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

Each year, our analysts dig into media and device usage across the world. In total, we looked at 44 markets. Here’s a look at eight key insights our analysts found in the United States and Canada.

Ahead of Spotify reporting its third-quarter earnings this afternoon, here’s a little recap of what the platform has been up to over the past few months. Plus, our thoughts on the moves.

Generative AI’s trillion-dollar wellspring: Tech shows its love for the arts as long as AI’s the artist. It’s an economic bright spot, but brace for ethical and legal controversy.

In this report, we look at the most important updates for social platforms in Q3 and how those changes will affect marketers. For the first time, we’re including updates for YouTube as well.

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%.

Brand marketers worldwide are most confident in their ability to measure return on investment (ROI) in social media marketing—64% are either extremely or very confident in this. Video online and mobile was the No. 2 most effective platform for measuring ROI (59%), while search and display tied for No. 3 (54%).

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.

Canada’s digital audio audience is growing faster than any other digital medium we track in the country, including digital video viewers and social media users. This year, digital audio will match terrestrial radio in listenership and exceed it in engagement, according to our forecasts.

Learn about the new Amazon Style store, podcasts on Twitter and LinkedIn, advertising at the NBA All-Star Game, who America’s truckers are, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Peter Vahle and Blake Droesch and director of forecasting Oscar Orozco.

Amazon’s Amp looks to differentiate itself in the crowded live audio field: Mobile app lets users play DJ and leverage retail giant’s mighty song catalog.

Spotify overtook Apple Podcasts as the biggest US podcast platform in 2021, when the Swedish company drew 28.3 million monthly US podcast listeners, about 200,000 more than its rival did. Come 2025, Spotify’s lead will widen to 13.2 million, while Apple’s growth in the sector will all but stagnate.

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

As the first true generation of digital natives, Gen Z has had round-the-clock access to on-demand information, streaming entertainment, and instantaneous communication since birth. This report examines trends in Gen Z’s technology and media use.

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.

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.

There will be 23.6 million YouTube Premium subscribers by the end of the year, which is up a healthy 18% over 2020.

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.