Owl & Co · Global Podcast Economy Report · May 2026

The podcast economy crossed $9.2 billion. Video is changing the picture.

The Global Podcast Economy '26 maps revenue beyond advertising: across audio and video, consumer support, and the ancillary lines most models leave out. Built from over 300,000 data points across 1,600+ publishers, drawing on conversations with more than 100 podcast publishers and experts around the world.

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$9.2B

Global podcast revenue, 2025

+23%

Year-over-year growth

$6B

US, the largest market, +27%

41%

Of US ad revenue now video

The public edition gives you the map. The subscriber edition tells you who's winning it, and how.

Public Edition

The market, sized and structured.

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The $9.2B market, split into revenue buckets plus growth over the prior year

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Regional breakdown UCAN, EMEA, APAC, LATAM

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The US net revenue deep dive and the largest markets

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Video's role

Subscriber Edition

Six questions the public edition doesn't answer.

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Who's winning the US ad market. The 10 companies that capture ~60% of revenue, ranked by direct vs programmatic mix.

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Where the long tail money sits. The ~40% of US ad revenue outside the top 10, and who's positioned to consolidate it.

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The global league table, by size and by momentum. Top 10 worldwide with growth rates, the four distinct business models inside the top tier, and what the growth spread reveals about durable advantage.

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Where $2.2B in consumer revenue flows. Patreon vs publisher-direct vs platform premium splits. Three ad-free monetization models, and which one is taking share.

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M&A and implied multiples by archetype. Network-with-IP, audio-only publisher, video-first, platform. The valuation logic behind significant recent deals and what it signals about 2026/2027 exits.

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What's accelerating, what's saturating, what's stuck. Vertical-level growth and monetization profiles. Three scenarios that could reshape 2026, including AI. The five questions every podcast operator should answer.

Public Edition

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FAQ

Every edition is delivered as a PDF, and Enterprise licenses also include the underlying Excel dataset, so your team can run its own cuts.

Team and Enterprise licenses include the right to cite the report externally with attribution. That's the main reason we verify your work email before issuing citation rights.

Team licenses cover 5 named seats; Enterprise is org-licensed for unlimited internal access across your organization. Your seat count is confirmed with your quote.

Enterprise includes a 30-minute session with Hernan to pressure-test the findings against your own strategy: where you're positioned in the league table, which scenarios matter most to you, and what the multiples imply for your next move.

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