Podcasts are looking like an increasingly viable channel to engage with customers

Milena Sanchez quit The Receipts last year, one of the UK's biggest podcasts, after a co-host rift.

Running a business is often about setting goals and putting in the long hours and hard work to achieve them. Regardless of what type of business you run, it’s likely that selling more has a frequent, if not long-term, place on your to-do list. It’s a goal that requires staying up to date on new techniques, honing strategies, and being in touch with the latest industry news.

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The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PwC released their third annual study of advertising revenue in podcasting last week. Although the studys headline is yet another year of steep growth, the numbers show that growth has peaked and is slowing down. The numbers show that podcasting will need to find other sources of revenue if its commercial viability is ever going to be proportional to its growing listenership.

The study indicates that podcast advertising brought in $479 million in 2018 and estimates that it will scrape past $1 billion by 2021. Last year's revenue is a 53% increase over 2017, but growth is expected to slow down to about 20% in a couple of years.

These numbers are much lower than those from other forms of ad-supported online audio content. PwC's Global Entertainment and Media Outlook last year estimated $1.65 billion in ad revenue for internet streams of AM/FM radio stations in 2018, growing to $2.2 billion by 2021.

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There are big opportunities for the music industry in podcasts, but one of the big barriers is licensing: the cost and complexity for podcasters of securing the rights to actually play music in their shows.

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As of writing, there are more than 750,000 podcasts in existence and more than 30 million episodes in circulation. This jaw-dropping statistic isn't all that surprising considering podcasts are great resources for new and varied insights, staying educated and informed and a fascinating avenue for entertaining content. That's why a lot of people want to get in on the trend. Not only do they get to share their ideas with a massive audience, but podcasting also allows for raising brand awareness and generating revenue.

With that said, it's not easy setting up your own show.

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The face of audio media is changing and it is all because of podcasts.

Audio media has always been prominent as it was the first true form of entertainment to exist before television came into being, and quite genuinely, I have to say I am beyond thankful radios have not yet fallen from the face of the earth.

Audio media is a key component of both traditional and contemporary technology. But, more personally, it is something that has been in my life since the day I became capable of retaining memories. With podcasts becoming increasingly popular, I believe radios will go out of style, and I will have to adjust accordingly.

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Podcasts can make one feel less alone. By listening to the stories, anecdotes, or commentaries of others on everything from breaking news to popular TV shows, one can find company in the sometimes overwhelmingly digital world we live in and fill otherwise silent and solitary moments in one’s daily life. In an age when people lose hours to screen time, sometimes aimlessly scrolling on social media, podcasts can provide a welcome respite.

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Podcasts are now produced by commercial broadcasters, individuals and companies with no connection to broadcasting. In fact anyone with something to say, and a few pounds to spend on the equipment to say it, can get involved.

The digital audio files are cheap to produce and, thanks to the internet, easy to distribute.

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To be a well-rounded business owner today, one must master not only business and finance, but other areas like mental and physical health, family, spirituality and sustainability. And as we approach the next decade, it seems like every self-proclaimed successful entrepreneur has a new weekly podcast offering guidance on these and other topics. So how do you sort through the fluff to find real, honest, useful advice that will help you on your own path?

20 Podcasts That Will Help You Grow in 2020

This year brought seismic changes to the podscape—splashy, big-money acquisitions by companies like Spotify, uneven, big-money débuts by players like Luminary—and, above ground, a healthy crop of reliably good, bountiful content. New daily-news shows arose beside the stalwarts; impeachment podcasts sprang up. History podcasts brought perspective, music podcasts brought joy, and one of my favorite podcast genres—the locally produced NPR-style narrative investigative series—continued to flourish.

Best Podcasts of 2019

Today, the board of the much-esteemed Pulitzer Prize announced that it’s adding Audio Reporting as a new category for its journalism prizes in the next cycle.

Podcasts Can Win Pulitzers Now

The mighty podcast has had a renaissance over the past decade. Live recordings fill the Royal Albert Hall, the Sydney Opera House and Madison Square Gardens – and that’s just My Dad Wrote A Porno. Just this week it was announced that the Pulitzer Prize Board is adding a new category for audio reporting: you can now win a Pulitzer for podcasting.

As we enter a new era of podcasting, Bazaar look back at those that have defined the past decade.

9 Podcasts That Have Shaped The Decade

Last month, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced that there will now be a Pulitzer for audio reporting, further proving that podcasting has become an unignorable cultural force. In the announcement, Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy explained that the renaissance of audio journalism in recent years has given rise to an extraordinary array of non-fiction storytelling.

Investigative podcasts are exploding. Here are six great ones to get you started.

I do believe the spike in podcast popularity will be good for its myriad providers in many ways. The rising tide and all of that good stuff. But I do worry that many of its most unique independent voices will get bulldozed as big companies rush to construct skyscrapers. It is our job as listeners, fans and podcasters to make sure those voices are not drowned out.

Independent Podcasts

For years, Apple has been the forefront of podcasting. While audioblogging had been around for a while, there is an argument that it was Apple that really invented what we know as a podcast with the introduction of the iPod. Without doubt it was its innovations that sent it mainstream.

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Technologically-enhanced journalism has seen proliferation of online broadcasting channels, blogs and online newspapers. All these are set up in a bid to mainly attract curious millennials, and to offer alternative platforms to the wider content consumers.

In Kenya, online newspapers and TV streaming services have been touted as the next frontier in the media industry.

Legacy media outlets find this both as a challenge and opportunity at the same time. As much as they are a source of new revenue streams, these new digital channels offer tough competition that has seen the traditional media outlets’ earnings substantially shrink.

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As podcasts continue to grow in popularity, politicians are increasingly using the medium to reach the public without having to go through traditional news media.

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Chasing industry trends, iHeart Media is about to become the latest audio company to release a custom ad network. Executives say iHeartPodcast AdSuite will tempt brands and potential partners—and set the company apart from its competitors—with a unique array of ad formats across platforms and custom tools.

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Podcasting is becoming the fastest growing audio platform in the world, with new shows created each week.

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From a walk along Watling Street to exploring space or the music of west Africa, these podcasts will take you out of your living room and into another world

10 Best Travel Podcasts

As the global COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the globe, it appears more people are turning to podcasts for news and scientific information as much as a distraction.

Acast, one of the world's largest podcast hosting and analytics companies, said new listening figures for March 21-22 saw a 7% increase in listens globally, equivalent to more than 750,000 podcast plays.

Although some categories experienced declines, podcasts in the education, entertainment, science, medicine and health genres were all up more than 10%.

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Podcasts have transitioned from niche to mainstream. As Deloitte, Edison, and Nielsen, etc. all agree, audience growth for podcasts has been nothing short of phenomenal over the past year.

The global podcasting market will grow by 30% in 2020 to USD 1.1bn, Deloitte predicted, topping the billion-dollar mark for the first time. Now, a podcast producer can pull in revenue any number of ways, as the same report pointed out; advertising, content marketing, subscriptions, contracts for branded podcasts, events, and so on. All this hinges on audience reach, and a surefire way to widen that is, naturally, to go multilingual.

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There are now more than one million podcast shows on Apple Podcasts, according to Apple.

Let me reiterate: we do not mean episodes. We’re talking more than one million individual podcast shows: As in the shows which then release their episodes. That’s a lot of podcasts.

Apple confirmed in an email to Mashable that Apple Podcasts hit more than one million podcasts and that this milestone was reached on Monday, April 20.

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The podcast industry as a whole is expected to produce more than $1 billion by 2021, according to a new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

With that much money floating around, you have to wonder what is stopping you from getting your share.

Since many people are still stuck at home, craving connection and entertainment, there is really never been a better time for podcasting. And, contrary to what you might think, getting your own podcast off the ground is not just possible, it’s quite easy thanks to resources like

The podcasting industry was shaken up this week with the announcement that JRE is moving exclusively to Spotify and it looks like it has caught Apple’s attention.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is looking to increase its investment in original podcasts, as well as buying existing ones, to augment its nascent Apple TV+ service. While its easy to view this as a classic case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, Apple seems to view podcasts as either a by-product of video content or as material that could then be adapted to video.

Apple effectively invented the podcast format, which derives its name from the pioneering iPod digital audio player, but the pre-eminence of iTunes as a podcasting platform is under serious threat thanks to this recent development. You have to assume Joe Rogan (pictured) spoke to Apple before recently committing to Spotify, so it would be fascinating to know what led him to ultimately reject it.

Podcasting is increasingly seen as a reliable channel for long-term ad investments, new data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) shows: Annual ad buys, where ads are bought for the entire year, nearly doubled in the US from 24% to 47% of podcast ad revenues between 2018 and 2019.

US Podcast Ad Revenue Share, by buy type, 2018 and 2019

Meanwhile, quarterly ad buys and scatter ad buys, where ads are purchased closer to the time they air, declined — making up 31% and 21%, respectively. According to the IAB, podcast ad revenues totaled $479.1 million in 2018 and $708.1 million in 2019.

This is a sign that more advertisers are including podcast ads in their long-term marketing plans, rather than just using podcasts to experiment with. It's a testament to the rise of the podcasting industry: Listeners are increasing rapidly — eMarketer expects US podcast listeners to grow by nearly 15% to surpass 100 million this year — and podcasting platforms have responded by working to meet the technological needs that advertisers have come to expect from digital formats.

The Apple Watch will no longer be counted in podcast listener numbers for Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Tech Lab partners because it has been found to falsely inflate listener numbers.

Currently, when a podcast is automatically downloaded by an ‌Apple Watch‌ user, it is counted as two listeners; one from the ‌Apple Watch‌, and one from its paired iPhone. Since the ‌Apple Watch‌ and ‌iPhone‌ download the same podcast episode by default, and they both report different device user agents, the podcast appears to be downloaded by two different people. This means that the ‌Apple Watch‌ falsely inflates podcast listener numbers.

Backtracks functions as a kind of fifth layer in the podcast listening ecosystem, enhancing the RSS feeds basic download-counting abilities with supplemental data from partners and podcast streaming app APIs.

None of that data is rigidly standardized, though. The Interactive Advertising Bureau has attempted to standardize podcast analytics terminology, but, so far, every podcast hosting service and audio analytics software provider counts engagement slightly differently.

The COVID-19 restrictions that many countries had to endure forced many people to seek alternative forms of entertainment. One such form is podcasting which has grown in popularity over recent years. According to the most recent financial reports, Spotify reported that 21% of the monthly active users (MUA) have engaged in at least one podcast in the past month.  Data presented by Stockapps.com breaks down the rise of podcasting.

Spotify Records 5% Increase in Podcast Engagement between Q4 of 2019 and Q2 of 2020

The Joe Rogan Experience – the title of Rogans podcast, was the highest-earning podcast of 2019 with revenue of $30M. In September 2020, Joe Rogan officially began his podcasting contract with media giants Spotify, which will eventually see his entire library of content migrate to the platform. The deal is reported to be over $100M.

Spotify has been expanding its podcasts catalogue as they continue to see strong growth in that particular segment. The rate of consumption of podcasts has been growing by triple-digit percentage numbers for the last few years. In Q4 of 2019 16% of Spotifys monthly active users engage in podcast content, by Q2 2020 that number had jumped to 21%.

On Tuesday, Spotify, the audio streaming behemoth, announced another acquisition. It struck a deal to buy Megaphone, a podcast ad tech company that works with thousands of content publishers, including Disney and Spotify itself. The $235 million purchase positions the Swedish company to become a dominant player in the podcast advertising business.

The deal with Megaphone is just the most recent example of Spotifys aggressive expansion into podcasting through a rapid string of acquisitions. In 2019, it purchased the premiere podcast production network, Gimlet Media, and later snapped up Parcast, which specializes in true crime shows, and bought The Ringer, a media company focused on sports and pop culture.

Spotifys $100 million-plus Anchor acquisition is seemingly paying off. In data released today as part of its annual Wrapped look-back on the year, the company says Anchor, which makes podcast creation software, powered 80 percent of new podcasts on Spotify this year, meaning the software contributed more than 1 million shows to Spotify’s catalog in 2020 alone. Overall, Anchor powers 70 percent of Spotifys total podcast catalog, or around 1.3 million out of over 1.9 million shows.

Podcasting is marketing. And companies have been using branded podcasts for a long time. But while many companies, big and small, have attempted using branded podcasts, not all of them have been equally successful.

Begin with a strategy
No matter what the nature of your business is, creating a branded podcast starts with a sound strategy. What are the objectives of your branded podcast? Who is it for, and what is the purpose behind creating it? These are the first questions we ask any brand before starting an engagement. Well-executed branded podcasts are not about just the podcast, but about everything from strategy to research to storytelling to distribution.

Spotifys $100 million-plus Anchor acquisition is seemingly paying off. In data released today as part of its annual Wrapped look-back on the year, the company says Anchor, which makes podcast creation software, powered 80 percent of new podcasts on Spotify this year, meaning the software contributed more than 1 million shows to Spotifys catalog in 2020 alone. Overall, Anchor powers 70 percent of Spotifys total podcast catalog, or around 1.3 million out of over 1.9 million shows.

Anchor-hosted shows account for more consumption of third-party podcast content on Spotify than any other podcast hosting or distribution provider
Spotify says Anchor’s top five markets in 2020, by total number of shows, were the US, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Great Britain. In Indonesia, Spotify signed nine shows to become exclusives. Meanwhile, the fastest-growing markets, looking at the average monthly increase in new shows, are India, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Indonesia. India accounts for nearly 40,000 Anchor-made shows and has been growing at an average of 22 percent month-over-month increase in 2020.

The role of podcasts in the information ecosystem has gone largely unexamined. While alt-right figures have been increasingly chased off Facebook and Twitter, podcasting is shaping up as the next arena where the fight over questionable or dangerous content will play out. However, the problem of how to moderate audio content is proving thorny.

As podcasting grows in stature and revenue, its disinformation problem can’t be ignored.

Illustrating how podcasting have captured the interest of people all over the globe in recent years, research company Grand View Research suggested that the global podcasting market size valued at USD 9.28 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.5% from 2020 to 2027. During the pandemic, listeners worldwide are observed to be spending more time at home due to work-from-home and social distancing policies – changing the entire dynamics of the market for podcasts, which used to have a pre-pandemic target audience of people listening to broadcasts during their commute. The industry is now expected to grow with engaged listeners who are stuck indoors while working from home.

TV meant to be responsive to the moment seemed distant. But podcasts, with the intimate production values, felt more immediate and relevant than ever before.

In a year otherwise defined by loss, one area of our lives has remained untouched; abundant, even. Movie theaters closed and blockbusters were delayed. Music and theater venues shuttered. But TV marched on. The number of original scripted shows dipped slightly, but international series and older shows arriving on the streaming platforms more than filled the void of shows canceled or delayed.

And yet, as the pandemic months piled up, TVs seeming imperviousness to the halt of all other cultural activities started seeming less like a virtue and more like a vice, like denial, like a dispatch from a faker world.

Every year at this time, Edison Research and Triton Digital publish the results of a study called The Infinite Dial that tracks the use of digital audio and related media in the United States. It’s a study that dates back over 20 years—it got its name from the digital radio that was introduced at that time—and is well-respected for the rigor and consistency of its methodology. This year’s study shows how the pandemic has changed digital audio consumption habits. It also shows a few surprises in the streaming music sweepstakes.

The 2021 Infinite Dial results show that the use of online audio—including digital radio, AM/FM internet streams, podcasts, and music services—has plateaued at 68% of Americans ages 12 and up. But there are clear winners and losers, and they don’t merely reflect pandemic-related factors such as people staying at home.

One big winner is podcasting. Growth in podcast listenership shows no signs of tapering off, as monthly listenership continues its linear growth path to 41% penetration, up from 37% in 2020. Growth is particularly high in the 12-34 age bracket, more than half of whom now listen to podcasts regularly (while the 35-54 bracket levels off around 40%). Podcast listenership is also getting more racially diverse, with nonwhite listeners now at 43%, up from 37% last year.

Apple to switch its 'Subscribe' button to 'Follow' on Podcasts

Cuban shared his unique insights about the current and future state of  not just podcasting, but the entire media industry. We discussed both legacy media companies and independent creators.

Here are the main takeaways and my thoughts from our conversation:

1. Streaming is the future, and legacy companies need to get on  board in order to survive
2. These days, audio is just as competitive as video because the  barrier to entry is lower and there's no pressure to look nice
3. As new technology emerges, media will continue to evolve — and creators must keep up

Podcast coverage has a peculiar history. Whether fueled by wishful thinking or impatience, the media’s takes on the format often come in fits and starts. Many outlets have declared podcasts the next big thing over the years, and there’s been a lot of discourse surrounding podcastings perceived booms, busts, and even blips. Commonly pegged to the seemingly never-ending stream of new shows, discussions of the golden age” or peak of podcasts are regularly had. Articles compare the podcast boom to the Wild West and the American gold rush. It is all very amusing. And, when compiled, all of this breathless coverage reveals just how difficult it is to capture something with a community ethos through an industry lens. Here we celebrate podcasting’s sweet 16 with a look back at some of the more excited articles — including our own — from the early days.

It is important to remember that podcasting is a relatively new technology and not everyone understands or knows what podcasting is. It is particularly important to educate users if your audience is not technical. Not only is it important to explain what a podcast is, but it is equally important to explain how your podcast will help listeners.

Tips for Promoting Podcasts

Podcasting once defined as a geek hobby, has now spawned an industry. Entrepreneurs have adopted traditional advertising mediums to the podcasting technology as a way to make some extra money.

Monetizing Podcasts

Podcasting has a very low barrier to entry; all you need is audio recording software and a means of creating an RSS feed, be it through software or manual work. As a result, just about anyone can podcast, and the quality of podcasts is therefore highly variable; there are professional podcasts that rival professional broadcasts in quality, and there are amateur podcasts that can not even be heard clearly.

Podcasts and Copyights

Instead of trying to explain Podcasting to your audience, for a donation of $50, you could distribute this tool with your podcasts pre-loaded. Branded already. Great, great tool... when I'm done with my review I'll let you know. It's a great idea - thanks to the cats at the Internet Warriors forum for putting the word out about it.

Not only has Infinity Broadcasting, owner of a huge network of radio stations, become a podcasting pioneer with its podcast-dedicated station. Not only are the podcasts it gets a hold of broadcast on AM radio.YOU can submit your podcast for airing at their site. You have to register for free at their site, then according to their website, you can upload any of the following formats - this is

Thoughts ==> Here's another great place to ping when you podcast, complete with resources. Hopefully Pingomatic and Feedburner will support this soon. Link ==> Freshpodcasts.com.

Podcast Promotion
Podcasting is a great new medium, but creating a podcast is only half of the work. Promoting a podcast is equally critical to it's success.

1. Educate the Public.
It is important to remember that podcasting is a relatively new technology and not everyone understands or knows what podcasting is. It is particularly important to educate users if your audience is not technical. Not only is it important to explain what a podcast is, but it is equally important to explain how your podcast will help listeners. Instruction on how users can listen to podcasts should also be included.

Tips to Promoting Podcasts

The use of technology can define the success or failure of a business. This is no more evident than in the real estate industry. Realtors who flocked to the latest technologies, adopted them, and applied them in order to enhance and sell property, are still prospering.

Using the latest technology, realtors can show a home's finest attributes via Video Podcasting. Video Podcasting is a compelling distribution channel that allows realtors to reach a large audience while showcasing a property's best features.

Tips For Real Estate Video Podcast

Podcasting is a great new medium, but creating a podcast is only half of the work. Promoting a podcast is equally critical to it's success.

1. Educate the Public.
It is important to remember that podcasting is a relatively new technology and not everyone understands or knows what podcasting is. It is particularly important to educate users if your audience is not technical. Not only is it important to explain what a podcast is, but it is equally important to explain how your podcast will help listeners. Instruction on how users can listen to podcasts should also be included.

Tips to Promoting Podcasts