Sounder’s contextual category classification model identifies topics of conversation at the segment level of podcast episodes. It follows the IAB Content Taxonomy (3.0).
Classification contextuelle
Sounder determines the IAB categories of your content. First, it uses its proprietary automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine to transcribe podcast episodes into text. It then uses natural language processing (NLP) to break the transcription into segments that relate to specific IAB categories. To do this, it looks at the named entities, topics, tone, and other elements in each segment.
Segments: Sounder assigns one or more IAB categories to each segment.
Episodes: Sounder assigns an IAB category to an episode when it has at least three segments in the category.
Shows: Sounder assigns the IAB categories from all the show’s episodes from the past 90 days.
Example: A show's most recent episode was published on April 15. All episodes published and processed between January 15 and April 14 are included in the show-level score calculation.
Category Tiers
When it assigns a tier 2 or tier 3 category to a segment, episode, or show, it also assigns the category's parent tiers. Example: Sounder assigns "Auto Insurance" to a segment, which is a tier 2 category. Sounder also assigns the "Automotive" category, which is tier 1.
Contextual Category Confidence
Sounder uses the concentration and depth of conversations of identified categories to determine confidence scores. Par exemple, une discussion d’environ 6 à 8 minutes portant sur un seul sujet donne probablement lieu à un score de confiance de 100 % pour la catégorie contextuelle associée. En revanche, une conversation sur le même sujet qui ne dure que quelques minutes ou moins n’aboutira probablement qu’à un score de confiance de 60 % ou moins.
Sounder uses more sophisticated techniques than simple keyword-based classification. Instead it uses contextual signals such as sentiment and tone, so the precise number of keywords does not guarantee confidence score results.
Category Sentiment
Sounder labels each segment and episode’s IAB category with a sentiment: neutral, positive, negative, or mixed.
Sounder does not apply sentiment labels to episodes that were published before May 15, 2026.
Sentiment | Description |
|---|---|
— Neutral | Doesn’t align with either positive or negative sentiment. |
↑ Positive | Expresses a mostly favorable or supportive opinion. |
↓ Negative | Expresses a mostly opposing or adverse opinion. |
↑↓ Mixed | Has an equally positive and negative sentiment. |
/ No sentiment detected | Sounder could not determine a sentiment, or the episode was published before May 15, 2026. |