The IAB's annual Podcast Upfront featured discussions on new show launches, ad targeting and measurement improvements, and audience expansion beyond audio platforms. Newcomers included Better Collective, The Daily Wire, and Good Karma Brands.
The IAB's U.S. podcast advertising revenue report showed a slowdown in growth, with a 5% increase in 2023 to $1.9 billion, compared to 26% in 2022. However, podcasting is projected to return to double-digit growth (12%) with revenues of over $2B this year, and nearly $2.6 billion by 2026. Comedy's revenue share grew by four points in the past two years, becoming one of the most popular podcast genres.
iHeartMedia and Acast reported significant growth in their podcast revenues, with iHeartMedia's podcast revenue growing 18% year over year to $91 million, and Acast's total revenue growing 25% in Q1 2024 year over year, primarily driven by the North American market.
Podcast execs discussed reaching audiences beyond audio platforms, with social media and short form video platforms playing a significant role. Licensing podcast IP to create TV franchises was also discussed, with Wondery and ESPN having shows in production.
New measurement and ad buying tools were announced, with a focus on attention metrics. NPR, SiriusXM, and Westwood One are launch partners for a product that can analyze ad placements in a publisher’s podcast catalog to give a “media quality” score. Wondery announced that ad spend on the podcast network can now count towards buyers’ Amazon spend.
Acast highlighted the issue of advertisers mainly buying ads in the top podcast shows, with most dollars flowing to the biggest shows. However, this trend is changing, with 2023 spend among the 10 biggest podcast advertisers growing 47%.
New podcast shows are set to launch this summer, including a new weekly podcast from SiriusXM, co-hosted by Woody Harrelson and Ted Danson, a new weekly Comedy Central podcast hosted by Jon Stewart, and a show from ESPN and Good Karma Brands, narrated by David Duchovny.
