• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 13, 2024

For years, podcasts have built audiences for a variety of reasons, but advertisers say there is something missing in the automated ad-buying process. 

“It really comes down to getting digital audio podcast inventory into media-planning tools with a nomenclature that buyers understand so they can properly forecast and place campaigns within their goals and KPIs,” said Rockie Thomas, chief officer at Soundstack, an audio-as-a-service company.

Thomas, who loves audio “for all its incredible creators," said the industry needs to focus more on efforts to easily buy media.

There also are other challenges when it comes to participating in typical programmatic channels. For example, supply-path optimization (SPO) and ads.txt adoption that are similar to what connected television (CTV) is experiencing, she said.

Brian Morrissey, the founder of The Rebooting, wrote in a newsletter that “coming off what was billed as the podcast election, I expect we’ll see another round of talk that podcasting has truly arrived.”

He estimates active podcast listeners will grow from 117 million Americans today to 135 million in 2028, and that ad spending will grow from $2.4 billion in 2024 to $3.1 billion in 2028.

Activate Consulting’s data, which Morrissey cites, shows a “market that operates with an extreme power law: Of the 4.2 million podcasts, the top 25 podcasts account for half of listening.”

There is no shortage of podcasts, with video growing as another option for listeners and advertisers. Other data shows that as many as 33% of U.S. podcast listeners opt into video on sites like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple. 

There are an estimated 546 million podcast listeners worldwide.

In 2024, worldwide podcast ad spending is estimated to reach $4.02 billion. By 2027, the number of podcast listeners worldwide is forecast to reach 651.7 million.

Jeffrey Wlodarczak, CEO and internet, media, sports and communications analyst at Pivotal Research Group, published a research note Tuesday highlighting Spotify when it reported “overall very strong” Q3 2024 results and Q4 guidance.

Results were highlighted by better-than-expected net new premium monthly active users of more than 6 million -- compared to the analyst’s firm consensus of more than 5 million -- despite a 7% decline in marketing spend.

Consumers' attitudes toward podcasts are changing. They are viewed as being more trustworthy and authentic, and as having more diverse ad formats with integration into other media such as social media. This creates a more multichannel campaign, more targeting capabilities. 

In addition, live podcasting offers the ability for advertisers to engage in real-time. 

For all these reasons, publishers and platforms are investing in talent as brands plan to increase how much of it is spent.

Kantar estimates 41% of marketers globally plan to increase spending on podcast advertising in 2025. The effectiveness of these podcasts has been called into question.

Kantar notes that in the past few years, the industry has seen the rise of podcaster personalities who command "big bucks" such as Travis and Jason Kelce, who signed a $100 million deal with Amazon for their "New Heights" podcast.

Joe Rogan has a rumored $250 million deal with Spotify. Alexandra Cooper’s "Call Her Daddy" podcast, recently signed to SiriusXM for $125 million, is the podcast most listened to by women in the U.S., which is why U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris likely agreed to the interview before the election.