The Benefits of Buying Ad Time on Podcasts

Alexa Bricker

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Advertising well is a crucial aspect of building and maintaining the right image for your brand. Finding the most effective ways to advertise and promote your business to the public could easily be what differentiates you from the pack.

The recent boom in the podcast industry allows businesses of all kinds to reach new clients in ways never before possible.

Podcast ads are rarely skipped.

In today’s age of DVR and paid music and video streaming services, it can be very easy to bypass advertisements altogether. Even during live TV events, many people will use commercial breaks to use their phone, grab a drink, or go to the bathroom. Podcast ads, however, are usually not skipped. Quite often, podcast listeners are already doing something else while listening. Whether it be commuting to or from work, preparing meals, or even exercising, it is unlikely that a listener will stop what they’re doing to go out of their way to skip through an ad.

Each ad can be curated to each listener.

If you’re buying ad time on podcasts, you’ll likely pay for ads that run on a few different podcasts. Conveniently, you can send out the same ad to five different hosts, and they’ll all put their own spin on it to appeal to their audience in a way only they know how. This way, you can advertise across a wide array of genres without worrying what your ad may or may not be suitable for. Imagine: instead of cutting to commercial during your favorite TV show, the stars of the show came up with creative ways to incorporate the advertisements into their characters, while still managing to hold the attention of the audience.

The ads are content.

In podcasts, there can be a real gray area between what is content and what is an advertisement. A lot of the time, the host(s) will read the ads in a way that is designed to entertain their listeners, especially if the podcast is known for its comedy. It is also not uncommon for a podcast to intertwine a popular segment of a show with an advertisement so to keep their listeners engaged. As a result of this, podcast ads thrive off loyalty. If a host is continuously reading your ad week after week, your brand becomes a common talking point on the show, meaning it’s something the host and their listeners share and associate with one another.

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There is a podcast for everything.

In some cases, podcasts can be very broad in scope. However, in most cases the shows are incredibly specific to the audience that they are serving. Podcasts do very extensive research into their target audiences and provide valuable data for advertisers to interpret for themselves. This means it is easier than ever to get in touch with the exact demographic you are looking for.

By the end of 2018, there were estimated to be over 630,000 active podcasts in the world. (For a frame of reference, only about 500 original TV series aired in the US in 2017.) Podcast listeners also tend to be thorough in their listening, with 80 percent of listeners reporting that they listen to all or most of each podcast, making it a safe bet to place your ad at any point during the episode. Additionally, there was a reported 14 percent increase in purchase intent for brands who advertise on business podcasts. Podcast ad can be highly effective for any brand looking for way to get their message across to just about any demographic.

For great sales and marketing tips every week, be sure to check out Stay Paid, the sales and marketing podcast from ReminderMedia.


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Written by Alexa Bricker

Creative writer who believes in the power of a well-told story and helpful content.