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.

Though marketing budgets are under scrutiny in this tight economy, it might make sense to consider integrating audio advertising into your marketing mix. That’s because listener growth is picking up for podcasts and audio formats overall. Audio ad formats also have unique features to help marketers.

The era of explosive growth for podcast listenership is coming to an end for much of the world.

Podcast listener growth ebbs as pandemic fades: Our new forecast finds Spotify’s fortunes to be increasingly linked to that of podcasting in general.

The excitement over social audio is palpable, judging by the number of companies building out apps or features to support it, and by the number of news reports and opinion columns covering it (our own “Clubhouse and Social Audio 2021” report included). But any marketer that’s active in social media should weigh the drawbacks of entering social audio right now. Here are some key issues to consider before jumping on board.

Digital audio has undoubtedly benefited from the UK lockdowns. Even with reduced commuting likely eating into their time spent with mobile audio, UK listeners still tuned in to digital audio elsewhere and will continue doing so.

It appears that Spotify’s podcast investments are paying off. For the first time, Spotify’s US podcast listenership will overtake Apple Podcasts’, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast. This year, 28.2 million people will listen to podcasts on Spotify at least monthly, while 28.0 million will listen via Apple Podcasts. Spotify has experienced significant growth in recent years; the company will grow 41.3% this year.

Programmatic podcast ad spending, which we are forecasting for the first time this year, is growing at a fast rate from a small base.

Digital radio spending has declined during the pandemic, which is in line with reduced advertiser demand. We do, however, expect growth to rebound by 26.8% next year.

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.

Pandora may be the most popular music streaming service in the US, but it won’t retain the No. 1 spot for much longer. According to our latest forecast on digital music listeners, Spotify will surpass Pandora in terms of users by 2021—one year sooner than we predicted last year.