Spotify may overtake Apple as podcast leader, eMarketer forecasts. With the podcast format (or audio in general if we include Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces in the bag) accumulating more and more listeners in the world, it is not unusual to see how the main companies are making efforts to try to develop the market and gain an advantageous position in it. One need only recall the ‘For All Mankind’ podcast series or the rumors about a possible paid subscription to Apple’s Podcast+’.
But according to a study by eMarketer, the forecast is that Spotify will end up overtaking Apple and becoming the platform with the largest podcast audience in the United States. In estimated figures, the report predicts that Spotify will surpass 28.2 million listeners this year, compared to the 28 million that Apple will reach.
Spotify as a potential hub for audio content
And not only that: In 2022 and 2023 Spotify would gain ground reaching 37.5 million listeners while Apple would only reach 28.8 million, stagnating its growth. The eMarketer arguments mention placing podcasts together with music in the same application, which Spotify has done while Apple has done just the opposite.
The same study predicts that by 2024, U.S. agencies will spend $1.83 billion on advertising within audio content. Of course, all these are estimates and do not include all the possible surprises that may arise from Cupertino that could change things, and I have no doubt that there must be several plans on the table of Apple Park executives.