Digital audio commands massive attention, and podcasts keep most listeners within reach. As viewing blurs with listening, marketers face an opportunity—but also a widening gap between consumer time spent and the ad investment flowing into audio.

Programmatic plays a small but growing role in digital audio services ad spending. Major digital audio platforms are leaning in.

Ad budgets are slowly migrating from terrestrial radio to digital platforms, but the shift is stymied by slow platform subscriber growth and by YouTube.

Spotify has nearly twice as many US listeners as the next most popular digital audio platform, Amazon Music, at 103.6 million compared to 53.1 million, per our September 2024 forecast.

High audio listenership and time spent this year means limited growth. Subscription revenues will be healthy, as most listeners pay to limit ads. And Spotify will lead in nearly every metric, though several platforms are doing well.

Podcasters can now let Spotify take over control filters, but with election season looming, the platform’s ability to manage offensive comments will be tested.

Your one-stop shop for all things digital audio in 2023.

YouTube is the preferred podcast platform among US listeners of this medium, according to Morning Consult. Spotify takes second place, followed by Apple Podcasts and Pandora.

It’s time for podcast advertising to mature with its audience: The format has reached mainstream success, but ad solutions are lagging behind.

Podcasting’s questionable metrics could hurt its ad business: Major podcasters spent millions on mobile game ads that dramatically inflated listenership.

Total time spent with media is more than 10 hours daily on average in Canada this year. In the years ahead, total time will shrink slightly, but digital formats will continue to steal time away from traditional media.

Spotify is the No. 1 digital audio service among US teens and adults, with 35% digital audio listeners ages 12 and older using that platform the most. YouTube Music comes in at No. 2, with 18%, while Pandora rounds out the top three at 15%.

Podcasts have Spotify seeing dollar signs. The company’s US podcast ad revenues will hit $191.9 million in 2022 and cross the $400 billion mark in 2024, with growth well into the double-digit percentages. The format will also make up an increasing share of Spotify’s overall ad revenues: 16.7% of its $1.15 billion in US ad revenues this year, before growing to 19.4% in 2024.

As digital audio consumption increases, the advertising market in Canada is developing rapidly to reach new listeners.

YouTube is the leading podcast platform among US adults who listen to 5 hours or more of these shows per week, with 55% tuning in there. Streaming audio platforms Spotify and Apple Podcasts take second and third place, respectively, while Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and Facebook round out the top five.

iHeartRadio is the most popular US podcast publisher, with 30.0 million people tuning in to its podcasts in September.

Average daily time spent with media shot past the 10-hour mark last year, pushing media consumption to new levels in Canada.

The growing podcast audience in Canada has brands taking notice. Not only has the medium become a fixture in consumer media consumption, it’s also a sticky medium. Listeners consume podcasts heavily compared with other forms of informational media, and they are loyal to the hosts of their favorite shows.

More than a third of adult consumers in Canada are podcast listeners, a growing and lucrative audience for brand engagement.

As part of our upcoming report on “The Future of the CMO,” we spoke with Gayle Troberman, executive vice president and CMO of iHeartMedia. The company, formerly known as Clear Channel Communications, is a terrestrial broadcaster that owns and operates 858 stations on US airwaves.