Podcast Advertising to Pass $1Billion Mark in 2021; Wonder Media Network To Handle WME's Podcast Business

 According to eMarketer’s latest forecast, U.S. podcast ad spending will surpass 20 percent of digital radio ad spending this year and cross the $1 billion mark next year.

 By the end of 2020, podcast ad spending in the US will reach $782.0 million, up 10.4% from last year, giving it a 21.0 percent share of the US digital radio ad market. And in 2021, spending will jump nearly 45 percent to $1.13 billion.    

“Growth in podcast advertising spend will be more resilient this year relative to digital radio advertising as a whole, which will see double-digit declines,” said eMarketer forecasting director at Insider Intelligence Shelleen Shum in a release. “The continued growth in podcast advertising is no surprise, as investments have made podcasts accessible to a wider audience. The news genre, a focus of many podcast advertisers, has performed well during the pandemic. While some ad campaigns were paused in H1 due to the uncertainty from COVID-19 lockdowns, we expect a rebound in Q3 and Q4.”

Only a very small percentage of podcast advertising is bought programmatically. This year, just 4.0% will be programmatic, with that figure increasing to 6.0% next year. eMarketer expects triple-digit growth to continue through 2021, as investments in audience measurement and the shift from untrackable baked-in ads toward dynamically inserted ones pave the way for programmatic buys. By 2022, 8.0% of podcast ads will be traded programmatically.

Image by BedexpStock from Pixabay

 

 WME has signed female-centric podcast network, Wonder Media Network (WMN), for representation in all areas with focus on growing the company’s podcast business and diversifying and expanding the network into books and television. 

William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME or WME-IMG), is a private American holding company for talent and media agencies with its primary offices in Beverly Hills, CA. The company was founded in April 2009 after the merger of the William Morris Agency and the Endeavor Agency. Endeavor represents artists in movies, television, music, theatre, digital media, and publishing. It also represents the NFL and NHL. Endeavor also leads a group which owns the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Miss Universe.

Wonder Media Network is run by journalist Jenny Kaplan, who left Bloomberg to launch the company in 2018 and brand strategist Shira Atkins. WMN calls itself an audio-first media company with a mission to amplify underrepresented voices.

Current shows include Encyclopedia Womannica, audio doc Ordinary Equality, The Brown Girls Guide to Politics, Majority 54 and Women Belong in the House, which have been named to top podcast lists on Harper’s, Marie Claire and Refinery29. Its latest project is She Votes!, an eight-part audio doc on the history of women’s suffrage hosted by journalists Lynn Sherr and Ellen Goodman.

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