Nearly every country in the world will see slower growth in total ad spending and digital ad spending than it did last year, but the comparison is an unfair one because 2021 was abnormal. The outlook is mostly bright.

About two-thirds of the US population ages 12 and older listens to digital audio at least once per week, up 5 percentage points from 2021. Over the past decade, that share has grown by 38 percentage points, making the weekly listenership now 192 million strong.

On today's episode, we discuss how Spotify performed in Q1, what's driving its subscriber engine, and whether its expected hi-fi streaming tier can help move the needle. "In Other News," we talk about whether gaming is critical to brand objectives and what to make of Pinterest's mixed signals. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Daniel Konstantinovic.

Is AI becoming Big Brother? Human presence and emotional-state detection technologies are raising civil rights alarms bells. Although they could have merits for productivity, they’re also invasive and error-prone.

Podcasting finds favor with brand advertisers: US ad spending on podcasts is growing at double-digit rates and will pass $2 billion in 2023.

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

On today's episode, we explore where hybrid work might be heading, attention-based mobile ads, the circular retail dream, Spotify rebrands Greenroom, why every town has a water tower, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Evelyn Mitchell, Paul Verna, and Blake Droesch.

In 2021, social audio app Clubhouse registered a total of 6.7 million downloads in the US. About 42% of those downloads occurred during Q1 2021, when the app received extraordinary media buzz. But as established platforms created copycat features, Clubhouse’s downloads decreased.

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.

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%).

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.

Spotify could break away from Google and Apple’s payment duopoly: Google’s alternative payments pilot program might only serve higher-profile apps, leaving smaller developers in the lurch.

On today's episode, we discuss Spotify's Q4 performance and what it tells us about how the audio streaming giant is changing. Then for "In Other News," we talk about what the biggest threat to Spotify's podcasting dominance will be and a new way to improve the accuracy of audio ads. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Peter Vahle.

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.

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 confronts brand safety issues amid Joe Rogan dispute controversy: The podcasting giant is adding content warnings as it stands by its popular, controversial host.

On today's episode, we discuss when cable households will dip below 50%, an alternative search engine to Google, clickable podcast ads on Spotify, what the "superest" super app is in the West, the biggest takeaways from CES 2022, some uncommon knowledge about sustainability, where sunglasses originally came from, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst Paul Verna, analyst Blake Droesch, and director of reports editing at Insider Intelligence Rahul Chadha.

Connected TV and programmatic video ad spending continues to exceed expectations in the US.

Our annual lookahead for Canada highlights some growth areas for brand marketers as well as the mediascape that’s evolving to serve them.