UK audio ad growth slows

In the UK, the IAB says that podcast advertising grew by just 8% in 2024, to £90mn ($120mn) - a slowdown from a 23% growth last time. However, this number only accounts for audio podcast ads - the video display ad category, which includes video podcasts, grew by 20% year-on-year. (Now we know why the industry is fixated with a definition for what a podcast is - and the perils of being too narrow).

Spotify says that they paid out $100mn to podcasters in Q1/25. (That’s both ad-based revenue and from the Spotify Partner Program; the company haven’t split out the two).

The focus on video by Spotify has resulted in the number of active monthly video podcasts increasing by 28%, and the release says that some publishers have seen weekly consumption increase substantially after introducing video.

Pocket Casts has launched automatically generated transcripts for Plus and Patron members. Transcripts will be automatically generated for “the most-followed podcasts”; the company continues to make creator-produced transcripts, using the podcast:transcript tool, available to everyone.

Pocket Casts has also posted a guide to fiction podcasts for nonfiction listeners from Tal Minear.