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Acast’s Sales Growth, Podcast Listener Consumer Verticals, AdWeek’s Podcast Awards, & More

Acast’s Sales Growth, Podcast Listener Consumer Verticals, AdWeek’s Podcast Awards, & More

November 7, 2023

Today in the Business of Podcasting

What types of podcast listeners are which types of consumers? By Brad Hill

New research from Signal Hill Insights and Triton Digital, identifies four types of listener: heavy listeners who listen to more than five hours a week, sports podcast listeners, music podcast listeners, and those new to podcasting. The data points present how different audiences are attuned to different consumer verticals. Compared to average podcast listeners, heavy listeners are 63% more likely to visit a quick service restaurant on a daily basis, and 31% more likely to see a movie in theaters at least once a month. New listeners are 15% more likely to shop online “a lot more than in person.” [Source]


Acast’s US bet pays off with 55% net sales growth in North America by Reem Makari

Acast’s latest interim report shows the company has increased its net sales by 32% year over year, which CEO Ross Adams largely attributes to positive growth in North America. The region has undergone a 55% y-o-y net sales increase, double the growth in Europe and ‘other markets.’ In addition to new podcasts, acquisitions, and product launches, Acast also reports operating loss has decreased 57% year-over-year. [Source]


 Consumer attention and ad spend are mismatched. Where does that leave advertisers? By Sara Lebow

Attention is a precious commodity. According to Moat, average page dwell time has decreased 6.6 minutes since Q2 2022. The number of apps consumers use is also decreasing, according to Insider data from early October. As ad spend increases year over year, the more competition is created for a consumer’s time. With that in mind, it’s worth noting research (including Sounds Profitable’s study The Medium Moves the Message) shows podcasts are particularly effective at capturing an audience’s attention. [Source]


The Top 50 Podcasts in the U.S. Q3 2023 from Edison Podcast Metrics

A new quarter, a new Top 50 podcasts from Edison Research. This edition is built from surveys of 5,409 weekly podcast listeners aged 13 and up. Standup comic Theo Von’s new podcast This Past Weekend with Theo Von debuted last quarter and snagged 5th place. SmartLess has climbed four places from last quarter back up to 6th place. And Wondery’s Morbid reached 8th place, up from 12th in Q2. [Source]


Brands Still Test Interactive Voice Ads Years After Launch by Stephen Lepitak

A reflection on history of the interactive audio ad from its inception during the early days of smart speakers. While the field has been slow to start as it’s largely reliant on wide adoption of the tech, marketers remain positive about audio ads designed to get audiences engaging with their smart speakers to buy a product or get more information. Late last month Amazon announced they’re bringing interactive audio ads to Amazon Music, Amazon-owned podcasts, and podcasts of partner networks. While the field might be relatively young, podcasts are now able to use early lessons learned by the first smart speaker-focused advertisers. [Source]


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Sound You Can See: Podcasting’s Video Dilemma

For the first time, more podcast listeners say that they have watched a podcast in the last 30 days than have listened to one. Yet, simply popping your pod on YouTube is likely to fail. So, what are podcasters to do? Sound You Can See dives into consumer perceptions of podcasts on video — and how they continue to drive the future of this medium. The study examines differences in perceptions between video primaries and audio primaries, from preferred topics and genres to the surprising demographic that “listens” to more than half of their podcasts on YouTube. We will also look at when podcast consumers choose one over the other.

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