Guide To Podcasts Advertising

Three-quarters of Americans aged 12 or over are now familiar with podcasting. More than a third have listened to a podcast in the past month, and one in five have done so in the past week. That means four times more Americans tune in to a podcast every week than watched the final season premiere of Game of Thrones. 

That’s a lot of regular listeners. And it’s an incredible degree of reach for an advertising channel that’s still massively underused by marketers – an advertising channel that has been proven to deliver great results, like increasing brand awareness and driving sales. 

Not convinced?

According to a recent study, more than half of podcast listeners say they’re more likely to buy a product advertised on a podcast they’ve heard.

This clearly puts podcast advertising leagues ahead of more traditional forms of digital advertising. For example, across all industries, the average click-through rate for a search ad is 1.91%, and just 0.35% for a display ad (and remember, that’s just the click-through rate – we don’t know how many of that 0.05% actually go on to buy).

So what’s going on? Why is podcast advertising seemingly so damn effective?

Why Advertising on Podcasts Works

Podcast advertising is effective for any number of reasons, but there are three key factors that stand out:

1. Trust

One of the biggest reasons podcast advertising is so effective is that listeners tend to be loyal, and as a result, trust the hosts and their recommendations. In fact, 58% of all podcast fans listen to three-quarters or more of what they download, and 78.6% listen to podcasts for more than seven hours a week. In many ways, podcast advertising is comparable to influencer marketing – but it’s often much more affordable. In fact, I’ve found it to be one of the cheapest ways to build a brand and an audience. This could go some way to explaining why marketers are expected to spend more than $1bn on podcast advertising by 2021.

This is in large part because podcast advertising differs significantly from more traditional ad formats, in which ads are matched to the medium they appear on, but that’s all.

There’s no personal link between the ad and the brand – the ad just appears on a specific website or during a TV break because the brand matches the audience of the website or show in question.

When advertising on a podcast, you’re benefiting from a personal recommendation from the hosts, people that the listeners trust. Better yet, you (generally) get all this at a far more affordable rate than similar forms of marketing.

2. High Engagement

Unlike TV, listeners tend to give podcasts their full focus.

Sure, this is never guaranteed – we all get distracted – but it’s easy to give half our attention to a TV show and the other half to our cell phones. It’s far trickier to do the same with a form of media we can listen to but can’t see.

Podcasts aren’t played as background noise. They’re (generally) consumed wholly in a similar manner to a book.

What’s more, a lot of regular podcast consumers tune in when it would be difficult to do anything but listen: When they’re commuting to work, or while walking or working out, for example.

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70% of listeners say that – at least on some occasions – they do nothing else while listening to podcasts. Just 29% of listeners report listening while at work – presumably because work makes it tricky to give the podcast the attention it requires.

Even where listeners are simultaneously performing other tasks, evidence shows this may lead to higher engagement. It was found that rather than reducing brand impact, people who were active while listening to a podcast showed 18% higher engagement, a 22% hike in long-term memory of the podcast, and 40% higher emotional intensity. 

3. No Ad Blockers

The use of ad blocking software is widespread and rising, and it’s forecast to cost publishers $35 billion by 2020.

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Ads in podcasts cannot be blocked by ad blockers, and, while in theory, they could be skipped, they reportedly rarely are.

Enough said.

How Podcast Advertising Works

So you’re still with me – I guess podcast advertising is starting to sound appealing? Let’s run through how it actually works.

While there are no set rules, podcast ads are typically played at the start or in the middle of a show. Slots are also available at the end of a podcast, but since listeners are likely to have tuned out before hearing them, these are much less popular with advertisers.

So what about those slots advertisers do want to appear in? How do they work?

Ads played at the start of a podcast are called “pre-roll” and last 15 seconds as standard.

Ads played around the mid-mark are called “mid-roll” and tend to be much longer than pre-roll ads – around 60 seconds.

The Price of Podcast Advertising

As you might expect, mid-roll ads command a higher price than ads played at the start of the show. That’s because they’re longer, but it’s also because listeners tend to be more engaged at this point.

When the show first starts, they might be settling into whatever activity they plan to do while listening to the podcast, or they might skip over the first few minutes in order to get to the core material.

So what should you expect to pay to promote yourself on a podcast?

While every podcast will be different, and prices will almost always be negotiable, according to podcaster John Lee Dumas, standard industry pricing for podcast advertising is:

• $18 per 1000 CPMs (listens) for a 15 second pre-roll ad.
• $25 per 1000 CPMs (listens) for a 60 second mid-roll ad.

So what does this mean in terms of what you’ll actually be paying?

A podcast with 10,000 listeners will cost you:

• $180 for a pre-roll ad.
• $250 for a mid-roll ad.

You might disagree, but to me that seems like a crazy-low price when considering the quality of the audience you’re reaching.

Sure, you can get in front of far more people for your money with an ad on Facebook or Instagram, but it’s not comparable. The CPM of social advertising might look impressive, but that’s it. Nearly half of consumers report simply scrolling past social ads. Yet marketers are spending more than ever on social media advertising, with social ad spend amounting to more than $84 billion in 2019.

That’s not to say social advertising isn’t worth experimenting with (it does still typically represent great value for money) but the quality of those impressions will be far lower, and as a result, you’re likely to see a poorer ROI.

Tracking Conversions in Podcast Ads

As with any form of advertising that can’t be tracked via a metric like impressions or clicks, the most effective way to track the performance of your ad is with a coupon code.

Simply include a unique and easy-to-remember discount code in your ad, and any customers that use it can be attributed to the ad.

Sure, this isn’t foolproof. Not everyone who buys as a result of the ad will use the code (meaning you might be getting a better ROI than you think).

Likewise the code might get passed around and used by people who haven’t listened to a podcast. Some of these might be customers who would have bought anyway, which – annoyingly – does skew your data.

Others, however, will be people that are hearing about your brand as a result of someone else who heard the podcast – whether or not the customer listened to it themselves is neither here nor there.

Choosing the Right Podcast for You

Advertising with the right podcast is essential to ensuring you get the most bang for your buck. Advertise on the wrong podcast, and you might as well not advertise at all (and throw your ad spend down the toilet while you’re at it).

So what do you need to do to pick the right podcast to advertise on?

The Right Subject Matter

This should be obvious, but I’ll touch on it briefly anyway.

Don’t advertise on any old podcast – or choose a podcast based on how many listeners it has, or how engaged its audience is. Advertise on shows that match your niche and have listeners who are likely to have an interest in your product. It’s better to reach 100 listeners who are in your target market than 10,000 who aren’t.

Saying that, depending on your product, there may be more to matching your brand to an audience than you might initially think.

Take meal kit service Blue Apron.

You’d probably expect them to be featured on podcasts that talk about things like food or health.

While you’d be right – they do advertise in these niches – they also advertise on a comedy podcast hosted by Adam Carolla. They do this because Carolla uses the products himself and is a genuine Blue Apron advocate, so he’s able to promote them in the most natural way possible – even if Blue Apron isn’t the first brand that comes to mind when you think about who might advertise on his show.

Choose the Right Audience Size

Since the cost of advertising on podcasts is almost always based on number of downloads, bigger is not always better.

After subject matter, base your choice of podcast on average listeners, and your budget.

Don’t try to advertise on the biggest podcasts if you can’t afford it, or you’re going to use up your entire budget on a single slot.

It’s better to budget for a regular appearance on a podcast with a smaller audience over a single appearance on a podcast with hundreds of thousands of listeners.

Analyze Feedback

Something worth bearing in mind is that just because someone’s downloaded a podcast does not mean they’ve listened to it – and just because someone’s begun listening to a podcast does not mean they made it past the first few seconds or minutes, or that they gave it their full attention.

You don’t want to be taken for a ride by podcasters who draw listeners in with a catchy title but quickly lose them once those listeners realize the content’s not up to scratch.

So what can you do?

Don’t just look at how many people are downloading a podcast; look at how many people are actually subscribed to it. If you can’t get subscriber data, look at the consistency of downloads. Consistent downloads indicate that a show is worth listening to.

Beyond this, pay attention to ratings and reviews, and investigate the host or hosts’ presence elsewhere online.

Are they respected in their field? Is their following engaged with them on social media? More specifically, do people engage with them about their podcasts?

Sure, download numbers can be a useful indicator, but these additional signs make it much more likely you’ll find a podcast worth advertising on.

Listen to the Podcasts You Want to Advertise On

A lot of podcasters draw in advertisers by boasting about how many downloads they get or listeners they have. This is important, sure, as is relevancy of subject matter and pricing – but it’s not the be-all and end-all when it comes to choosing the right podcasters to work with.

Before you make any kind of commitment, you should spend some time actually listening to the podcasts you’re considering advertising on.

How do they go about promoting advertisers?

Generally you’ll get the best results from podcasters that advertise discreetly – those that naturally interject the brands they’re working with into the conversation.

Avoid working with podcasters who make it blatantly obvious that an ad is an ad.

Consider Tone of Voice

Just because a given podcast appeals to potential users of your product doesn’t mean it’s a great fit for your ads.

Let’s take the example of true crime podcasts. There are hundreds of them, and they’re extremely popular – especially among women. 

Now, let’s assume the audience for your product skews female. True crime podcasts are an obvious place to advertise, right? 

Not necessarily. 

Unsurprisingly, true crime podcasts tend to be pretty… macabre. While your audience might be listening, will the tone of the podcast frame your product in the best light? Or will it sound jarring? Could it even put potential customers off buying it altogether?

Use an Agency

This is by no means necessary, but if you’re strapped for time or just have more pressing tasks to deal with than filtering through podcasts, an agency like Midroll or Archer Avenue can take the hard work off your hands, and find the right podcast for your brand (needless to say, podcasters looking for advertisers can benefit from these services too).

Of course, while this strategy will bring your workload down, you should still check out any recommended podcasts yourself before agreeing to advertise.

Podcast Advertising Best Practices

Podcast advertising may be affordable and effective – aka, great value for money – but to make sure you get the best possible ROI, there are a few best practices you should keep in mind.

Adhere to Industry Ad Length Standards

As with any form of audio or video ad, length is key. Too short and you might not succeed in getting your message across. Too long and listeners may tune out.

However, some platforms are pretty flexible when it comes to the length of ad they will allow (after all, longer ads = more money).

Podcast advertising is different.

As discussed earlier, podcasters usually expect their advertisers to stick to pretty rigid time slots: 15 seconds for a pre-roll ad, and 60 seconds for a mid-roll ad.

This is largely because a podcaster’s key concern is their audience. If the ads they feature are too long or too frequent, they risk alienating their audience. Should that happen, nobody wins.

But this doesn’t mean there’s no room for flexibility.

Depending on your ad and what you’re willing to pay, some podcasters may accept ads that exceed the 60-second standard. Just make sure you’ve considered the potential consequences of deviating from what audiences expect.

On the other hand, there’s no real reason ads can’t be shorter than the standard, as long as you’ve conveyed your message effectively.

Choose the Right Slot

If you’ve got the budget for it, always, always choose a mid-roll slot over pre-roll. As mentioned earlier, listeners are far more likely to be engaged in the content at this point and are less likely to skip over the ad.

Better yet, since mid-roll ads are typically 4x the length of pre-roll, you get more for your money.

That said, if you can afford it, why not go for both? Just make sure to try and negotiate a package discount while you’re at it.

Consider Letting the Hosts Do the Talking

Traditional audio and video ads are pre-recorded by the advertiser (with or without the help of an advertising agency).

This is true of many podcast ads, but a popular alternative is to let the host(s) promote your brand on your behalf.

While this does mean you lose some autonomy over what gets said and in what way, research has shown that host-read ads see the best ROI. This is largely because listeners describe them as more “authentic and believable, and less likely to be felt as forced.”

Indeed, brand mentions within the podcast were found to deliver 16% higher engagement, and 12% higher memory encoding than surrounding content. This triggered an 89% uplift in awareness, 57% higher brand consideration, and a 24% increase in brand favorability, as well as driving purchase intent up by 14%. 

Do you have any other tips for getting started with podcast advertising, or getting the most from your ads once you’ve taken the plunge? As always, I love to hear your thoughts – comments are below.