Podcast advertising spending in the US will exceed $1 billion by 2021

Podcasts are like Youtube, only audio. Such regular programs, series or blogs that can be downloaded or listened to online.

Podcasts come in a variety of varieties. These could be history or physics lessons, audio books, entertainment shows, discussions of games and gadgets, analyzes of life situations, car reviews, stand-up comedies, audio series and crime investigations.

Short, long, conversational, narrative, calm, musical and active. Everyone will find a podcast topic and format to their liking.

• In 2018, US companies' spending on podcast advertising increased by 34% to $479 million.
• In 2019 - by 42%.
• By 2021, spending in this segment will exceed $1 billion.

This is stated in a new eMarketer forecast based on data from IAB and PwC.

According to eMarketer, 76.4 million Americans will listen to podcasts this year—a quarter of the country's population.

“Podcasts are one of the fastest growing, if not the fastest growing category within digital audio. Performance marketers and brands have already recognized this trend and users' need to be entertained and engaged, and are increasingly investing in this channel,” eMarketer notes. 

Other report data:

• More than 70% of podcast advertising is purchased by brands that operate in the D2C segment;
• The most popular format is announcements read by the podcast host. In 2018, they accounted for 63.3% of all ads in this segment;
• Pre-prepared advertisements accounted for 35%;
• 65.7% of podcast advertising revenue in 2018 came from news/political/current events, humor, business, education, arts and entertainment.

The term “podcasting” was coined by British journalist Ben Hammersley. This happened in 2004 when he combined the words broadcasting and iPod. The author proposed to call this a new technological trend for delivering audio files to Apple players. As a result, podcasting was the name for a whole area of content production and distribution, and the word “podcast” was used to describe a new format.

Podcasts are audio programs that resemble classic radio programs. Most often these are conversations or monologues on a variety of topics: technology, cinema, fashion, sports, science, cars, humor, and so on.

The main difference from radio programs is that podcasts are distributed over the Internet. The author does not need either a radio station or an expensive studio. It is enough to record with more or less normal microphones and send new episodes to listeners through special online services.

Therefore, podcasts are created not only by professional speakers and journalists, but also by ordinary people. Any person who knows how to interest the audience can become a successful presenter. 

Another important feature of podcasts is their on-demand availability. On the radio, you listen to what is currently on the air. And in the case of podcasts, the user receives recordings. He can select any episode and pause playback.