This is an archived page from 2021. Find out more
When radio’s biggest company reported Q3 revenue of $928 million the company said that $64 million dollars came in from podcasting, a 184% jump from the same quarter in 2020.
For the first 9 months of the year iHeartMedia reported its podcast revenue was $156 million, 161% higher than the first 9 months of 2020. iHeart is one of the few companies that actually breaks out its podcast revenue for all to see.
iHeart CEO Bob Pittman is very bullish on podcasting and says his company continues to lead the way. “No matter how much money people bring to the party to play in the podcast game, the reality is it’s about having a hit show. And every creator who comes to podcasting has a dream of having a hit show. The best way to get a hit show is to start with the biggest podcaster publisher which is us. So, we journey on sort of that flywheel is because we tend to get first look as a result of being the biggest. And by being number one and probably getting more looks at product than anyone else, we’re able to be pickier. And given our kind of economic position, we’re able to say no to something that doesn’t make sense. And really carefully watch the economics and not fall into the trap some people do of chasing profitless prosperity. You’re not going to see that from us.”
Podtrac recently reported that iHeart was the number one publisher of podcasts with 632 shows with 321 million global streams and downloads in october.