Podcast Listening Still Rising, but Growth Slowing, Says EMarketer
EMarketer lowered its forecast for weekly podcast listeners in 2022 by 1.9 million to 98.4 million, a 6.8% year-on-year increase, less than half of 2021’s growth rate, it said Tuesday. EMarketer estimates 124.5 million Americans listen to podcasts monthly. The…
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analytics firm expects weekly podcast listeners to comprise 29.2% of the U.S. population this year vs. 36.9% for monthly listeners, said analyst Jeremy Goldman. Spotify is still growing its monthly active users but at a slower rate than expected, Goldman said, projecting Spotify podcast listeners will rise 13.8% this year to 32.2 million, outpacing general podcast listener growth of 5%. EMarketer expects a 5.8% increase in the number of Spotify paid subscribers, up 0.7% from its previous forecast but a third of last year’s growth, Goldman said. It predicts 49.3 million Spotify premium customers by year-end, which “could be concerning to Spotify since, unlike many popular entertainment services, Spotify did not raise its subscription fees this year,” Goldman said; that makes it hard “to blame slow growth on fee increases.” EMarketer trimmed its monthly active user (MAU) growth projection for Spotify from 7% to 6% for the year, for a total 88.4 million MAUs. It projects Spotify podcast listener growth to decline each year from 2023-2026, reaching 4.2% growth, 119.4 million weekly listeners, by the end of the forecast period. Despite the slowing growth rate, EMarketer sees a “huge opportunity” for marketers to reach listeners via podcasts. Advertisers will spend about $13.70 per podcast listener this year, “significantly less than the $52.10 for on-air radio listeners,” Goldman said. Podcasts continue to be a large portion of total digital audio consumption, with the percentage of digital audio listeners that don’t subscribe to podcasts expected to drop below 50% next year, said Goldman.