The IAB’s much awaited annual Internet Advertising Revenue Report was released this morning. It is an annual survey whose field work is conducted by PwC Research.
The document is a detailed accounting of revenue trends in internet advertising, interesting for its deeply researched overviews of digital advertising, both audio and non-audio.
“Audio, which includes podcasts, streaming music and streaming radio continues to achieve strong growth while accounting for $7 billion.” –IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report
Our focus is mainly audio advertising, but it is interesting to observe the growth pattern across all types of internet advertising in five years. As seen in the following chart, the pace of growth has slowed in 2022 and 2023, but continues its upward movement:
To put more detail on the excerpt above, audio advertising includes podcasts, streaming music, and streaming radio. That entire category has not grown as much as it did in 2022 when YoY growth of 20.9% was achieved. All the same, it continues to outperform other formats in its growth figures, gaining nearly 19% revenue from 2022 to 2023. The figure below shows that, and also reveals the small contribution audio makes to the totality of digital advertising — search, display, and video are the heavyweights of online advertising.
While audio advertising is the lightweight ad type, the IAB observes this compensatory info: “Many services have now expanded their audio subscription offerings.”
A special section on programmatic advertising across all media types shows powerhouse domination covering a five-year span. In the graph below, we see how programmatic has held ground as total advertising investment has grown. (This is across all formats, not specifically audio.)
The survey predicts continued rise of online advertising: “The outlook for 2024 remains positive with all participating companies signaling that they anticipate growth in the year ahead.”
The report is available HERE.
