Audioboom Just Posted Its Best Quarter Ever. Here's What's Driving It.

190 million. That's how many downloads and video views Audioboom averaged every month in the third quarter of 2026.

That's not just a good number. It's a record. And it's 47% higher than the same quarter last year.

I've watched podcasting grow from a niche hobby for insomniacs and tech nerds into a legitimate media business. Numbers like this are why. Someone, somewhere, figured out how to make the math work. Let's look at how.

The Numbers Behind the Headline

For the quarter ending September 30, 2026, Audioboom pulled in US$23.8 million in revenue. That's up 17% from US$20.3 million a year earlier.

But here's the part that caught my attention. Gross profit jumped 30%, to US$5.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA climbed 89%, landing at US$2.2 million.

Think about that for a second. Revenue grew by 17%. Profit grew nearly twice as fast. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens when a company gets smarter about the deals it signs and the content it pushes.

Audioboom's gross margin moved from 21% to 23% year-over-year. The adjusted EBITDA margin went from 6% to 9%. Small-sounding shifts, but in a business built on thin margins and massive scale, that's real progress.

Where the Growth Is Actually Coming From

CEO Stuart Last pointed to two things: video podcasts and new partnerships signed throughout 2026.

Video is the piece I find most interesting. Podcasting started as something you listened to on a commute, eyes on the road, ears on the story. Now people want to watch it too. They want to see the reaction, the eye roll, the laugh. Audioboom leaned into that shift, and it's paying off.

The company also landed new content deals this quarter with the Pionaire Network and Brand Safe, while renewing contracts with existing shows like The Broski Report and Let's Not Meet. Renewals matter as much as new signings. If your top shows are willing to re-up, that tells you something about how the relationship is working.

Showcase, Audioboom's advertising marketplace, brought in US$9.7 million for the quarter, up 20% from last year. Last mentioned political ad spending giving Showcase a boost. Makes sense. Election years pump money into every ad channel they can find, and podcasting is no longer too small to notice.

What Last Is Saying About Growth

Last framed it simply: revenue grew 17%, but gross profit grew almost twice that, at 30%. He credited better revenue shares with podcasters and a bigger push toward higher-margin advertising products.

That's the real story here, isn't it? It's not just that more people are listening and watching. It's that Audioboom figured out how to keep more of the money flowing through the system.

The company also confirmed access to an additional US$10 million in capital through a debt facility, specifically earmarked for acquisitions. Audioboom finished the quarter with US$6.7 million in cash, plus overdraft and revolving credit options on top of that.

Last said the plan is three to four acquisitions over the medium term. That's not a vague ambition. That's a number with a timeline attached.

Why Any of This Should Matter to You

Maybe you're not an Audioboom shareholder. Maybe you've never even heard of Showcase. Fine. Here's why it's still worth paying attention.

Podcasting is proving, quarter after quarter, that it's not a fad. It's becoming a real media category with real money, real contracts, and real acquisition strategies behind it. That matters if you're a podcaster trying to figure out where to place your show. It matters if you're an advertiser deciding where your next dollar goes. And it matters if you just like good stories and want the format to stick around.

Audioboom is now projecting full-year adjusted EBITDA of at least US$7.7 million for 2026. If that holds, it'll be another record.

I've learned that growth like this rarely comes from one big idea. It comes from dozens of small adjustments, stacked quarter after quarter. Better deals. Better content. A new format nobody fully trusted yet.

What's the next format nobody trusts yet? Worth keeping an eye out.

Source: PodcastingToday

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