Marketing 3 min read

New Report Projects Podcast Advertising Revenues to hit $1 Billion by 2021

StockSnap / Pixabay

StockSnap / Pixabay

A recent revenue study conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC (PwC) revealed that podcast advertising is set to produce $1 billion in revenue by 2021. The report, which covers the year 2018, indicated a 53 percent increase in revenue from 2017.

The report allegedly supports what companies like Spotify have been saying in the past months. In fact, the said music streaming company had acquired Gimlet Media and Anchor earlier this year in an apparent move to boost its podcast services.

Daniel Ek, Spotify CEO said in a press release:

“This opportunity starts with the next phase of growth in audio — podcasting. There are endless ways to tell stories that serve to entertain, to educate, to challenge, to inspire, or to bring us together and break down cultural barriers. The format is really evolving and while podcasting is still a relatively small business today, I see incredible growth potential for the space and for Spotify in particular.”

Podcast Advertising

Based on existing trends and market sizing, IAB and PwC projected that podcast advertising revenues would continue to grow by up to 42 percent this year. This would bring the estimated year-end ad revenue total of podcasting to a hefty $679 million.

Podcast Advertising revenue report
Podcast Advertising revenue report / IAB/PwC

Analysts believe that if the trend continues with its upward trajectory, the $1 billion mark for podcast advertising is not impossible to hit in just two years.

In a statement, IAB’s Executive Vice President Anna Bagger said:

“Consumers have put podcasts front-and-center. Podcast storytelling is deeply engaging and provides marketers with a brand-safe environment that enhances the appeal to advertisers.”

To date, there are over 750,000 podcast shows online. These shows are responsible for producing more than 30 million podcast episodes as of June 2019.

A massive portion of these podcast shows is hosted in three major platforms – Google, Apple, and Spotify.

In the United States alone, news, politics, comedy, education, business, and arts and entertainment were ranked as the most popular podcasts.

According to the report, these five categories already generated around 65.7 percent of the total podcast revenue across 14 genres in 2018.

Podcast Advertising revenue by program
Podcast Advertising revenue by program | IAB/PwC

Ads placed on children’s shows saw the most substantial growth last year with its revenue ballooning to 500 percent since 2017.

Further analysis of the data also revealed that the most popular form of advertising in podcast shows were host-read ads followed by pre-produced ads.

At the moment, it’s still unclear whether advertisers will take an interest in other podcast advertising formats. But, there’s definitely more room in the podcast industry to try and create new concepts and content.

Read More: Social Media Killed TV Advertising

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Chelle Fuertes

Chelle is the Product Management Lead at INK. She's an experienced SEO professional as well as UX researcher and designer. She enjoys traveling and spending time anywhere near the sea with her family and friends.

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