Trust, AI and the Future of Podcast Advertising | Mike Kadin, RedCircle #683

About this episode

Podcasting has one advantage that much of digital media struggles to maintain: trust. In Episode #683 of the New Media Show, Rob Greenlee talks with Mike Kadin, CEO and co-founder of RedCircle.  What does that trust mean for podcast advertising as AI, video, HLS, YouTube, Spotify, and changing audience behavior reshape the business? Long-form shows create a different relationship between creators and audiences than short-form social content. That relationship has always been one of the reasons host-read podcast advertising can work so well. But what happens when AI can recreate the host’s voice? Mike makes an important distinction. The value of a host-read ad is not simply hearing a familiar voice. It comes from the host’s language, personality, experience, humor, and actual judgment about the product. RedCircle does not use AI-generated versions of creators to perform host-read advertising. Mike believes cloning the host’s voice without the actual human endorsement could undermine the very trust that makes the advertising valuable. Authentic Host Reads Still Matter Rob and Mike talk about the difference between reading advertising copy and genuinely recommending