BIG GAINS IN PODCAST LISTENERS BY PRX (UP 42%), NPR (UP 35%) & WNYC (UP 17%) IN ONE-YEAR PODTRAC TRENDS

iHeartMedia is new on the Podtrac chart

According to Podtrac Analytics [link], three public media podcast publishers – PRX, NPR and WNYC Studios – posted impressive gains in October US Unique Monthly Audience compared to October 2016. The Podtrac rankings also show that the podcast market is increasing competitive as more commercial publishers enter the market.

This matters because, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), paid advertising in podcasts will bring in over $220 million in 2017. This is up 85% over 2016.

Four of the ten top podcast publishers in October 2017 have their roots in public radio. However the top ten now includes six commercial publishers including giant iHeartMedia. iHeart appears in the Podtrac chart for the first time in October.

As you can see in the chart on the right, NPR is by far the podcast audience leader. iHeart debuts at #2 on the chart with 525 active shows. Some critics question the relevance of iHeart’s number because they feel iHeart dumped a kitchen-sink of shows into the mix without any popular individual shows. iHeart says individual shows don’t matter as much as bulk audience delivery for advertisers.

Half of the publishers listed in the October 2017 Podtrac rankings did not have any podcasts in wide distribution in October 2016. Newcomers to the chart such as Wondery and Barstool Sports show how quickly a podcast publisher can impact the chart with one hit program.

Wondery [link] is powered by podcasts such as Dirty John, a soft core porn-ish show, a co-production with the Los Angeles Times, and Inside Psycho, a true-crime show produced by media consultant Mark Ramsey. 

Wondery started in 2016 by former Fox television executive Hernan Lopez.

We reported about Barstool Sports in October [link]. They have one big bankable show Pardon My Take.  Pardon… is sports talk show with fart jokes and silly characters. Recently Pardon.. – renamed Barstool Van Talk – had one of the shortest runs ever in radio syndication: one show.  ESPN cancelled it because the content was too profane (but not too dumb) for commercial radio. 

INSIDE THE BUSINESS OF PODCASTING

Just as Podtrac has become the de facto chart-of-record for podcast listening, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has become the go-to destination for hard data about podcast advertising.

IAB sponsors some of the Podcast Upfront events for big advertising buyers. IAB recently conducted a study [link] of the industry’s most significant revenue generators. In the study, IAB did a market scan, interviews with the largest publishers and a survey of 20 of the largest podcast advertising companies.

 

In the study, IAB found that podcast revenue for 2017 is more $220 million in 2017. The chart on the left from the study shows the amazing growth of podcast advertising over the last three year.

While the growth in podcasting revenue is impressive, podcast advertising is small compared to traditional media revenue. For instance in 2017 radio advertising is expect to generation around $16 billion in revenue.

Other findings from IAB study include:

• Marketers prefer ads read by podcast hosts to those that are pre-produced.

• In 2016 revenue generated by ads become the top source of podcast revenue, replacing subscription revenue.

• The remarkable growth of podcast ad revenue, proves that an ancient axiom is still true:

“Great rewards go to those who surprise and delight their fellow humans.”