Optimizing Podcasts for AI Search, Soros Fund Invests in MeidasTouch, & More

Today in the business of podcasting:

• Soros Fund Management is leading an investment round in MeidasTouch Network, the progressive media company behind The MeidasTouch Podcast. The move follows prior Soros investments in podcast-related companies including Audacy and Crooked Media.
• Marketing agency Right Side Up has published a newsletter revisiting its generative engine optimization (GEO) framework, outlining how brands can improve their visibility in AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT and Google. The framework emphasizes content structure, technical foundations, and third-party brand mentions across the web.
• Independent Australian podcast network Mashed Pumpkin Productions saw its show What I Survived reach number 31 on the overall U.S. Apple Podcasts chart, number one in Documentary Podcasts, and number four in Society and Culture within 47 days of launch. Host Jack Laurence credits an Apple Podcasts editorial feature on the platform's U.S. homepage for driving over 440,000 cumulative downloads.
• An anonymous podcast producer who worked on multiple hit narrative shows during the podcast boom recounts being laid off from two major companies as narrative podcast opportunities contracted around 2023. Published in The Hollywood Reporter, the piece examines the high cost of narrative podcast production and the industry's shift toward celebrity and influencer-hosted formats.

To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.