Stuart Last is CEO of Audioboom plc — this interview has been lightly edited for style and readability
Stuart Last: Audioboom is podcast platform that powers podcasting for creators. We partner with independent podcast creators and our technology platform distributes, markets, and monetizes that content, so that they can focus on being creative and creating great content. We have a pretty massive scale, over 100 million downloads a month and 8,000 different podcasters use us.
The thing that I’m most proud of is the fact that we’ve made more than $250 million for independent podcast creators over the last seven years. The mission of our business is to is to support the 8,000 plus individuals that we work with, to allow them to focus on on podcasting. And we do that very well.
James Cridland: Talking about numbers, you’ve published a trading update for the calendar year 2024. That was really fast - you must have some excellent accountants! What was in there?
SL: We do have excellent accounts! Just two of them! Audioboom are always the first ones to put out results.
2024 was a fantastic year for us. 13% revenue growth. We delivered $73.4 million of revenue and we were profitable again. During the ad market recession of 2020 to into 23, we went back into a loss making territory as a business. But I’m really pleased that we’ve come out of that. We’re profitable again. And just being profitable allows us to support more and more people in the podcasting space.
When we’re putting these numbers out, what I’m really aware of is the return to health of the podcast advertising market. Hopefully those same trends are being seen by other people in other networks as well, because we are very much of the opinion here that we’re in the early days of podcasting still, and the more that we can share in the success, the better it is for all of us.
JC: When I was looking at Acast’s accounts, they seem to suggest that the US was doing fantastically for them and that Europe was a bit more sluggish. Is that what you’re seeing too?
SL: I think the US were hit first by global events and the macro economic headwinds. The UK then followed into that, but the US has returned to growth. I think there’s a 6 to 12 month lag time with UK podcasting. I’m hopeful that over the next 12 months our UK business will trend in a positive direction - we’re already seeing that.
JC: You’ve been quite busy signing new content partnerships, and renewing existing ones. But I did notice in your trading update that you say that you have managed to reduce your minimum guarantee obligations quite considerably. That seems to be an industry trend, I think. Is it?
SL: If you rewind back to the years coming out of COVID and podcasting’s boom, six or seven other competitive networks were pitching to work with the biggest podcasts in the space. Generally in those negotiations, one element of the proposal is usually a minimum guarantee. In that bubble, those minimum guarantees moved up very quickly. When the ad market turns, as it did in 22 and 23, we then have a situation where the ad revenue that we are selling for those podcasts isn’t enough to cover that minimum guarantee. We paid every single minimum guarantee to creators. But I’m proud that we honoured all of our contract obligations through that time, and that has helped us keep very good relationships with our podcasters and their talent agents.
What we are looking to do, like many others, is still provide those minimum guarantees to talent and to podcasters, but in a more equitable way - something that’s safer for us but still reassures the talent that they will get paid for that work and for what they are worth, without putting our company under any undue risk. We’re all working to find that more balanced level. And that has to be good for the medium term and long term of podcasting.
JC: I’m wondering what your predictions are for 2025. What will the industry go?
SL: One thing that we put out in our trading update was the fact that we have $54 million of revenue already on the books today through the Upfronts process. I think it’s not not just that $54 million number showing the health of what’s coming this year: it’s actually the pricing. We’re seeing pricing that’s between 17 and 28% higher than for last year. And that’s a great sign for me that the ad market is recovering. That will translate to overall growth.
We didn’t shift out to fully dynamically inserted ads, or “faked-in” live reads. We stuck with a fully baked-in ad, woven into the fabric of the show in terms of live reads. We were able to continue selling those a high price point: those converted for advertisers, because they’re the best way to do it. That’s worked really well for us, and has allowed us to work with video podcasters - podcasts that may have 25% of their consumption on an RSS feed and 75% of their consumption on video on YouTube: we can monetize those because we’re baking those ads into the content of the show.
I think we’re going to see more and more networks coming back to that baked-in live read model. That will allow them to access video, and it works - and that will help this advertising market improve and get strong again.
JC: Stuart, thank you so much for your time. It’s great to hear Audioboom is doing so well. As you know, I was an advisor for your company back in 2009. No equity sadly! But nevertheless it’s nice to see your company doing well. Thank you for your time today.
SL: Thanks for having me, James. And I appreciate the kind words. Thank you.