The Growth of Podcast Advertising as a Medium

Advertising has evolved, and we all know it…

Remember the days of the 1990s when we were excited to see those old-school banners, today, the advertising seems like it has come of age completely. However, this is not the end. Apart from video advertising, audio advertising also has a story to share.

Lately, podcasts accounted for a small portion of the total ad spend but some new data shows that the US podcast spending will cross $2 billion by 2023. Podcasts are reaching more and more listeners daily and the latest ad tech innovations have given the control in the hands of advertisers to scale, measure, and target listeners from all over the world.

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Podcasts have evolved and it looks something like the following:

2004-2012: Simple digital formats, analog advertising

The early days of podcasting were marked by the creators and publishers recording their content and uploading it directly to the specific podcast at hand.

2013-2019: The beginning of DAI (Dynamic ad insertion)

As the number of podcast listeners increased, the industry took a step forward with the introduction of DAI. Through DAI, the ad read is recorded and produced separately from the podcast episode and the ad is inserted into the content at the time of download by the podcast hosting platform.

2020 to present: Leveling up the standards with SAI

SAI stands for streaming Ad insertion (SAI). The listener presses play on a podcast episode with empty ad slots ready for ad insertion. Due to the new technology, the ad impressions are counted in real-time.

Many global brands are taking advantage of this growing podcast advertising niche. If you want to make the most of podcast advertising, the following innovations will be helpful to you.

Using podcasts for brand awareness

• While podcasts can be a good tool for lead generation, advertisers must use them for brand awareness and expose the brand in front of the audience.
• It is okay not to get measurable ROI with podcasts. The audience will still learn about your brand.
• Go with the flow, do not fabricate anything just to get more followers.

Understanding the eclectic tastes of the audience

• Scripted ads do not work well, if the host can speak about the ad, there is nothing like it. It will perform better.
• For better results, consider producing organic mentions.
• Your listeners must not feel like they are bombarded with third-party ads.
• Your audience may have eclectic tastes, learn about them before shooting your ads.

Testing and measuring

• In this digital age, analytics and measurements are the keys to determining the success of any ad campaign. Some examples are using custom links, promo codes, and post-checkout surveys to track your success.
• Make peace with the fact that not all of your ads will work at first, and you will need a range of podcast ads to know what works and what does not.

Top brands Leveraging Podcasts as an effective marketing tool

1. Canva

We know Canva, the #1 graphics and publishing tool from Australia with more than 15 million users in over 190 countries. How do you think it has become so popular in just five years? It is only due to their clever marketing techniques, strong SEO, content marketing, and podcasts.

Canva identified its niche and matched it to the podcast channel to extend the word of mouth around the service. And, it worked.

2. Hello Fresh

Another brand that we know did very well with podcast advertising is Hello Fresh. Ads from the brand are found in nine different podcast categories. The ads worked as hosts mostly read them.

3. BetterHelp

BetterHelp is an online counseling service, and it is also one of the top-most podcast advertisers in the US. The company has reportedly increased its investment by 80% due to its podcast advertising.

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Global podcast platforms

1. Midroll

• Used by more than 800 global brands to buy ad spots on 300+ podcasts.
• The ads can be pre-recorded or host-read, depending upon the preferences of the advertiser.
• The price of the ads is charged on the CPM model.

2. Podcast One

• The podcast advertising agency marks around 2.1 billion annual downloads and 350 episodes produced weekly.
• Advertisers can go for pre-recorded or host-read ads. They can also choose its geo-targeting along with copy-split capabilities to ensure they can target the right target audience.

3. AdvertiseCast

• AdvertiseCast offers three different ad varieties to advertisers namely; baked-in-host-reads, dynamically inserted ads, and custom podcasts.
• It is an end-to-end ad campaign platform where advertisers can easily manage ads and view detailed metrics to understand the ad performance.

Wrapping Up

Undoubtedly, podcast advertising has a vast potential to be unlocked by marketers. It is a marketing tactic that is continuing to grow. As thousands of people are listening to podcasts, and engagement rates are also increasing, modern brands can no longer ignore podcast advertising.