Why Podcast Ads Have A Measurement Problem

Read original story on: Digiday

Thanks to the surprise hit “Serial,” there’s little dispute that podcasts are all the rage right now. Indeed, the recently revived medium is growing exponentially, reportedly reaching 65 million monthly unique listeners last month. Yet large brands have been hesitant to embrace the medium, for which its undeveloped audience measurement system is to blame.

Apple dominates the podcasting landscape, with around 70% of all podcast downloads via iTunes and its iOS podcast apps, but the company lacks incentive to offer better measurement since it doesn’t host the content and has no plans to monetize the medium. But as its audience size grows, a mature audience measurement system seems inevitable, and necessary, for podcast. After all, brands and podcast belong together.