Podcast sponsorship revenue continues to fuel NPR’s financial growth

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https://current.org/2019/09/podcast-sponsorship-revenues-continue-to-fuel-nprs-financial-growth/

NPR is projecting that podcast sponsorship revenues will surpass revenues from broadcast sponsorships next year for the first time.

During NPR’s membership meeting Sept. 5, Chief Financial Officer Deborah Cowan told public radio station leaders that the network has budgeted about $55 million in corporate sponsorship revenues from podcasts in fiscal year 2020.

That’s about $5 million more than the roughly $50 million total that NPR projects to bring in from podcast sponsorship by the end of FY19, which runs through this month, Cowan said.

Podcasts have been a “huge return on investment for us and a major growth engine for our business,” Cowan said.

Podcast sponsorship revenues are helping to fund initiatives throughout NPR, said outgoing CEO Jarl Mohn during the meeting. It “pays for the international bureaus, for the increased election coverage, for all the special content in the news magazines and so forth,” he said.

“The bulk of the revenue from podcasts is plowed back into the news department and the news magazines,” he said.

“You could argue that more money should be pushed back … into the podcasting,” he added.

And a new report on how podcasts are a factor in NPR's growth.