PRISA becomes the world’s second-largest audio streaming company and ranks number one in Spanish

• PRISA Audio sets the gold standard in the industry by clocking up 574 million downloads and 971 million listening hours last year – a year-on-year increase of 39% and 17%, respectively.

• The figures, provided by Triton Digital’s Streaming Metrics Monthly Ranker, are testament to PRISA’s leadership as an audio producer.

• With 1,200 podcasts, and partnerships with Podimo, Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify and Penguin Random House, PRISA Audio tops the weekly aggregator charts with podcasts such as Nadie sabe Nada, Estirando el Chicle and Hoy en El País.

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  The audio division’s advertising revenue grew 43% over the previous year.

PRISA Audio, the PRISA Media platform that integrates all of the Group’s digital audio production, strengthened its lead in Spanish-language production worldwide in 2022, yet another key milestone in PRISA’s ongoing commitment to leading the transformation of quality journalism and entertainment.

Last year, the division clocked up 574 million downloads and 971 million listening hours – representing year-on-year growth of 39% and 17%, respectively. Thus, for the second consecutive year, Triton Digital’s Streaming Metrics Monthly Ranker, the industry standard for online audio consumption data, ranks it the world’s top Spanish-language streaming company and the second overall worldwide, just after US-based iHeartMedia.

Carlos Núñez, executive chairperson of PRISA Media, took stock of the year this Thursday and looked ahead to the challenges of 2023, together with the managing director of PRISA Audio, María Jesús Espinosa de los Monteros, at an event organized by PRISA Audio that brought together representatives of the sector. Núñez explained that this constant growth was thanks largely to the group’s commitment to creating quality content of interest to listeners. “Combining, as PRISA Audio does, creativity and innovation with the power of our news media brands and technological development is decisive in the streaming industry,” he said, while also noting the importance of Group’s expansion strategy in Latin America.

In 2022, PRISA Audio produced a total of 1,200 podcasts. It launched 82 new podcasts, of which 54 are original (for the group’s own media), 17 are productions for third parties and 11 are branded podcasts. These figures have enabled PRISA Audio to practically double revenue over the past year. Advertising and sponsored content have seen growth of 43% compared to 2021 and revenue from new lines such as third-party production, events and intellectual property management have doubled

PRISA Audio was launched in May 2021 as part of the Group’s digital strategy and commitment to new formats. It brings together the non-linear audio content of El País, As, Cadena SER, Podium Podcast, Cadena Dial, LOS40 and group stations in Latin America, such as W Radio, Caracol Radio and ADN Chile, among others.

In 2022, PRISA Audio continued to forge ahead with the creation and consolidation of new teams and brands, such as El País Audio, As Audio and Podium Podcast Chile. The most popular print-media podcast is Hoy en El País, which in just 10 months had already registered 15 million downloads and is expanding to Saturdays and Sundays thanks to Podimo. Silvia Cruz Lapeña, the editor-in-chief of El País Audio, unveiled a range of novelties for 2023, including, on January 24, the debut of the podcast by Leontxo García, the newspaper’s resident chess expert. Meanwhile new investigative journalism formats are set to be rolled out over the coming months.

Cadena SER also had a good year, with more than 250 million downloads ― a 38.5% increase compared to 2021. The network also saw a significant increase in subscribers on YouTube, and its podcast Nadie sabe nada was the audience favorite. There were also outstanding sports productions by As Audio and Cadena SER, which have developed their own content, including Carrusel Deportivo and El larguero, and the podcasts Los cromos del Mundial, _España,1982 and Mínimo de veterano._

Meanwhile, Podium Podcast saw net downloads rise by 36%, and produced 25 new titles. There was notable success for Estirando el chicle, which in addition to topping the rankings as the most-listened-to podcast, drew a crowd of 12,000 fans to fill the Wizink Center stadium in Madrid. A further 16,000 fans followed the event via streaming. Podium has also continued apace with branded podcasts, includingCambio de sentido – a podcast on sustainability in partnership with BMW and presented by Juan del Val – and Road to Dakar 2023, a production made for Audi together with As and Cadena SER, and presented by José Antonio Ponseti. Other branded podcasts have been produced for LaLiga, Caixa Forum, Ericsson, the State Lottery and Banco Sabadell.

As the top-ranking podcast producer in the Spanish-speaking world, PRISA Audio also strengthened its presence in Latin America in 2022 with the debut of Podium Podcast Chile_. With this launch, the group now offers Chilean listeners a portal where they can consume the very best content, including the entire PRISA Media catalog. More recently, Podium Podcast has also launched in Colombia and will soon make its debut in Mexico, thus culminating its expansion in Latin America.

In 2022, PRISA Audio also worked to strengthen agreements with third parties. Thus, almost two dozen original series have been aired in partnership with Podimo, Spotify and Amazon Music. And a deal has recently been signed with Penguin Random House to create and co-produce original podcast content involving the publisher’s authors and books. In the coming months, the companies will together launch a book club and a range of other projects to connect writers’ stories with readers around the world.

PRISA Audio’s also productions top the weekly lists compiled by the main audio aggregators in the market. Top hits include Nadie sabe Nada, Estirando el Chicle, La Corneta, Acontece que no es poco, Así las cosas, Buenismo bien, Saldremos mejores, Aquí hay dragones and El larguero.

Looking ahead to 2023, the group hopes to forge ahead with its growth plan in the areas of quality journalism and entertainment, said María Jesús Espinosa de los Monteros, managing director of Prisa Audio, and who acted as master of ceremonies for the event: “Our goal is to become a key agent of transformation in the podcast industry.”.

Ondas World Podcast Awards

The buoyant performance of the podcast sector is reflected in the number of contenders – 1,178 in total – for the Ondas World Podcast Awards, organized by PRISA Audio and Cadena SER. The Awards are celebrating their second edition this year, with 25% more candidates than last year.

This year, the awards are sponsored by Amazon Music and Audible, and have the support of the Junta de Andalucía, the Diputación and Malaga City Council, who once again are backing the event after the success of the first edition. The awards have already established themselves as a key event in the Spanish-language podcast world.