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Podcasting Outpaced Expectations in 2024 - And It’s Still Undervalued
The IAB says $2.4B in revenue. The real number is even higher. Here’s what the market missed.
Chris Peterson
April 21, 2025
Podcasting Outperformed - Again
The IAB just released its 2024 Internet Advertising Report. Here's what stood out - and what it means for investors.
U.S. podcast ad revenue hit $2.4 billion in 2024, growing 26.4% year-over-year. That’s a sharp rebound from 2023’s 5.5% growth - and well ahead of projections.
Back in December, I said the IAB’s forecast of $2 billion was too low. I expected we’d end up closer to $2.2 billion, but even that proved conservative.
Meanwhile, streaming music and radio actually dragged overall digital audio growth down to just 8.5%. Without podcasting, the audio category would’ve looked far worse.
But here's the real takeaway: even this outperformance is undercounting the size of the market.