For the third year running, podcast advertising failed to cross the $2 billion mark. And to make matters worse advertising growth stagnated to a single digit number in 2023. So what is stopping the anticipated exponential growth in podcast advertising? Are advertisers beginning to question the effectiveness and ROI from podcast advertising?

The dirty secrets of podcasting are that a download does not equal a listen and a listen does not mean anyone heard your advert because more likely than not they just skipped forward as soon as they heard it start. However podcast companies still use these out dated podcasting 1.0 metrics to illicit payment in full from advertisers, with no assurity that their advert was even heard. Like the Emperors new clothes, no one wants to say it but did anyone actual hear your advert. Where’s the proof?

Podcasting 2.0 has evolved to offer new features and metrics such as Time Listened, Percent Completed and Value Paid to measure with 100% accuracy if your advert was heard and best of all, if it’s not, you don’t pay.