Dive Brief:

• The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) expects podcast ad revenue to reach more than $220 million this year, an 85% increase over 2016, per a press release made available to Marketing Dive. The leap marks the second straight year of podcast ad revenue increases with 2016 revenue up 73% from 2015.
• The results from 2015 and 2016 found marketers prefer ads read by podcast hosts rather than pre-produced ads while in 2016 more revenue was generated by dynamically inserted ads for the first time. Direct response remains the most common type of podcast campaign with brand awareness and branded content campaigns on the rise between 2015 and 2016.
• The IAB Podcast Advertising Revenue Study proves there is a strong audience for podcasts and marketers are taking notice, said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO, IAB, in the press release. Podcast revenue continues to experience dramatic growth with more gains expected, according to David Silverman, a partner at PwC US, the firm that conducted the survey for the IAB.

Dive Insight:

Given the IAB’s findings about the effectiveness of podcast ads and the dramatic increases in ad spending, marketers should consider making podcasts part of a content marketing strategy. While there is value in advertising on popular podcasts, branded podcasts give marketers more control over the content and messaging.

Last September, the IAB released its first guidelines for measuring podcast advertising with a “client-confirmed ad play” recommended as the most accurate metric. The metric is based on ads considered “client confirmed” when they prompt a tracking beacon from the client when played during a podcast.

Research from the IAB and Edison Research, also from last September, underscored the value of podcast advertising, finding that 65% of podcast listeners are more inclined to consider making a purchase based on podcast ads and 60% reported preferring to purchase from brands that advertise on their favorite podcasts. Other results from the research include 45% podcast listeners regularly respond to ads by visiting sponsor’s websites, 42% consider new products or services based on podcast ads, and 37% reported responding to ads by gathering more information about products or companies.

IAB's study uses historical data from 20 of the industry’s largest players and according to the IAB is the only analysis about podcasts that uses direct, first-party data on podcast ad revenues.