On Air Fest, the Brooklyn-based pageant that has change into the main gathering place for the podcast trade, is increasing right into a year-round enterprise below the identify On Air Presents, cofounder and director Scott Newman informed ADWEEK.
The rebrand folds in its inventive company Work x Work, relaunches the Los Angeles version of the pageant in November, and brings The Ambies—the trade’s most outstanding awards present—below its banner for the primary time.
The shift comes amid a interval of speedy transformation for podcasting, which has seen distribution swell alongside an increase in video podcasting. In 2024, the trade skilled 26.4% year-over-year development, with the U.S. market reaching $2.43 billion, in response to the Interactive Promoting Bureau.
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Whereas that continues to be small relative to the $152 billion spent on digital video and social, On Air sees alternative in serving to podcasters and entrepreneurs lengthen past audio into video, occasions, and creator collaborations.
“Podcasting has shifted from audio storytelling to omnichannel storytelling,” Newman mentioned. “Our enlargement is a mirrored image of the methods wherein the trade itself is altering.”
From pageant to full-service
On Air Presents will now function with two interconnected companies: a pageant division, producing occasions in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and past; and On Air Studio, its newly rebranded inventive company.
Previously referred to as Work x Work, the studio has dealt with rebrands and campaigns for purchasers together with Spotify, Sonos, and The New York Occasions. The plan is to broaden its remit from white-label campaigns into collaborations with manufacturers that wish to activate contained in the On Air ecosystem.
On Air has seen regular monetary good points and generates a seven-figure income, in response to Newman. The enterprise grew virtually 30% year-over-year in 2025 and has a core workers of 10, with a further 20 contributors together with contractors.
Sponsorship of its flagship Brooklyn pageant has risen between 20% and 40% annually for the previous three years, Newman mentioned, though the corporate declined to share extra particular financials.
The viewers aspect has grown as nicely. Its February occasion in Brooklyn this 12 months drew 2,000 attendees—up 40% from the prior 12 months—and hosted greater than 200 performers and audio system.
Podcasts taped on the occasion reached greater than 10 million listeners and viewers, whereas associated social content material drove 500 million impressions, in response to the corporate.
Including and increasing
The Ambies, the annual awards hosted by The Podcast Academy, will be part of On Air Fest in New York starting in 2026.
Beforehand staged as a part of Podcast Motion, the Ambies deliver an added layer of trade recognition to the pageant.
Bryan Barletta, founding father of podcast company Sounds Worthwhile, mentioned the shift underscores On Air’s distinctive standing. Sounds Worthwhile merged with Podcast Motion final month.
“The Ambies are the one main unbiased podcast award that has a reside occasion,” Barletta mentioned. “Combining them with On Air provides folks extra motive to interact with the pageant. There’s nothing in experiential like what On Air has accomplished.”
The corporate will even deliver again On Air LA in November after a one-year hiatus. The occasion will characteristic creator showcases, reside tapings, and an invite-only Podcast Enterprise Summit, co-hosted with Bloomberg.
“From the earliest days, On Air was an experiment in championing boundary-pushing creatives,” Newman mentioned. “Now that the trade has caught up, we’re broadening our scope and specializing in breaking the following inventive boundaries.”
