Marketers Will Spend $1 Billion on Podcast Advertising by 2021 [REPORT] via @MattGSouthern

New figures show that marketers spent $479 million on podcasts ads last year, and are projected to spend over $1 billion by 2021.

These figures are from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and PwC, and reported on by [REPORT].

In an analysis of the US podcast advertising industry, it was found that self-reported podcast advertising revenues grew 34% in 2018. It’s predicted that revenue will grow 42% this year.

Lauren Fisher, the principal analyst at eMarketer, speaks on the growth of podcasts and the value they provide to listeners:

“Podcasts are one of the fastest-growing, if not the fastest-growing category within digital audio.

Performance marketers and brands are recognizing the value in reaching consumers who aren’t just tuning in to tune out—they’re tuning in to actively be entertained or engage their minds. And that’s a mindset advertisers increasingly want to be a part of.”

The report from eMarketer includes additional data on the current state of podcasts.

A (Relatively) Small But Passionate Audience

It’s projected that 76.4 million people, or a quarter of the US population, will listen to a podcast this year.

While podcast listeners still represent a minority of the population, surveys have found that most are listening to several podcasts a week.

“In a March 2019 survey by Edison Research and digital audio technology and advertising company Triton Digital, a fifth (21%) of podcast listeners said they listened to four to five podcasts a week, and even more (31%) said they listened to six or more podcasts a week.”

Other Statistics

Here are some additional data included in the report:

• Over 70% of podcast ads are bought by brands in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) market.
• Ads read by the podcast host are most preferred, making up 63.3% of ads in 2018.
• Pre-produced ads made up 35% of last year’s podcast ads
• Most (65.7%) podcast ad revenue in 2018 went to news/politics/current events, comedy, business, education, and arts & entertainment podcasts.

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