Skip to main content

Screen Wars Thought Leader Interviews are also available on

SpotifyApple PodcastGoogle Podcast
State of the Screens

2018: The Year Podcasts Grew Up And Programmatic Audio Took Off

By January 3, 2019No Comments

2018 was a big year for podcasts with 28% of Americans now listening at least monthly.

Monthly podcast listeners in U.S. according to Activate (% change):
1) 2016–58M
2) 2017–67M (↑ 16%)
3) 2018P — 73M (↑ 9%)
4) 2019P — 86M (↑ 18%)
5) 2020P — 99M (↑ 15%)
6) 2021P — 115M (↑ 16%)
7) 2022P — 132M (↑ 15%)

Advertising revenue per year according to PwC (% growth):
1) 2017 — $314M
2) 2018P — $402M (↑ 28%)
3) 2019P — $515M (↑ 28%)
4) 2020P — $659M (↑ 28%)
5) 2021P — $766M (↑ 16%)
6) 2022P — $887M (↑ 16%)

Top 10 podcasting apps by share:
1)
Spotify — 29%
2) Apple Podcasts — 26%
3) Google Play — 16%
4) Soundcloud — 12%
5) iHeart Radio — 10%
6) Google Podcasts — 10%
7) TuneIn — 6%
8) Slacker Radio — 4%
9) NPR One — 4%
10) Stitcher — 4%

A recent Nielsen study found that Podcast advertising has 4.4X higher brand recall compared to other forms of digital advertising.

More: How Podcasts Became a Seductive — and Sometimes Slippery — Mode of Storytelling

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.