Podcasting advertising in U.S. to reach $4 billion by 2024

Podcast advertising in the U.S. will exceed $2 billion in revenue this year and $4 billion by 2024, according to the latest annual revenue study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PwC.

Why it matters: Podcasting is far from a sideshow. IAB released the report ahead of the Podcast Upfronts, its three-day event where publishers and ad tech companies pitched brands for ad dollars.

That revenue growth follows deeper investments from publishers in audio and more audience engagement, along with improvements in ad tech. Here's some of what publishers pitched on Tuesday:

Disney on IP: "This probably won't come as a surprise, but [Edison's] research showed Disney fans are incredibly loyal and engaged. The most exciting finding for us was that Disney fans who don't consume podcasts right now are likely to start listening to them in order to connect with their favorite franchises." — Reena Mehta, Disney's SVP of streaming and digital content

WBUR on history: "We don't always get the credit. But public media has been inventing stuff for a long time — cooking shows, call-in shows, chart-topping podcasts." — Amory Sivertson, co-host and senior producer of "Endless Thread"

iHeartPodcasts on content diversity: "You have this spread of 50 shows, each driving more than a million monthly downloads, and they're not all in one category. It's not all true crime or history or news or politics or sports. It's spread across 19 or 20 categories." — Conal Byrne, CEO of the iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group