PRISA Audio: the world's leading producer of audio in Spanish

• PRISA Audio is the world leader for non-linear audio production in Spanish with more than 412 million downloads and 800 million listening hours by the end of 2021, just six months after launch.
• It consolidates its position as the top media streaming company in the Spanish-speaking world and the second worldwide, according to Triton Digital's latest Streaming Metrics Monthly Ranker.
• In 2021, PRISA Audio topped the weekly rankings of the main audio aggregators in the market, with podcasts such as Nadie sabe nada, Estirando el Chicle, La Corneta, La vida moderna and Agur, ETA.
• PRISA Audio is set to double production in 2022 in a quantitative and qualitative leap that will enable it to consolidate its position as the global creative gold standard for podcasts in Spanish.
• PRISA Audio is a PRISA platform that brings together all of the Group's non-linear audio content: El País, AS, Cadena SER, Podium Podcast, Cadena DIAL, Los40, and the Latin American stations W Radio, Caracol Radio and ADN Chile, among others.

Just six months after its launch, PRISA Audio has set the gold standard for the non-linear audio industry in Spanish. By the end of 2021, the PRISA platform had registered 412 million downloads and around 800 million listening hours, according to the company's internal data measured by Triton Digital, the leading firm for metrics in the digital audio industry. PRISA Audio is thus the world's leading producer of audio in Spanish.

PRISA Audio is the second-ranking media company in the world for streaming – just behind iHeart Radio – and the first in Latin America*.  

PRISA Audio made its debut  in May 2021, as a key component of the Group's digital strategy and its firm commitment to promoting new formats. PRISA's transversal platform integrates all non-linear audio content: EL PAÍS, AS, Cadena SER, Cadena DIAL, LOS40, and the stations in Latin America (W Radio, Caracol Radio and ADN Chile, among others), as well as Podium Podcast. The latter is a pioneering native podcast platform created in 2016 that reflects PRISA’s commitment to the production of podcasts, at that time an emerging global trend.

As part of its growth strategy, in 2021 PRISA Audio set up teams within each of the different media titles and properties. These work in coordination with the editorial teams and journalists to launch a range of initiatives with the ultimate goal of becoming the most potent agent for transformation in the Spanish-language podcast industry.

Podium Podcast saw 65% year-on-year growth in terms of net downloads, and featured huge hits such as the phenomenally successful  El gran apagón (The Great Blackout). With more than 6.5 million downloads, it is now set to be adapted into a television series this year by Movistar +. Another Podium podcast due to hit the small screen on Movistar+ is Mi año favorito (My Favorite Year), a comedy show that premiered in 2020 and is hosted by Dani Rovira and Arturo González-Campos. In addition to this content, Podium premiered more than 40 shows in 2021, and many of its productions rank among the most listened to on all platforms, including Estirando el chicle (Winner of the 2021 Ondas Award for Best Podcast), Aquí hay dragones and La escóbula de la brújula. Podium has also continued to focus on branded podcasts, in partnership with major companies and leading brands in their sector such as BBVA, AXA Seguros, Repsol, Correos, Acciona and the Japan Tourist Agency.

Meanwhile, SER Podcast, the audio-on-demand division of Cadena SER, enjoyed 29% year-on-year growth, thanks to a range of hit podcasts. Nadie sabe nada, Un libro, una hora, La vida moderna, SER Historia and Acontece que no es poco con Nieves Concostrina were among the most listened to podcasts in Spain. In September 2021, the first original SER podcasts were aired – Agur, ETA, Hora veintipico, Clara conquista and Crónica 24/7 – a production plan that will continue in 2022 with further original creations.

EL PAÍS Audio was created in October 2021 with the goal of developing a voice strategy around the newspaper. It’s made up of a team of journalists who develop and coordinate audio articles (which are read by the journalists themselves), as well as original podcasts and news in audio format. The launch of Los papeles (the investigation into the Bárcenas papers) and the audio articles alone garnered half a million net downloads for EL PAÍS Audio.

AS Audio took its first steps in 2021 with content such as La Pica de AS (covering a range of sports), Mínimo de veterano (NBA), Los últimos de la lista (football), KO a la Carrera (boxing, MMA and wrestling) and Hooligans Ilustrados (football and literature) with the aim of being at the forefront of the production of sports podcasts in Spain, Latin America and the United States. The AS and SER teams have just co-produced Pádel Club, the first podcast dedicated to the sport of padel in Spain, testament to synergies between both newsrooms at the service of audio. Yesterday saw the premiere of No son once, the first podcast to feature in-depth conversations between soccer player Álvaro Benito and leading figures from the world of sports, including Jorge Valdano, Vicente del Bosque and Santi Cazorla.

PRISA's music radio stations (Los40, Cadena Dial, Radiolé) have also been active when it comes to original podcasts in 2021, creating more than 50 series.  

What’s more, PRISA Audio is also Number One  for news in the smart speaker environment. The news bulletin Las Noticias de la SER clocks up a million downloads every month and is one of the 10 most listened to podcasts on SER. Flash Deportes registers more than 400,000 listeners per month, and is a huge success in Spain and Latin America, where it has been among the 50 most listened to podcasts on several occasions in the past year, according to Triton Digital’s ranking. PRISA Audio also offers 15 podcasts on smart speakers with brief local news bulletins, daily music news bulletins from Dial and LOS40, and editions of the bulletins from Colombia (Última Hora Caracol) and Mexico ( Así las cosas, W Radio). .

The growth of podcasts in Chile, Colombia and Mexico has also been notable: Caracol Podcast saw annual growth of 96%, and  LOS40 México’s podcasts enjoyed 136% year-on-year growth, going from 3.1 million listeners in December 2020 to 7.5 million in December 2021. Especially noteworthy is the success of La Corneta  (Los40 México), the most listened to podcast in Spanish, according to Triton Digital. This popular podcast has now reached an agreement with Amazon Music to produce La Corneta Extendida, a spin-off of the original podcast made exclusively for this platform.

All in all, in 2021 a significant number of PRISA Audio podcasts have topped the weekly rankings of the main audio aggregators on the market: Nadie sabe nada, Estirando el Chicle, La Corneta, La vida moderna, Así las cosas, Buenismo bien, Saldremos mejores, La Esfera and El larguero to name but a few.

Finally, with the aim of giving greater visibility to the podcast industry and recognizing the work of its professionals, PRISA Audio, together with Cadena SER and in collaboration with Spotify, announced the Ondas World Podcast Awards in October, dedicated exclusively to this sector in the Spanish-speaking world (Spain and Latin America). The first edition of these global awards sees 888 nominees vying for the prizes, and the awards are set to become a key event in the calendar for the Spanish-language podcast sector. The jury is set to announce the winners on February 23.

In 2022 PRISA Audio is set to forge ahead with its ambitious growth plan and envisages doubling the production of content in a quantitative and qualitative leap that will enable it to consolidate its position and reputation as the global creative gold standard for Spanish-language podcasts.

* Additional information in the appendix.

Appendix

TRITON DIGITAL´S STREAMING METRICS MONTHLY RANKER

November 2021

About Triton Digital's Streaming Metrics

Triton Digital's Streaming Metrics is the industry standard for online audio consumption data . It provides reliable and validated data that allows audio publishers around the world to analyze the consumption of their audio content by time, device type, geographic location, distribution platform, among others. The Triton Rankings are a list of the top performing digital audio publishers and networks as measured by Triton's Streaming Metrics measurement services. Source: TritonDigital.