💥 4 Key Takeaways from Podcast Movement Evolutions 2024

🚀 Advertise with our newsletter to get in front of Podcasters and Podcast Producers

Another Podcast Movement Evolutions is in the rearview and at Acast we are now reflecting on our week spent in Los Angeles, California with key stakeholders and creators from across the industry. The week was filled with valuable panel discussions, dinner conversations, and networking opportunities that will drive various parts of not only our business, but the rest of the industry forward for the months ahead. 

‍We’ve boiled that all down to four main takeaways from the week.

‍The Ad Market Is Not Just Stable, But Strong 

‍2023 was a challenging year for the podcast industry at large. While enduring macro economic hardships, podcasting also experienced difficult, but necessary growing pains to improve measurement for both creators and advertisers.  Now, three months into 2024, conversations at Podcast Movement Evolutions reflected that we have made it to the other side of these challenges and that there is still so much more room to grow. 

‍As global economies have stabilized and strengthened in recent months, advertising and marketing investments have continued to increase. Recent reports from PQ Media forecast global advertising and marketing spend to increase 7.7% to $1.76 trillion this year. 

‍Looking at the US market specifically, the Guideline's U.S. Ad Market Tracker found that February experienced the greatest growth rate in nearly two years – increasing more than 10% over February 2023. Amid this growth, the Wall Street Journal reported improved projections for the year by media investment firm Magna. According to the reports, Magna now forecasts ad sales by media owners to grow 9.2% in 2024 to $369 billion, including the impact of cyclical events such as U.S. elections and the Summer Olympics.

‍In podcasting we’re seeing this growth lead to not only increased investments from advertisers, but, importantly, new brands entering the space for the first time. Inside Radio reported that 2,268 new brands advertised on podcasts for the first time in the fourth quarter of last year – indicating the health and continued growth of podcast advertising.

‍Podcast First, But Not Only: Video is Thriving

‍

For both podcasters and advertisers video continues to be a major topic of conversation for audience growth as well as unlocking new monetization potential.

‍At Acast, we believe that the beauty of podcasting is that it is an audio-first storytelling medium. However, we also see the incredible value of enhancing that storytelling through visuals like video and social media components. 

‍In a session on the Fundamentals and Beginners Track at Podcast Movement Evolutions, Acast led a discussion with two of our podcast hosts, Doree Shafrif of Forever35 and Franchesca Ramsey of Lemme Fix It! that touched on how early stage podcasters can leverage platforms beyond audio to enhance their storytelling and reach new audiences. 

‍According to these speakers, podcasters should master the art of podcasting first and cultivate their core listenership before focusing too heavily on other mediums. This will enable them to learn to allocate their resources properly and learn to create an engaging and successful podcast. Once they’ve built this strong foundation, leveraging video and growing their community through social media will help drive traffic to their podcast and appeal to advertisers looking to buy across channels.

‍On the advertiser side, Acast also spoke with our partners from both Warner Bros. Discovery and Higher Ground about maximizing podcasts’ profit potential through multi platform distribution. Similarly, this conversation stressed the importance of creating a quality audio-first experience before branching out to other channels. As major media companies, Warner Bros. Discovery and Higher Ground agreed that there are some projects that begin as a multi channel project due to the caliber of talent and already known audience interest in the topic, while others expand to other channels after proving success as an audio-first production. 

‍These speakers also discussed the increasing interest in advertisers to invest in multi channel projects and creators through integrated marketing budgets. Specifically, Higher Ground referenced the success of a recent campaign created by Acast with Maker’s Mark for the newly launched podcast Your Mama’s Kitchen with Michele Norris. The campaign included creative brand storytelling within the podcast that were accompanied by social media assets of recipes that are unique to the guest’s family kitchen growing up. Notably, last year Acast saw a 46% increase in advertisers booking multichannel campaigns from the year before. 

‍AI For Efficiency and Productivity, Not Replacing Human Creation

‍AI and the ethics surrounding the technology have been a conversation across every industry, but especially for entertainment following last year’s strikes in Hollywood. Discussions at Podcast Movement Evolutions did not shy away from the topic and proved the value of the technology for improving efficiencies and driving productivity.

‍At Acast, we have seen how AI can be leveraged through our advertising products to improve buyer efficiencies and ultimately increase podcasters’ monetization potential. In fact, since introducing our AdCollab product to our self-serve advertising platform, which uses AI in the podcast discovering process, Acast has effectively reduced the time it takes to book a campaign by 85%.

‍Over at Podchaser, our AI-driven Predictive Demographics tool analyzes the language spoken within a podcast to predict audience attributes with a more than 90% accuracy rating. And the industry is taking note with 84% of Podchaser clients having utilized Predictive Demographic data since launching in October of 2023. 

‍In addition to these in-house examples, Acast’s listener research also reflects the sentiment of conversations about AI for productivity at Podcast Movement Evolutions. 

‍According to Acast findings, 81% of podcast listeners approve of podcasters using AI to generate real time captions, making the medium more accessible to deaf communities. Additionally, 82% of listeners said that they approve of the use of AI for improving discoverability of relevant podcasts as well as for episode transcriptions in order to improve search.

‍Monetization is Multifaceted

‍As an industry we often ask whether podcasters should explore host-read sponsorships or dynamically inserted ads or whether advertisers should transact programmatically. The truth of the matter, and what came across through the week at Podcast Movement Evolutions, is that this is not an “or” statement, but rather an “and”.

‍Podcasting allows for a variety of monetization routes including host-read endorsements, pre-recorded ads that are dynamically inserted into a podcast, event sponsorships, social media posts, and more. Podcasters and advertisers should be seeing the medium as the center of the $250 billion creator economy and exploring all of the possibilities that are available to them. 

‍Podcasters are dialed into their audiences and therefore know the advertising approaches that will work best for their shows. As they continue to grow and the industry further evolves these approaches may change, so it’s important to stay nimble and open to new revenue streams. 

‍For advertisers, understanding a podcast’s influence on their audience can be much more valuable than strictly buying for scale. In fact, many discussions at Podcast Movement Evolutions dialed in on the effectiveness of niche podcasts for advertisers rather than buying the biggest shows. 

‍In fact, according to Acast research, listeners of smaller sized podcasts are 90% more likely to welcome more ads on the podcasts they listen to than listeners of large sized podcasts.

Send press releases to [email protected]. Editorially, we may rewrite headlines and descriptions. Visit podworks.io to post your upcoming events or job openings for free.

👀 Employing? or trying to find a new job?

Do you need to hire for your podcast? Here's where you can post a job (for free). Come hang out with us at podworks.io if you are a professional podcast producer!