Podcast distribution platform Audioboom has revealed that the company lost $4.1 million in revenue in Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2022, but has continued to show positive growth within its operations.
The company stated that the revenue loss was expected after true crime podcast Morbid - which made up a fifth of the group’s revenue - left the Audioboom Creator Network in May 2022. Without counting income from Morbid ad sales, Audioboom’s total revenue in Q1 2022 would have been $15.4 million, which is equivalent to the total revenue for this quarter.
As of February 2023, Morbid is the fifth most downloaded podcast in the US - according to Triton Digital - and is now represented by sales network Wondery, under Amazon Music. After Morbid left Audioboom, the network lost 30 million monthly podcast downloads. It has since not only replaced them through new multi-year signings and strategic partnerships, but also increased its global monthly downloads by 13% since Q4 2022, now at 125.2 million.
“We recognise the near-term challenging ad market conditions, but in the medium to long-term we are confident that brands continue to trust podcasting as a key part of their marketing strategy - highlighted by the $52 million of advertising revenue that we currently have booked for 2023,” said Audioboom CEO Stuart Last. “We continue to expect to deliver year-on-year growth for the full year as well as continuing to outperform the wider market, and we see strong signs that the ad market is returning.”
In its annual financial report for 2022, Audioboom revealed that the company’s progress was hindered by global economic conditions that affected the advertising market and lowered its average e-CPM (revenue per 1,000 downloads) from $64.64 in the first half of 2022 to to $52.88 in the second half of that year. Short term pricing and no change in the economic climate has lowered Audioboom’s eCPM for Q4 2022 with an average of $41, which is $7.50 lower than Q1 2022.
However, the company does show strong potential growth within its global advertising marketplace Showcase, with its monthly brand advertiser count up 9% since Q4 2022 (6,498) and a record of 2.5 billion total advertising impressions across the Audioboom platform, up by 31% since the previous quarter.
“Our operational enhancements ensure that we are primed to take full advantage of future improvements in the ad market - we have more inventory to sell than ever before and will do so at a more favourable revenue share,” said Last. “The recent restructuring of our sales operation is enabling us to build a new customer-base with larger, more mature brands and agencies - an incremental opportunity that will allow us to optimise our monetisation platform.”
Recent commercial developments made by the Audioboom team include renewing the company’s multi-year commercial partnership with ARN’s iHeartPodcasts network in Australia which will provide exclusive monetisation representation of Audioboom’s advertising inventory in the region.
Audioboom also recently announced a slate of new podcasts with exclusive tier one partnerships across its creator network including business podcast Networth & Chill, comedy podcast Sisterhood, Teachers Off Duty, fiction podcast No Sleep, finance podcast Your Rich BFF, true crime podcast Cup of Justice, Usual Disclaimer with Eleanor Neale and Stan Report with Brittany Broski.
Lastly, Audioboom also renewed its partnership with a number of its key partners and creators including Formula 1 to continue co-producing its official podcasts - F1: Beyond the Grid and F1 Nation - and other podcasts including Tiny Meat Gang, Astonishing Legends, Speak The Truth, Killer Queens, Devils in the Dark and The Cycling Podcast.
