Podcasting grosses $9.2 billion worldwide

Forbes reported on May 22 that the global podcast economy generated $9.2 billion in revenue in 2025, citing a new report from consulting firm Owl & Co. The report said that figure was up 23% from $7.5 billion in 2024 and drew on more than 300,000 data points across 1,600-plus publishers, along with interviews with more than 100 podcast publishers and industry experts. Bloomberg reported the findings on May 20, and Forbes followed with additional details on May 22. The report frames podcasting as a business that now extends beyond audio advertising into subscriptions, platform payments and video-led sales. ### Where does the $9.2 billion figure come from? Owl & Co said the $9.2 billion estimate comes from its Global Podcast Economy Report, which examined the size and growth of the sector in 2025. Forbes said the firm focuses on media, technology and the attention economy, and identified founder Hernan Lopez as the former founder of Wondery, which Amazon acquired in 2021. (forbes.com) Barrett Media, citing the same report on May 21, said global podcast revenue rose to $9.2 billion in 2025 from $7.5 billion a year earlier. Forbes said the study asked how large the global podcast economy had become, how fast it was growing and which monetization changes separated the fastest-growing publishers from the rest. (forbes.com) ### What is driving the growth? Hernan Lopez said video has become a major revenue engine for podcast publishers. In comments cited by Forbes and Barrett Media, Lopez said publishers that treated video as “a monetization layer, not just a discovery channel,” posted the fastest revenue growth. (barrettmedia.com) Barrett Media reported that 41% of net podcast revenue now comes from video, up from 28% in 2024. Bloomberg’s summary of the report said 73% of the industry’s growth last year in the United States came from video-related revenue, pointing in the same direction even though it referred specifically to the U.S. market. (forbes.com) ### Which companies were included? Forbes said companies that were part of the study included Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Comcast, Disney, Fox, Meta, Netflix, Paramount Skydance and Spotify. The Forbes article did not present company-by-company earnings in the available summary, but it said those groups were among the participants considered in the research. (barrettmedia.com) The report’s scope matters because podcasting revenue has historically been measured mainly through advertising. Forbes said the industry generated an estimated $100 million annually in 2016, citing Inside Radio, and described the early market as heavily concentrated in the United States and focused almost entirely on ads before scaled programmatic platforms and subscription models emerged. (forbes.com) ### How fast has podcasting grown over the longer term? Forbes said Owl & Co’s report described the business as having expanded 92 times over the past decade. James Driscoll, chief executive of Willow Grove Communications, told Forbes that podcasting’s growth rate had outpaced that of television or movies, though he added that podcasting remains smaller than the broader businesses run by major media groups. (forbes.com) The current estimate does not mean all podcast companies are growing at the same pace. Barrett Media reported that 74% of podcast companies said revenue in 2025 was better than in 2024, while 27% said results were flat or worse. ### What should readers watch next? May 20 and May 22 are the key publication dates attached to this report so far, with Bloomberg first and Forbes following with a fuller write-up. (forbes.com) Any next round of reporting is likely to focus on whether major platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Apple and Amazon disclose more detail on video, subscription or platform revenue tied to podcasts. (bloomberg.com) (barrettmedia.com)