The latest forecast, from Denmark-based podcasting platform Podimo, projects a 2030 audio market valuation of $50 billion, and here at TNPS we’re not seeing that is unrealistic in the light of recent developments.
It seems TNPS is not alone in projecting a 2030 audio market valuation way above the Storytel and Bookwire forecasts of, respectively, $19.8 billion and $28 billion.
In a presentation for the US Audio Publishers Association in September 2021 TNPS suggested a more likely valuation of $37 billion, while acknowledging that could be conservative.
Then came the Spotify and Storytel US acquisition news and TNPS made clear our $37 billion forecast for 2030 was looking “tame”.
The latest forecast, from Denmark-based podcasting platform Podimo, projects a 2030 audio market valuation of $50 billion, and here at TNPS we’re not seeing that is unrealistic in the light of recent developments.
It was back in July 2019 that TNPS reported, to the amusement of many in publishing, that Mofibo founder Morten Strunge had raised $6.7 million in seed funding for a beyond-crazy idea that money could be made out of podcasts, which everyone back then regarded as the poor man’s audiobook, only good for giving away free to try upsell the real thing.
Per TNPS:
Flying in the face of received wisdom, wants to charge consumers for listening to podcasts. But consumers are strange beasts, and are ready to part with their cash for quality podcast content. A reality that investors were quick to latch onto.
Less than a year later Podimo had attracted another $16.8 million and then in February of this year a further $12.5 million came Podimo’s way.
Now Podimo has announced Series B funding to the tune of $78 million, which should finally wipe the smile off the publishing faces that saw podcasting as a waste of time and energy.
The new cash will go into expanding original content production, translating content for new markets, and of course expanding to new markets, something it’s proven rather good at, having added 20 new markets to its portfolio earlier this year.
The genius of Podimo lies not just in giving consumers quality content, but in rewarding creators through its “user-centric” revenue-sharing model.
In a press release Strunge explains:
Our model provides premium content and a seamless user experience through AI-driven personalized recommendations and video trailers. As a full-service content production house, we can enrich existing IP in new and exciting ways, as well as produce our own IP, challenging what listeners can expect from short and long-form audio now, and in the future.
While Strunge doesn’t offer any detail on his projection, he asserts the podcast and audio market will,
grow beyond 50 billion USD over the next 5-6 years.
Strunge went on:
…With more and more audiences discovering compelling, short-form, spoken word audio every day. It’s a tremendous opportunity, and with our strategic focus on content in local markets’ native languages, we feel well-positioned to grab a substantial part of this market.
With a solid foundation, we can accelerate our investments into premium original and exclusive content from today’s most exciting and important voices, bringing in more users and bigger payouts to creators, while applying our learnings to new market expansion.
For now Podimo is West Europe and Latin America focussed, but podcasts need observe no geographical boundaries and we can expect Podimo to rapidly expand its global footprint in the next few years, with each step enriching the 2030 audio market valuation in step with Spotify and Storytel.
As TNPS asked when we reported on Spotify’s expansion of its paid podcast subscription into 30+ new countries – will authors and publishers rise to the occasion?
