Digital audio revenues up 500% in Q1 2022, reports AOP and Deloitte

The latest Digital Publishers’ Revenue Index (DPRI) from the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) and Deloitte has revealed digital revenue grew 18% to £610.3million on a 12-month moving annual total basis to March 2022.

During Q1 2022, digital audio saw the strongest growth, increasing by 500% to £4.2million when compared to Q1 2021. Subscriptions also continued to show promising growth, up 14.7% in Q1 2022 to reach an income of £38.2million, confirming that appetite to pay for quality journalism remains strong. Display advertising held its position as the largest category by revenue for digital publishers; with income reaching £66.4million in Q1 2022, an increase of 23.9% against Q1 2021.

Multi-platform revenue saw an increase of 21.7% compared to Q1 2021, while mobile devices and desktop saw revenue declines of 16.1% and 35.2% respectively in Q1 2022. This indicates advertising campaigns are being run across at least two different devices, reflecting the way consumers access content across platforms.

B2B and B2C publishers experienced an uptick in publishing revenues, both on a 12-month rolling basis and as a year-on-year change. B2B revenue increased by 8.7% in March 2022 relative to March 2021, increasing to £52.7 million. Meanwhile, B2C revenue grew by 24.3% in March 2022 vs March 2021, driven by a significant expansion in sponsorship and digital audio.

Half of respondents (50%) reported positive revenue growth, with the strong majority (83%) reporting ‘advertising revenue growth’ as a high priority for their business in the next 12 months. All respondents believe new products will be a key focus for their business in the next year, however cost reduction targets also remain important.

Dan Ison, lead partner for telecommunications, media and entertainment at Deloitte, said: “Many digital publishers have looked to the airwaves for growth in the past two-years, launching radio offerings and podcasts that entice new audiences and spark rising revenues. We know there are as many daily podcast listeners as there are online radio listeners, with one in 10 UK adults under the age of 25 now having access to a paid-for podcast subscription. Tuning into content throughout the day – whether that’s while commuting, preparing dinner or driving the car – creates an intimate experience for audiences while engendering loyalty. At a time when the cost-of-living crisis is squeezing household finances, many will be questioning the necessity of their media subscriptions. This makes it all the more important for publishers to be concentrating on the creation of regular, unmissable content.”

Richard Reeves, Managing Director at AOP, commented: “We’ve seen revenue for digital audio grow steadily over the last few quarters, driven in part by what’s being deemed the ‘golden age of podcasts’. The 500% revenue growth reported for this channel in Q1 2022 demonstrates that publishers are now successfully monetising this type of content. It’s also interesting to see the drop in revenue for mobile and desktop-only devices, as this indicates the continued shift towards multi channel campaigns.”

-ENDS-

Notes to Editor

About the DPRI Report
The Q1 2022 DPRI report – conducted by AOP and Deloitte – is based on a survey of 12 UK digital publishers comprising eight B2C publishers and four B2B publishers. The aim of the report is to provide an overview of revenue levels across multiple channels and platforms – as well as insight into publisher sentiment – and to benchmark these findings against previous quarters.

While the DPRI revenue index records a look-back of data over Q1 2022; the publisher sentiment index considers Board member observations given in Q2 2022 to provide a timelier understanding of current feelings. This is a reporting change implemented in 2019.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

About Association of Online Publishers
Association of Online Publishers (AOP) is an industry body representing digital publishing companies that create original, branded, quality content. AOP champions the interests of media owners from diverse backgrounds including newspaper and magazine publishing, TV and radio broadcasting, and pure online media. For more information, please visit
www.ukaop.org.

About Deloitte
In this press release, references to “Deloitte” are references to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“DTTL”), a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity.

Please see deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.

Deloitte LLP is a subsidiary of Deloitte NSE LLP, which is a member firm of DTTL, and is among the UK’s leading professional services firms.

For more information, please visit www.deloitte.co.uk.