We forecast that US podcast ad spending will surpass $2 billion next year and $3 billion by 2026. Podcasts will account for over a quarter of digital audio services ad spending in 2022 and will be more than a third of spending by the end of 2026.

Most digital audio monetization will come from recorded music for the foreseeable future, but podcasts’ share of the market has grown so much—and will continue to do so—that it cannot be ignored by marketers. Once relegated to experimental budgets, podcasts are becoming a crucial component of multimedia ad campaigns.

More than half of advertisers said they planned to increase their podcast ad budgets in 2022, according to a poll of 255 US advertisers conducted by Advertiser Perceptions in August 2021. Nearly half (46%) planned to keep their budgets the same, and just 1% planned to reduce podcast ad spending. These shares were in line with what advertisers expected of their digital audio budgets.

The survey also showed overall digital budgets were the most common place that advertisers pulled their podcast ad budgets from.

Most advertisers did not have dedicated podcast budgets. About half used their digital audio budgets to fund podcast campaigns. As podcast ad spending increases and accounts for a greater share of total audio ad dollars, expect more advertisers to break out podcast-specific budgets. Having dedicated budgets could help centralize campaign planning and measurement for advertisers committed to podcasts over the long run.

Learn more about our latest podcast listener and ad forecast and what it means for marketers from our upcoming webinar. Register here.