Podcasting will be a $4 billion industry by 2024

It was a big deal when podcasting became a $1 billion industry. It's so quaint. Let's get into it.

In the next two years, the industry will be $4 billion.

It is the boom times for audio. According to the report released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the industry will generate $2 billion in revenue this year and $4 billion in the year after that.

The number of people listening to podcasts is increasing, but that doesn't mean that growth is related to that. A lot of it comes from advances in ad tech that allow advertisers to better target audiences and encourage them to spend more money, according to executives at IAB.

Over the last couple of years, the way in which ads are placed has changed. 84 percent of ads were inserted into podcasts last year, but dynamically placed ads made up less than half of the market. Advertisers used to place ads based on the genre and content of the podcasts. There are better ways for advertisers to know if their spots had any effect on the audience.

There have been a number of effects. If advertisers see better results, they will spend more money. Eric John said that the value is not just from an advertiser perspective, but also from a creator perspective.

The influx of ad money is necessary for the industry to grow, even though some people may be uneasy about it. It doesn't run on dreams, people!

The growth of the business is seen by Audacy.

Audacy, the last of the three biggest private radio companies to report first-quarter earnings, said that podcasts are a major growth area as traditional broadcasting faces a hiccup in the ad market. Ad-driven broadcast revenue grew by 14 percent, while podcasting grew by 37 percent.

Audacy has a broadcast sector that is three times the size of its digital operation, and a small portion of that is accounted for by podcasts. The company's acquisition of Pineapple Street Studios is paying off. Thanks to smash hits like Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade and the Pineapple Street / Wondery collaboration Will Be Wild, it reported over 30 million Listeners a month.

According to the IAB/PwC study, the podcasting industry will grow by 47 percent in the next year as a positive sign for the company's trajectory. Audacy is going to need it if the stock market keeps going the way it is. According to Daniel Day of B. Riley, newer, cheaper industries like podcasting tend to fare better in a recession than legacy media sectors like broadcast television and radio.

Futuro Media and PRX won a Pulitzer.

Maria Hinojosa's Futuro Media and PRX produced Suave, a seven-part podcast that follows three decades in the life of a man sentenced to life in prison as a juvenile, and won the Pulitzer. The host of public radio program Latino USA founded Futuro Media in 2010 and has since produced political shows like La Brega: Stories of the Puerto Rican Experience with WNYC and Anything For Selena with WBUR. This is the first Pulitzer for Futuro.

I felt like a shift happened when I heard about the Pulitzer Prize. I didn't think we could win a Pulitzer. I think that was the reason we won.

Latino Rebels Radio and In The Thick are two of the Futuro-helmed podcasts that PRX recently deepened its ties with.

The audio section of the app has been updated.

There is an audio tab on the app. Users will be able to select or weed out unplayed, downloaded, or archived podcasts with the app's filter. The new feature was rolled out on Monday.

Maintenance Phase and Chapo Trap House are just two of the heavy hitters that are still available on Patreon. According to the company, podcasting has doubled in the past three years.

The data lead for the EdisonPodcast is heading to Sounds Profitable.

The researcher behind The Infinite Dial report on the audio industry is going to work for Bryan Barletta. He will be joining as a partner and will continue to produce research. He will work with audio companies and turn his newsletter, I Hear Things, into a monthly column.

He will leave at the end of the month. After a decade of baby steps, he started tracking the data from the beginning of the industry in 2005. He says that it is an under-monetized space and that he will work on more targeted reports. There is a study looking at people.

That is all for today! I will be back later this week with coverage of the Upfronts.

On Tuesday, you will receive analysis, insights, and commentary on the audio industry.