“I swear it still feels like podcasting is just getting started.”
That’s a quote from iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group CEO Conal Byrne, speaking to Yahoo! Finance’s Ali Canal and two other business reporters. They participated in a 10-minute conversation distributed Friday by the online financial news organization, and it put a big spotlight on the nation’s No. 1 audio creation and distribution company’s podcasting prowess.
With respect to podcasting, Byrne says the medium is in its “first or second inning.” And, it seems “TV rewatch” formats, including now-concluded series such as New Girl and 90210, are apparently gaining traction.
With sports, comedy and True Crime growing fast as podcast categories, “rewatch” category podcasts are, too.
What are they? Simply stated, the cast of now-concluded programs are reuniting for podcasts with their old show as a theme — and “Fake Friends, Real Doctors” featuring Zach Braff and Donald Faison discussing his time on Scrubs is one of them. Byrne says it is iHeartMedia’s biggest hit in the “rewatch” space.
In fact, Byrne says “Fake Friends, Real Doctors” is a podcast that “shot right out of the gate” right at the start of quarantine to almost 5 million downloads per month.
While a rediscovery of now-concluded TV shows — the “rerun” of the OTT generation — could be driving the popularity, Byrne suggests that simple nostalgia is also a part of the mix, “driving community in a whole new way through podcasting.”
It’s something iHeartMedia never predicted would be a growth magnet.
Byrne also used the Yahoo! interview with Byrne to tout audio’s sizzling status in 2022. “Audio is the hottest medium in the world right now with the fastest growth rates — to hit that mass reach status in podcasting, you should be exploiting audio and treating it as a playground,” Byrne said.
While that’s true, iHeartMedia and audio content competitor Spotify, have each experienced sharp year-to-date stock declines even as U.S. podcast advertising revenues rose to $1.4 billion in 2021, surpassing the $1 billion mark for the first time, IAB data show.
Byrne shared, “Advertisers actually spend more every year in podcasting.”
Spotify is down 52.4% year-to-date. For iHeartMedia stock, it is down 63.2% year-to-date.
