Is podcasting slowing or rising? Each, because it seems. With advertising and marketing and promoting price range cuts contributing to layoffs and cancellations at main podcasting gamers like Spotify and NPR, 2023 was an unsure time for the podcast trade. Whereas it’s true that progress might have slowed considerably relative to 2019-2021, MIDiA’s newest report, ‘MIDiA Research 2024-2030 global podcast forecasts: Road to a $10 billion business’, outlines that there’s loads of motive to stay optimistic about podcasting.
You will need to hold some perspective right here: regardless of latest dangerous press, international podcast income grew 37.6% and international podcast customers grew 23.4% in 2023. In comparison with 80.6% income progress and 53.9% person progress in 2021, which may be an enormous slowdown on paper. Nonetheless, it’s nonetheless extremely wholesome (there’s additionally the anomalous pandemic increase to bear in mind throughout that unprecedented progress interval from 2020 to 2021). By the late 2020s, annual progress will begin to stage out and strategy 5%, however by then the worldwide podcast trade shall be value $10 billion and there shall be 1.2 billion podcast customers worldwide.
Podcasting’s rising trajectory
Podcast progress could also be levelling out 12 months on 12 months, however that is to be anticipated as international income and customers enhance. Furthermore, there’s a lot additional progress available — particularly from markets past the US and UK. By 2030, the variety of podcast listeners within the Asia Pacific area will trounce that of another market worldwide. Unsurprisingly, most of these customers will come from the 2 most populated international locations on the planet: China and India. Mixed with Latin America, the Asia Pacific area will account for greater than two-thirds of world podcast customers.
This has huge implications for which platforms will win essentially the most podcast customers within the years to return. Contemplating what we already know concerning the consumption behaviours of users in Asia Pacific and Latin America, it will likely be troublesome to dethrone the most important multimedia platform on the planet: YouTube.
What occurred to Apple?
As with digital music consumption (bear in mind iTunes?), Apple was the primary huge mover in podcasts. For over a decadee, Apple and podcasting have been virtually synonymous. As soon as Spotify began gaining market share someplace between 2015 and 2017, Apple’s podcast energy began to wane. As latest as 2019, Apple nonetheless had roughly a fifth of the market share in podcasting — 9.2 proportion factors decrease than Spotify. By 2023, Apple tumbled to roughly half of that, butSpotify’s market share fell too. The decline of bothis due to the speedy progress of YouTube video, which greater than tripled its market share from 2019 to 2023 to change into the highest supply of podcast consumption.
Whereas YouTube’s progress in podcasting might have one thing to do with the rising recognition of video podcasts, growing podcast penetration in YouTube-heavy markets can be driving this progress. This is a crucial improvement within the total progress of podcasts, however there are additionally financial implications right here. In spite of everything, the US stays the promoting powerhouse of the world, and podcast income will proceed to be pushed by promoting. This offers the US an outsized affect on international podcast {dollars}, at the same time as Asia Pacific has an outsized affect on international podcast customers.