Here’s why podcasting will be a billion dollar industry by 2021

Steve Jobs was right, the podcast industry is the future of audio. It is expected to generate $1 billion ad revenue within the next three years.

Back in 2005, many had doubts about the podcast. Most people consider the digital audio platform as a niche that won’t translate to general audiences. At least not as well as its traditional counterpart, the radio. But then Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, was firm on his stand that podcasts were the next big thing. As it turns out, he was right.

In the summer of the same year, Jobs and Apple made the announcement that iTunes would support podcasts. The tech genius said at the time:

“Podcasting is the next generation of radio and users can now subscribe to more than 3,000 free podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod.”

Now the industry’s rapid growth is speaking for itself. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PwC) 2018 Podcast Ad Revenue Study was released last Monday. The study’s results show that podcasts generated an estimate of $479.1 million in revenue last year. The market is expected to double by 2021 reaching up to $1 billion.

David Silverman from PwC says about the industry’s growth:
“The dollars are still catching up to the audience. Marketers are starting to realize there are a lot of people listening to podcasts, and thinking, ‘Let’s figure out how to best advertise in them.’”

Industry titan Spotify is right on top of the game. According to The Verge, the company intends to spend half a billion U.S. dollars on podcast-related acquisitions. The move will allow the Spotify team to conquer a substantial portion of podcasting revenue.

Christian Woods
Christian Woods
Christian is a morning reporter and technology columnist for Best in Australia. Christian has worked in the media since 2000, in a range of locations. He joined Best in Australia in 2018, and began working in Melbourne in 2019.
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