The ad spending winter of 2022 and early 2023 was mild and short-lived, as we predicted. And after a solid H2 2023, things are looking up across the board for 2024.

It was a happy holiday season for several retailers: Lululemon, Abercrombie & Fitch, Crocs, and Pandora are among the companies that beat expectations over the final months of 2023.

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.

After strong growth, digital audio subscriber numbers will slow. And a handful of companies will shape what US digital audio users will listen to—and how they will listen—in the coming years.

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%.

Podcast listening keeps making gains, and the medium is becoming a bigger part of marketers’ audio strategies.

In 2021, more than three-quarters of the time that US adults spent listening to ad-supported audio went to AM/FM radio. Podcasts trailed way behind traditional radio, capturing just 11% of ad-supported listening, while Pandora, SiriusXM, and Spotify each accounted for less than 10%. AM/FM radio held a majority share across adult age groups and was the most listened-to ad-supported audio not only in the car (88%), but also in the home (72%) and workplace (68%).

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.

Marketers within the insurance industry will zero in on how to best utilize digital ad budgets, as spending growth settles at more modest levels.

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.

Due to listener growth, advertisers no longer find digital audio advertising experimental.

Hispanic Heritage Month is upon us: brands are making strides in reaching out to this growing demographic at this time of year, but what about the other 11 months?

We project the number of paid digital audio subscribers in the US will hit 121.9 million this year, up 11% over 2020's total.

Podcasts were one of the few areas to have weathered the pandemic without sustaining ad spending losses.

Pandora outpaces Spotify for brand recognition in US

Early in the pandemic, digital audio took a huge hit in user engagement and in the amount of time listeners were spending with the medium. Many observers, including us, predicted dire results in the short term. However, the rest of the year played out very differently than those early weeks, and we ultimately revised our 2020 estimate from a 1.0% decline in the time US adults spent with digital audio to 8.3% growth, for a total of 1 hour, 29 minutes (1:29) per day.

Amazon Music will increase its user base by 18.5% to 45.8 million this year, which represents 21.3% of digital audio listeners, according to our latest estimates. As it continues to invest and grow its audio strategy, we expect Amazon Music will surpass Pandora in monthly listeners by 2023.

The pandemic put pressure on media budgets and changed users’ listening behaviors, forcing advertisers to restructure their audio strategies.