Podcast Industry Anticipated to Make $1 Billion in Annual Revenue
Podcasts are recently new in the tech scene, only exploding into popularity in the last few years or so. Odds are that everyone either listens to a podcast or knows someone who does.
Great for long commutes, breaking up the monotony of house chores or simply for informational purposes, podcasts have become a fan favorite of many consumers across the U.S.
That growing popularity is echoed in the exceedingly fast growth the industry has seen, with the podcast industry generating $479.1 million in revenue during 2018, according to an Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.
And, as of the latest revenue in for 2019, the podcast industry is set to increase by 53% in just a single year. That same AIB and PwC report notes that by 2021, the podcast industry could well produce over $1 billion.
Many companies are raking in the money, with podcast ads bringing in big bucks.
For example, Spotify has announced a $500 million expenditure on podcast-related acquisitions in 2019. So far, the company has bought content studios Parcast and Gimlet Media as well as podcast creation app Anchor. There are also plans to build a podcast ad business.
In addition to Spotify, many startups are trying to get in on the podcast hype as well, including companies from tech, creator and platform angles.
For example, podcast platforms Luminary and Himalaya both raised $100 million in venture capital. Podcast creators fund PodFund raised $2.3 million. Podcast marketing company Chartable raised $1.5 million.
Podcasters are transitioning to a new type of ads — dynamic ads — which can be changed within recorded content over time, instead of the same ads playing every time forever. Already, dynamic ads account for 48.8% of podcast ads business.
