There Is No Podcasting Bubble

This week’s guest, Tutuwa Ahwoi, will present at AdExchanger’s upcoming Programmatic IO San Francisco, taking place April 29-30, on “How To Harness The Momentum In Podcasting.”

Podcasting is increasingly a source of audience and revenue growth for publishers. In this episode Ahwoi, a 12-year veteran of National Public Media, shares lessons learned from her many years in public broadcasting, which is the ancestral home of the modern podcasting moment.

In sizing up the opportunity, Ahwoi notes only about a third of the US population listens to podcasting on a monthly basis, while 70% have at least heard the term. Some of those podcasting virgins will be propelled to the medium by smart speakers, connected cars and digital audio streaming services like Spotify that are driving awareness and discovery of podcast content.

Another way to think about it is in terms of revenue. In each year since 2015, the channel’s revenue has grown 25%. “We’re only just at the beginning of seeing financially where podcasting can go,” Ahwoi says.

But beware of content oversaturation: “There is a lot of good high-quality content and it might be hitting the market faster than listenership [is growing]. But that’s a good problem to have.”

Also in this episode: publisher revenue models, the “discovery” challenge, podcasting meets programmatic.

This episode is sponsored by Verizon Media