Podcasting had a banner year in 2021, when ad revenue in the US jumped 72% to cross the $1 billion mark. But, as marketer physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton taught us, what goes up must come down…or at least slow down.

In its seventh annual US Podcast Advertising Revenue study, the IAB reported that podcast ad revenue increased by 26% from $1.4 billion in 2021 to $1.8 billion in 2022. That demonstrated “resilience” given the macroeconomic climate, and outpaced the overall digital ad market, which grew 11% year over year, according to the IAB. Still, in last year’s report, the IAB said it expected podcast ad revenue to surpass $2 billion in 2022.

Old news: News is no longer the podcast content genre that generates the largest share of ad revenue, a blow for the category that’s held the top spot since 2018.

• Sports, society and culture, and comedy podcasts all surpassed news.
• News podcasts, which represented a 19% share of ad revenue in 2021, fell to 12% in 2022. Sports podcasts increased their share from 11% to 15%, society and culture pods increased from 12% to 14%, and comedy pods ticked up from 13% to 14%.
• The shift was partly attributable to engagement with news slowing in 2022, according to the IAB.

Another look: Q4 typically represents the largest share of podcast ad revenue each year. That held true in 2022, but its share decreased from years prior, which “reflects the overall deceleration in ad spend as the year progressed,” per the report. Q4 saw 29% of ad revenue last year, compared to a 34% share in 2021 and a 35% share in 2020.

Related, unrelated: As for Q1 of this year, podcast ad spend was up 44% year over year, Darrick Li, VP of sales at Standard Media Index, told Marketing Brew. SMI sources data from major holding companies and leading independent agencies.

Keep reading here.—AM

Grab that magnifying glass, because marketing budgets need a closer look. But before you start slashing your spend, make sure you double down on consumer sentiment.

Wunderkind’s latest survey has fresh-baked findings on what customers think and feel when it comes to spending their money in 2023. But it’s not just stats and charts—the report gives marketers strategic guidance on how to adjust strategies and reach success in the year ahead.

The current cocktail of economic uncertainty has bred some…interesting results. Here’s a taste of the insights Wunderkind has uncovered:

• Gen Z registered the highest levels of consumer confidence.
• Most high-income consumers don’t plan to reduce luxury spending.
• The biggest driver of brand perception is a brand’s website.

Be confident in your marketing strategy and budget. Check out Wunderkind’s Industry Pulse survey to learn more.

Over the last decade, NBCUniversal’s annual upfronts pitch to advertisers has had at least one more or less constant: The network’s long-serving ad sales chief, Linda Yaccarino, probably decked out in metallic hues and show-stopping shoes while pitching NBC’s news, sports, and entertainment properties as the best place for advertisers to be.

But this is no ordinary year, and hanging over the TV network’s pitch to advertisers Monday morning at Radio City Music Hall was Yaccarino’s eleventh-hour departure from the company on Friday to join Twitter as CEO.

“What was more surprising today—being welcomed by a foul-mouthed teddy bear, or seeing me up here on stage?” Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal television and streaming, joked after a prerecorded song-and-dance number by the animated bear Ted, who’s getting a Peacock comedy series based on the 2012 movie.

Lazarus and newly named interim ad sales and partnerships chair Mark Marshall jointly ran the show to present new programs and thank Yaccarino for her contributions to the network. “I’ve heard from so many of you over the past 72 hours and I can’t tell you how much that means to me,” Marshall said.

The presentation comes after NBCU reported that first-quarter revenue from its US ads business dropped 6.1% year over year, excluding last year’s Olympics and Super Bowl. The company, which attributed the decline in part to lower audience ratings, has been investing heavily in streaming service Peacock to win over audiences and advertisers.

Read more about the company’s upfronts presentation here.—KS

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? I am without a doubt bullish on TikTok. I’m addicted to the platform in my own daily life, and as a marketer, I continue to be fascinated by the way it continues to unlock breakthrough marketing opportunities that go beyond just exposure and sponsorships. It provides marketers with an ever-evolving set of tools we can use to organically reach consumers.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? This ages me a little, but David Fincher did an ad campaign for AT&T in the ’90s about predicting the technology that was about to change everyone’s lives—the internet, video conferencing, digital assistants, GPS, DVR/VOD, etc. The campaign was designed to look like a sci-fi movie, and got me so excited as a kid, thinking about all those innovations being available in my lifetime. Now, those predictions seem so quaint when you look back on that campaign, but it was truly innovative at the time in how cinematic and prescient it was. I was actually able to pitch and execute a 25th anniversary retrospective of that campaign when I worked on the AT&T account at Omnicom.

What’s one marketing-related podcast, social account, or series you’d recommend? I am an avid listener of ICYMI from Slate. It’s not solely marketing-focused, but they cover and dissect the latest trends happening on the internet and social media, and it helps me keep up with what is trending and topical.

Read the full Q&A here.

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Google it: These tips on Google Ads extensions can help improve the search game.

Blocked and reported: Read up on YouTube’s move to block certain ad blockers and what it might mean for the platform.

Spinning plates: Here are some tips on creating a killer franchise social media marketing strategy.

More money, more problems: Not words you use when it comes to your marketing budget. Join our Financial Forecasting course and learn the science behind budgets and finances. Lock in your seat here.

Everything in its right place: For client-facing teams with a high volume of client projects that struggle with consistent delivery, Coordinate lets you handle more business while delighting clients. Try it out.*

Little oat: Meet the founder on a mission to create simple, delicious oat milk—and take on the big-name competition—in our latest Small Business Week story, sponsored by Hulu Ad Manager.*

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The TV upfronts first began in 1962, when which network decided to pitch its fall programming slate to advertisers?

1. ABC
2. CBS
3. NBC

Keep scrolling for the answer.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Could the advertising chops of Twitter’s new CEO turn revenues around?
• Here’s what you missed at the 2023 IAB Podcast Upfront
• Upfronts week 2023 already muddied by exec departures, striking writers