Where Is Digital Audio Ad Revenue Headed

April 26, 2018

Media ecologist Jack Myers is out with his new digital projections and he expects annual audio advertising spending to show steady gains over the next three years. Myers is forecasting digital ad-spend growth averaging 18% per year with the total surpassing $20 billion by 2020. Audio advertising spending includes dollars placed with legacy and digital terrestrial radio, pure-plays such as Pandora and Spotify, and podcasts.

Despite adding $5 billion in annual ad spend from 2016 to 2020, audio’s share of total U.S. ad digital spend is expected to decline from 10.8% to 9.3% during that five-year period. Myers says the decline is driven by steady growth of digital alternatives, especially mobile and apps.

Myers is also forecasting that total U.S. digital advertising investments will pass linear/legacy advertising investments by 2021. He says the annual digital ad spend level is expected to grow by nearly $100 billion from 2010-2020. Digital’s share of total U.S. advertising investments is expected to increase from 31% in 2016 to 49% in 2020.