Audience Engagement Digital Publishing
2 mins read

The state of the audio market: The Media Roundup

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Today’s roundup is brought to you by Esther.

Podcast measurement attracts investment, but content risks becoming stale

If 2021 was the year in which podcasting was taken seriously by publishers, this year has seen audio platforms double down on demonstrating advertising effectiveness to brands. But those changes come with risks. Chris Sutcliffe rounds up the year in audio as part of our Media Moments 2022 report.

No channel grew faster than digital audio; advertising spend in the sector grew nearly 58%, reaching $4.9bn, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s most recent data. Per a 2022 Edison Research survey, 73% of the US population aged 12 and older – an estimated 209 million people – listen to digital audio monthly, up from 68% in 2021; 67% listen to digital audio weekly, up 62% year-on-year.

From acquisitions of almost every podcast measurement company going to the surprising rise of YouTube as a listening destination, this is a neat summary of a busy year for audio.

Pugpig’s 2022 State of the Digital Publishing Market Report: Puzzles, personalisation and audio as engagement and revenue drivers

This is on my reading list for next week when everything quietens down a bit, but if it’s anything as interesting as their first report, it’ll be worth a download. Apps have reinvented themselves over the past decade from being an expensive way to replicate print to being a brilliant product to engage and retain high-value readers. As market leaders, Pugpig have a LOT of data to draw on for this.

Semafor will generate 30% of its first-year revenue from events

The publisher, whose inaugural Africa Week begins Monday, will host 40-plus events in 2023. Part of the reason for this early revenue boost is that it hosted nearly 12 events prior to the official launch of its newsroom in October. The experiential side of the business is called ‘SemaforX’ apparently.

Quartz CEO Zach Seward on charting a new course for the business lifestyle brand

Given the changes Quartz has been through this year, this from CEO Zach Seward is quite the listen. We spoke to him in early 2021 as they’d just bought the business lifestyle brand back from Uzabase. He talked to us about how it all started, about memberships and advertising, and the Quartz mission to make business better.


This content originally appeared in The Media Roundup, a daily newsletter from Media Voices. Subscribe here: