Today in the Business of Podcasting
Forecast: Double-Digit Online Ad Growth For Both 2023 And 2024.
A new report from Baird Equity Research projects online ad spend will increase 13% this year and continue another 11% for 2024, a healthier outlook than Baird projected earlier in the year. In the near term the report anticipates Q4 of this year will see ad spending reach a 14% year over year increase. All the more advertising dollars that can make their way into podcasting’s ever-increasing plot of land in the wider neighborhood of “online” advertising. [Source]
Spotify Audience Network expands to five new global markets by Reem Makari
Spotify’s audio advertising marketplace, run through Megaphone, is now available in India, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and their home country of Sweden. By PodPod’s count, this brings the total countries covered by SPAN up to 14.The number of advertisers on the network has also grown 45% year-over-year according to Spotify’s recent earnings call. [Source]
System1: New Study Reveals How Audio Personalities Drive Advertising Effectiveness by Pierre Bouvard
A new study from System1 focuses on the brand market share impact and short term sales effect of talent-read audio ads. Results from total U.S. respondents were compared to respondents who listened to a specific podcast. The “happiness score” for the host-read podcast ad came back over double the average U.S. audio audiences. MAGNA/Vox Media’s Podcasts: A New Era of Influence study asked their pool of 2,028 respondents to choose the group whose influence mattered most to them from a list of three options: Podcast hosts, social media influencers, and TV/movie celebrities. Podcast hosts won out with a resounding 75% of respondents. [Source]
Amazon joins pack offering deals a week ahead of Black Friday by Alex Vuocolo
Black Friday comes earlier each year. As of last Friday, Amazon joined the ever-growing list of retailers extending Black Friday deals to run over a week before the actual Friday after American Thanksgiving. Until this year, Amazon had kept the post-turkey sales event limited to a 48 hour period that started on Thanksgiving Thursday. According to RetailMeNot’s senior editor, this is likely motivated by the fact consumers are wrapping up big-ticket holiday shopping done earlier than ever. New research from Deloitte shows the average respondent intends to wrap up holiday shopping within 5.8 weeks this year, down from 7.4 weeks before the pandemic. Retailers now have a shorter window to draw in customers, and that will likely lead to more intense ad campaigns. [Source]
Cost of living is squeezing the entertainment budgets of Australians
Speaking of Deloitte, their 2023 Media & Entertainment Consumer Insights study finds the average monthly entertainment spend has dropped to $57 AUD, down from $62 last year. Factors including inflation, budget pressures from cost of living, and more discerning consumers as ad-supported video on demand becomes more common. As subscribers become more discerning with what paid streamers they pay for and become more accustomed to free ad-supported media, podcasting is primed to bring in those new audiences looking for more affordable/free entertainment. [Source]
…as for the rest of the news: JAR Audio breaks down why podcasts should be guided by engagement instead of conversions, SoundCast is deepening ties between audio and mobile gaming advertising, and Pew Research Center finds Americans favor digital for news while print is at an all-time low.
