Libsyn podcast ad revenue grew 48% in 2025

Libsyn’s podcast ad revenue grew 48% last year, the company has announced; downloads are up 17%, and the company served 4.5 billion ad impressions in 2025 - up 46%. The number of creators monetising on the platform has increased more than 2.5x. The company announced that the Libsyn Audience Network is now broadly available: a way for advertisers to buy across Libsyn shows.

Libsyn is making its SXSW debut next week at Podcast Movement Evolutions and the iHeartPodcasts Hotel; they’re also founding sponsor of Oxford Road’s Indie PaC Awards.

In a major change in the UK, the Elis James and John Robins show will be the first podcast that is commercially available under a new BBC Audio Release policy. The new commercial opportunities include the back catalogue of the popular show, which won Best Comedy Show in the British Podcast Awards last October. It’s made by Significant Productions, and will be monetised by Audio Always.

The new BBC policy was announced in October last year. A significant amount of BBC radio output is made by independent programme makers. The new policy allows those “indies” to own the RSS feed for third-party platforms (like Apple or Spotify), and place ads into those podcasts. The shows will continue to be ad-free on BBC radio and within the BBC Sounds app. In return, the policy requires a minimum of 10% of revenue to the BBC, promotional trails to BBC Sounds in the podcast, and clear explanations “as may be supplied or directed by the BBC”. It’s a very limited trial: only twelve shows will get this treatment, and only two per supplier.

Audible announced “localised experiences” in a further 11 new countries. Listeners in Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt will all have local-language recommendations and billing, and will be cross-promoted from their local Amazon sites. The company claims it has grown its number of members by 800% in the last ten years; and the company projects that number will double again in just three years. (Audible funds a number of exclusive podcasts).