DWNLOAD REPORT: Q2 2024

Hello and welcome to The DWNLOAD Report: The State of the Podcast Industry Q2 2024.

It’s been an incredibly busy year in the podcast industry, and the biggest story continues to be mega licensing deals from major platforms like Spotify, SiriusXM, and Amazon (Wondery) for top shows. We predicted this trend in January in our outlook for 2024. Honestly, it was the theme that I got the most pushback on, with many astute investors and industry professionals suggesting that mega-deals were not happening in today’s climate. As the great Swedish rock band The Hives sang, "I hate to say I told you so," but hey, I’m taking the W.

(It didn’t hurt that Joe Rogan signed his reported $250 million deal with Spotify a day after we released The DWNLOAD Report: The Case for Increased Investment in the Podcast Industry 😀 ).

In the Q2 update, we discuss licensing, Apple’s missed opportunity, the digital transformation of audio, and Q2 earnings recaps.

If you're new to the list (or were forwarded this email, sign up here), I send quarterly updates and an annual outlook focused on sharing the realities of the podcast industry with the investment community.

As always, if you want to learn more about DWNLOAD Media and the opportunity we see for investment in the podcast space, feel free to reach out (or DM on LinkedIn)

Chris Peterson, Founder & CEO of DWNLOAD Media

The Big Story: Licensing of Pods

As mentioned above, we’ve seen no slowdown in the landgrab to license top podcasts. In 2024, we’ve seen deals for: