The podcasting boom is one of the most exciting developments in the audio world – and indeed, across all media over the past few years. Below we share a snapshot of some of the most interesting numbers behind podcasting’s rise – as well as what that might mean for advertising.

1. Growing Awareness and Listening to Podcasts - Millions More People in the US Engaging in 2019 vs. 2018

Source: The Infinite Dial 2019, Edison Research & Triton Digital

Podcast advertising may still be a newish thing, but by 2021, podcast ad revenues will total more than $1bn in the US. An idea of how quickly it is currently growing is given below:

2. Percentage Growth in Podcast Advertising

% increase in US podcast ad revenues, based on IAB/PwC data

Growing podcast ad revenues is great, but how confident are we all that we know how to sell, or indeed buy programmatic audio effectively?

3. Level of Undertanding around Programmatic Audio (%)

Source: Xaxis/IAB Europe, 'Audio Stream to Revenue Stream'

For those publishers wishing to grow interest and knowledge among buyers around audio ads, the following chart provides useful background on the most popular ways agencies and brands are currently measuring those campaigns:

4. Important Campaign Metrics for Programmatic Audio for Buyers (%)

Source: Xaxis/IAB Europe, 'Audio Stream to Revenue Stream'

5. The most popular activities people take part in while listening to podcasts (%)

IAB UK/Rajar Listening Britain Research

But what about the Nordics in particular? As revealed in our interview with Acast’s Fredrik Hermansson, in February 2019 alone, on its platform Acast saw more than 22 million podcast episodes listened to across the Nordics. And 70% of that group is between 20-44 years old and living in big cities.

So there you have it - podcasting is on the rise, and with it, a growing focus for brands on reaching such an engaged audience. We are only just beginning to understand the possibilities around programmatic audio ads - and we'll continue to monitor this area with interest.