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 something a creator has used. RedCircle has seen similar shows, with similar audience sizes, run by the same advertiser and using the same talking points, produce very different results. One of the biggest differences can be the quality and believability of the host read. That also puts responsibility on creators to work with products they can credibly talk about. Mike explains that RedCircle will sometimes hear from a creator who tried a sponsor’s product and did not like it. Rather than force an endorsement, the company can take that feedback back to the advertiser and cancel the spot. That kind of process helps protect the relationship between the creator and audience. Using AI to Find Better Brand Matches Mike also talks about a newer RedCircle capability called Show IQ. Over the years of running campaigns, RedCircle has accumulated information on its creators’ interests and brand affinities, as well as historical campaign performance. Show IQ uses that information to help identify creators who may be a natural fit for a particular advertiser. This is an example of AI being used behind the scenes to improve the match rather than replacing the human doing the endorsement. The goal is to put advertisers with creators who can actually speak credibly about their products. Spotify, YouTube and Control of Podcast Monetization The conversation shifts to the grow