The way to thrive in an AI future? Be authentically human.

This week on The Media Roundtable, you have a VIP ticket to SXSW 2026 for the iHeart x Oxford Road Luncheon, with a podcasting powerhouse who consistently sees over the horizon.

Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) chatted with Jason Calacanis (Angel investor & Host, This Week in Startups), to break down the current state of podcasting and what’s next. What do they agree on? AI can’t outperform human connection.

The team takes on: Conversations Over Impressions, Remember the Trough, The George Lucas Alley-Oop, and more. Let’s dig in.

“  In a world of unlimited impressions, what matters? It's that authenticity and aligning yourself with the conversations that matter.”

-Jason Calacanis (Angel investor & Host, This Week in Startups)

Creators may think they have an idea where AI is heading, but now they’re faced with a critical decision: when to lean in and when to run in the opposite direction. With constant changes and new reports of “AI brain fry,” it’s hard to get an accurate picture: does AI help creators or harm them? Is there a world in which there is a happy medium?

This week’s Media Roundtable: Special Edition comes straight from the iHeart x Oxford Road Luncheon at SXSW 2026, "Less Noise, More Life: The Science of Thriving in an Artificial World." Featuring Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) as he hosts podcasting powerhouses Tim Ferriss (entrepreneur & host, The Tim Ferriss Show) and Dr. Laurie Santos (Psychologist, & host, The Happiness Lab) for an existential examination of AI.

The panel breaks down when and how to use AI, and tackles the all-important question, “What the hell is going on?” Join them as they talk: Listener loyalty, screen fatigue, and the real cost of letting AI do your thinking.

“The people who are going to convert the best right now would not consider themselves creators. They do not have extremely large audiences, but they have people who really, really trust them.”

-Tim Ferriss (entrepreneur, host of The Tim Ferriss Show)

Today’s edition of The Influencer is brought to you by– [SKIP]

As you’ve undoubtedly heard, Spotify is testing a “skip ahead” feature that will let some users bypass ads. Will it help or hurt marketers? Find out on this week’s episode of The Media Roundtable.

Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) and Giles Martin (EVP, Strategy, Oxford Road) welcome podcast industry veteran Glenn Rubenstein (CEO & Founder, ADOPTER Media) to give his view on not only Spotify’s button-pushing decision, but also the AMP Accords. Let’s dive in.

“ Spotify is making an editorial decision on podcasters' content to label anything that's promotional as an advertisement. Therefore, they're saying: ‘This is worthy of being skipped. Here's a button.’ And I think that's fundamentally wrong.”

–  Glenn Rubenstein (Founder & CEO, ADOPTER Media)

Independent creators have to find a way to succeed, often without a network to support them and a safety net to fall back on. In fact, 80% of the ORBIT top 15 performing podcasts are indies. But what does it take to win on their own… and is it worth it?

Find out in an all-new Media Roundtable: Special Edition.

Direct from Podcast Movement Evolutions at SXSW, Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) takes the stage with three of the hardest-working, most successful independent podcasters: Hala Taha (CEO & Founder, YAP Media, Host, Young and Profiting) and Brett and Jordy Meiselas (Co-founders, MeidasTouch Network, Hosts,The MeidasTouch Podcast).

The panelists get real about the joys and struggles of podcasting without a net. Join them as they talk: Audience Trust, Loving Crunches, True Partnerships, and more. Let’s dig in.

“ The pro [of being independent] is that you have complete autonomy over your content and everything that happens, whether it's a success or a failure, falls on you. The con is the same exact thing.”

-Brett Meiselas (Co-founder, MeidasTouch Network, Host, The MeidasTouch Podcast)

Creators can be either a long-term asset or a short-term detriment to your campaign. That is why it is so important for brands to focus on finding the right fit, not just the name with the biggest following. To find out how to build the right kind of creator relationships, you need this week’s Media Roundtable.

Straight from this year’s Cannes Festival, Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) joins Bekah Schannuth (Director, Operations, LSKR) to discuss trust, values, and how to handle a crisis. Let’s dive in.

“ If you're trying to build a brand off somebody whose job is to wave their arms, get your attention, and run away… you're not going deep, and there is a direct correlation between the ROI you're gonna see.”

– Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road)

Three brothers have taken podcasting by storm. And this week, they share the secret to turning everything they touch to podcast gold. In our limited series “What’s a Podcast? The Extended Interviews,” we sit down with the creators of the fastest-growing independent media network in the world, the MeidasTouch.

Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road) hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas (Co-founders, MeidasTouch Network) to discuss the tips and tricks the brothers use to build and scale their wildly successful podcast-turned-media-network.

“ Everything we do is malleable. While podcasts feel like they have been around for a long time, it's still such a new industry… You can never get too comfortable. Always be looking at ‘how is this changing? What's next?”

-Brett Meiselas, (Co-founder, MeidasTouch Network)

They’re talking: Growth Hacks, Serving your Audience, Family SWOT Analysis, and more. Let’s dive in.

What happens when a podcasting powerhouse is also an elite marketer?

Find out in a creator spotlight episode of Media Roundtable: Special Edition.

This week, Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) welcomes The Podcast Princess herself, Hala Taha (CEO & Founder, YAP Media, host of Young and Profiting). We’re some of the biggest Hala supporters here at Oxford Road because she’s one of the few creators who cares as much as we do about making the ads work. (Check out her Ad Infinitum episode with our very own Stew Redwine).

Hala has consistently delivered great reads and results for clients for years, and ORBIT has the receipts. Young and Profiting was #4 on our OG Podcast list, and it’s #2 in this month’s Self-Improvement ranking. But hearing how Hala approaches the ads, that performance is not surprising.

Dan and Hala put on a masterclass in creator marketing, talking: The Power of Demonstration, Letting Creators Cook, and Getting in the Weeds. Let’s dig in.

“ It's not about the channel. It's not about audio, YouTube, social; it doesn't matter. What you’re picking is the creator.”

-Hala Taha (CEO & Founder, YAP Media, host of Young and Profiting)

A few months ago, we revealed Oxford Road’s role in creating the Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting, or AMP. It was launched by a top-secret group of podcasting leaders who’ve spent the last year working together on new measurement standards that could help our industry evolve.

This week, we’re finally unveiling the full result of all that hard work.

The AMP task force focused on three big questions: What’s a podcast? What’s an impression? Did the ad work?

If you’re looking for the answers, turn to this week’s Media Roundtable, hosted by Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road). He’s joined by expert guests Giles Martin (EVP, Strategy, Oxford Road) and Bryan Barletta (Partner, Sounds Profitable). Together, they talk through AMP’s findings and discuss the most important question of all: What comes next?

“ This is key to the whole AMP story: Any standard is better than no standard, even if it's not exactly the standard that you want. You want to have something that is clear and consistent.”

-Dan Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road)