The focus of this document is on server side measurement (but will be extended to client side measurement once the client side opens up). The IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines 2.1 are the result of the Podcast Technical Working Group’s efforts to provide clarity in the marketplace by developing a common language around measurement. This is in part due to the lack of access to client side measurement, but also largely due to podcasting being a relatively new space that has been innovating over the past few years. However, historically a number of challenges have endured in getting a commonly agreed-upon set of metrics in the podcasting space. Podcast listeners are highly engaged and growing as a whole which makes them an appealing target for marketers. In 2019 annual podcast revenue estimates reached $708 million with a whopping 48% increase over reported revenues from the previous year. And that’s despite softened projections tied to impacts from COVID-19 which had previous estimates expected to reach 29% year-over-year growth. Podcasting remains a rapidly growing industry, with ad revenues ballooning over the last few years to reach a projected estimate of nearly $1 billion in the US for 2020 (14% y/y growth), according to the IAB Podcast Advertising Revenue Study conducted by PwC.

Podcaster support