The Podcast Advertising Market Surpassed $1B in 2021

Podcast Gym

“And all this science I don’t understand

It’s just my job five days a week

A rocket man”

― Elton John // Bernie Taupin

During your podcasting journey, you’re bound to feel a bit lost.

Things have been a little crazy for me recently.

After many close calls, COVID got my family last month.

I’ve caught 6 mice in my house in the last 10 days.

My dad just returned home after a stint in the hospital. (Being a self-appointed patient advocate is exhausting.)

The stock market is correcting.

I foolishly tried running across my retaining wall yesterday in the pouring rain, slipped, and fell 4 feet onto the wet grass below. I tried to gracefully execute a ninja roll, but I looked more like the victim of a ninja who had kicked me off the wall.

My pipeline of podcast interviews went down to zero.

None of this appeared in my social media highlight reel, by the way.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month so be sure to take time for yourself, if you need it.

For me, guitar is my medicine. If you’re in New Jersey this Saturday, come hear my friends and me play at The Heritage of Asian Pacific Islanders (HAPI) Fest NJ. The hula dancers will be fab.

If you fall, literally or figuratively, pick yourself up and hope the neighbors didn’t see you. Lucky for me, karate men bruise on the inside. And mud washes out of jeans easily.

Last week, I only had time to publish a 5-minute solo episode.

Do what you can.

If you cannot. that’s okay too.

Your podcast is valuable. If you want to monetize, it is critical that you create engaging content and drive audience growth. Many experts will tell you that it should be in that order.

Podcast advertising is growing like a rocket defying gravity.

The sixth annual IAB U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue study by PricewaterhouseCoopers is out and the data is impressive.

For the first time ever, the podcast advertising market surpassed $1B in 2021.

• Revenues increased 72% YoY to $1.4B and are forecasted to exceed $2B in 2022 and almost triple by 2024 to over $4B.
• Podcast advertising grew 2X faster in 2021 (+72%) than the total internet ad market (+35%).

Podcast advertisers are not only seeing the benefits of brand-building and driving business outcomes, but they are getting more sophisticated.

In 2019, dynamically placed ads made up less than half of the podcast ad market. That has changed. Last year, 84% of ads were dynamically inserted into podcasts.

Advertisers are using technology to manage campaigns that target listeners based on location, age, and gender. Further, there are better methods for advertisers to track the effectiveness of their ads.

The rapid growth makes sense. If advertisers can better implement advertising on podcasts and measure the impact, they’re inclined to spend more dollars.

For podcasters, this means that we must take advantage of dynamic content. We also need to deeply understand our ideal listeners and audience metrics in order to demonstrate value to advertisers.

(I’ve been looking at Captivate’s dynamic ad features and like what I see.)

* * * * *

It’s funny how the dark can make the light appear brighter. Contrast frequently helps us to see things more clearly.

Success rarely happens in a straight line. Sometimes a fall makes the preparation for launch that much sweeter. (Fortunately for me, I’m just a little sore. Nothing is broken.)

I hope that you’re as excited as me about the growing opportunities in podcast advertising. Let’s figure out how to eat a piece of that pie. Monetization not only validates our efforts but helps with improving production, marketing, and distribution.

It’s a virtuous cycle.

P.S. Please be careful when running in the rain.

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