Among digital audio listeners specifically, similar trends stand out. When we zoom in on the consumers who partake in digital audio, podcasts are disproportionately popular in places with high levels of English or Spanish fluency. In other regions of the world—even where digital audio has become extremely popular—podcast listenership is lagging.

In addition to advertising, publishers in this sector are investing in building up subscription businesses, many of which place streaming behind paywalls absent of advertising. And their investments are paying off: Digital audio subscription revenues will increase 17.0% in 2021 to $8.59 billion. The increase in revenue, of course, goes hand in hand with subscriber growth.

Social media platforms are betting on social audio as part of the creator economy: Live audio is becoming less about the platforms that started the trend as more big firms launch creator-focused features.

How we got here: The Swedish streaming company tried to get in-app video off the ground as early as 2016, experimenting with artist biopics and animated shorts. Those projects didn’t take off, but Spotify has finally found an avenue in video podcasting.

Podcast listening is gaining popularity in Europe. Almost 70 million people in the pre-Brexit EU-5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) will listen to podcasts this year, per our estimates. However, the combined number of listeners in those countries is still much lower than the total number in the US (117.8 million).

Spotify has the most users among digital audio platforms, followed by Pandora, Amazon Music, and Apple Music. Amazon will surpass Pandora in listeners next year.

The Swedish streaming company will have 28.2 million monthly podcast listeners over Apple’s 28.0 million, a razor-thin lead that will widen in the years to come. Dive deeper:. This year, 40.0% of US internet users will tune in to podcasts at least once per month. Given the medium’s rapid listener growth thus far, we expect that growth to slow down for the next few years.

On today's episode, we discuss what brand new forecasts the forecasting team cooked up in Q3, including global podcast listeners, 5G users, and connected car drivers. We then talk about heavy podcast listeners' receptiveness to ads, the rise of paywalls, and whether audio glasses can become a mass-market product. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analysts at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle and Peter Newman.

BetterHelp is by far the biggest US podcast ad spender, laying out $35.7 million in the first seven months of 2021—more than twice as much as the next-largest advertiser, ZipRecruiter, which allocated $13.6 million.

US adults spend significantly more time listening to terrestrial radio than to any other ad-supported audio format.

It’s our second episode of Brand Anatomy, where we get exclusive looks inside leading brands! Today, eMarketer Briefing director Jeremy Goldman sits down with Panasonic's Brian Rowley, vice president of marketing, to discuss how the company—a longtime leader in consumer electronics—leveraged podcasting to reposition itself as a B2B and enterprise powerhouse.

On today's episode, we discuss emerging podcast sub-worlds, how listener behavior has (permanently?) changed, and how the ad dollars are fairing. We then talk about what we expect from Twitter's Ticketed Spaces, what is going on in the world of print, and how Americans get their news on social media. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle.