Podcast hosting platform Libsyn’s revenue grew by almost 40% over 2022, according to early financial results from the company, with 57% coming from its advertising business.
The company today released a financial and operational update for 2022, the first such update from the company since late 2020. Libsyn’s failure to file legally-mandated financial reports led to the US Securities and Exchanges Commission ordering the revocation of the company’s stocks from the market in April last year, preventing them from being traded on the open market.
According to the update, Libsyn’s “preliminary unaudited revenue” grew by 39.4% over 2022, reaching a total of $58.7 million, following 63% revenue growth the previous year. Much of this has been driven by acquisitions and partnerships within the advertising space, including the purchase and expansion of German podcast advertising firm Julep Media, which recently expanded into Spain, and an integration with YouTube to provide real-time data on ad campaigns for video podcasts.
The company has also signed exclusive monetisation partnerships with several podcasts and networks, including pop culture podcast The Viall Files, horror podcast Lore, and Canadian networks 604 Podcast Network and The Suspendables. Last year also saw the launch of Automatic Ads, Libsyn’s programmatic podcast advertising solution.
“The advertising market has been challenging for many companies, and we have not been immune to those macro trends,” said Libsyn’s CEO Bradley Tirpak. “Still, we remain optimistic that both host-read and programmatic podcast advertising will continue to grow as podcast consumption shows no sign of slowing down.”
“According to The Infinite Dial 2022 from Edison Research, in 2022, 62% of those aged 12+ in the U.S. (an estimated 177 million people) have now listened to a podcast, up from 57% last year. We are extremely well-positioned to take advantage of this continued growth in podcast listeners through both our enhanced hosting services and our increasing ad sales capabilities.”
Libsyn’s performance is comparable with rival Acast, which achieved 36% net sales growth for 2022 according to its latest financial report. Although Acast continues to operate at a loss, its sales figure for last year was $132 million in total, significantly surpassing Libsyn’s revenues. However, Libsyn has not indicated whether it is profitable.
