What Acast's Q3 earnings signal about the global podcasting market

As one of the key players in podcast industry trends and podcast monetisation, what happens at Acast matters. The company’s financials provide insight into the global podcasting market, signalling to the broader industry the strength of podcast advertising. In its most recent financial results, Acast reported impressive growth in net sales, but its regional performance highlights the diverse growth trajectories in various global podcasting markets. 

The company reported a 12% increase in net sales compared to last year. Acast’s Q3 2024 financials attribute much of this growth to North America, which recorded a striking 29% year-over-year increase. This performance suggests that Acast’s investments in North America have been successful, but it also indicates that podcasting is growing quickly in the region — far more quickly than it is in the UK. 

Acast’s growth in Europe was only 3% even through growth in continental Europe and the Nordics remained strong. The UK, as a result, is likely the limiting factor here, and it may be due to the continued strength of public broadcasting and more traditional news media sources in the country (i.e., BBC). 

It is also worth noting that The Economist put its podcasts behind a paywall in 2023 (per podnews), increasing its subscription revenue substantially while retaining 80% of its subscribers and reducing the number of ads served there. Even if The Economist uses Acast to monetise its podcasts, it may also suggest a greater willingness for UK audiences to pay for podcasts rather than sit through ads.

Acast also reported a 20% revenue increase in its “other markets” segment, pointing to the rapid growth of emerging markets where podcast penetration accelerated with the rise of YouTube in the post-pandemic digital boom. Global demand for podcasting continues to spread, especially in countries where YouTube is the dominant platform for all things audio and video, which positions these markets as the future growth engines for the podcast industry.

All that said, it could very well be that Acast is simply targeting its sales strategy in North America, where it has less of a footprint than in Europe. The US is also the strongest advertising market in the world, as outlined in MIDiA’s global podcast forecasts. Podcast monetisation in emerging markets is also still nascent, so outsized growth is bound to happen there at the start. All of these things may be true, but Acast’s financial growth trends still suggest North America and markets beyond Europe remain the key regions of interest for the global growth of podcasting.

Investors seem cautiously optimistic, with stock prices up 56% year-to-date but down 10% in the last five days. Revenue may be up 12% globally for Acast, but operating expenses are still high and net income is still negative, meaning the company — and podcasting writ large — will need to continue to look to high growth markets to ensure podcasting’s future success. Because advertising remains podcasting’s best monetisation opportunity, Acast is well positioned to be at the forefront of this success, though video will have to enter the conversation at some point.