podcasting got rid of, and the brand new one we all built ourselves about five minutes later. It's short on purpose. You'll understand why.
In this episode:
— The radio news jingle, and the best podcast editor I ever had
— How we escaped the clock and built a new one immediately
— The dinner party and the single Twix
— Gareth (made up, but you've heard his show), his caravans, and 28 minutes of car park
— The question that'll make you wince. It made me wince. My last one was 26 minutes.
— The Post-it test
Six minutes of me, plus a podcast from one of our Podmastery Community members — which doesn't count, because it's theirs and they can make it as long as they like.
Want in on the Podmastery Community?
Doors open in October. Get on the waiting list at podmastery.co/podcasting-community
Stuck on something specific?
Come and get your next podcasting challenge solved one-to-one with me at podmastery.co
Podmastery: Podcasting Insights is my podcast for people who've actually had a go at this and are a bit sick of being told they're doing it wrong by people who've never properly done it at all. I'm Neal Veglio, the Podmaster.

I was minding my own business, about ten minutes into a podcast I listen to every week, when the host said my name out loud and told his audience to go and listen to my show.
Nobody asked him to. There was no deal, no swap, no "I'll do yours if you do mine."
Which is incredible, given that, on paper, the man is my competition.
This episode is about the one group of listeners the ideal listener exercise specifically tells you to ignore — and why they're the only people in your audience who arrive with an audience of their own.
There's a bit in here I don't soften, and it's aimed squarely at me as much as at you.
In this episode:
— The three approved British responses to being complimented in public
— Why a man with 1,000 episodes and a Hall of Fame induction owes you nothing, and said it anyway
— The Saturday morning cheese market, and why Trevor sends people to Maureen
— Same counter, different cheese: the reason "but they might not come back" is the wrong worry
— Bev, the Martins, and two allotment podcasts that have never spoken
— Why the promo swap is a hostage exchange, and what to do instead
— The column that isn't on anybody's connection spreadsheet

Mentioned in this episode
Dave Jackson — Attention vs. Connection, School of Podcasting (14 September 2026): https://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/connection-attention
School of Podcasting: https://www.schoolofpodcasting.com
Ask the Podcast Coach — Dave Jackson and Jim Collison, Saturday mornings: https://www.askthepodcastcoach.com
Podnews Weekly Review — James Cridland and Sam Sethi, every Friday: https://weekly.podnews.net
In & Around Podcasting — Rob Walch and Elsie Escobar (the "Rob and Elsie" I apologise to about seven minutes in): https://podnews.net/podcast/ic1o5
Building The Brand with James Burtt — two Ts, which I did not manage on air: https://podnews.net/podcast/i11l3c
David Hooper's Big Podcast: https://www.bigpodcast.com
Mark at Podcast Branding: https://podcastbranding.co
Switchy — Dave Jackson's affiliate link, not ours: https://www.supportthisshow.com/switchy
That's Dave's affiliate link, not mine. If you buy through it he gets the commission, which is entirely the point — it's the fastest thank-you I could think of. I've had it about five minutes, so treat this as a thing I bought, not a thing I'm recommending.
Want in on the Podmastery Community? The waiting list is open — come and be in a room with other indie podcasters being genuinely useful to each other: podmastery.co/podcasting-community
Stuck on something specific? Come and get your next podcasting challenge solved one-to-one with me at podmastery.co
Podmastery: Podcasting Insights is my podcast for people who've actually had a go at this and are a bit sick of being told they're doing it wrong by people who've never properly done it at all. I'm Neal Veglio, THE Podmaster. LOLZ