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Podcast
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People often ask us, “What exactly is a podcast?” They aren’t sure if it is radio or streaming, or even how to find one. Podcasting is an emerging media, and we understand it can be confusing. Our best explanation is to think of podcasts as digital audio on-demand.
Let’s break that down a little more. The “digital” means that consumers can access podcasts on any connected device, like desktop computers, mobile phones, smart speakers and tablets. Podcasts are exclusively “audio,” so they are sound-only, allowing consumers to listen while engaged in other activities, like cleaning their house, working out or making dinner. In fact, Edison Research reports that 90% of all podcasts are currently consumed at home.
Finally, the “on-demand” nature of podcasts means listeners tune in whenever they like, on their own schedule. Unlike a live broadcast, or even a billboard, there’s no need to get the timing and location just right. Listeners choose when and when to tune in, and, when they do, they’ll be served your ads.
Now that we’ve established the groundwork, here are five reasons why your business should be advertising in podcasts.
Reason #1: Less Noise
In today’s world, more and more Americans are listening to podcasts. In fact, one-quarter of Americans 12+ listen to podcasts weekly and the audience is incredibly diverse, Edison reports. Fifty-seven percent of monthly podcast listeners are white, 16% are Latino, 13% are African American and 4% are Asian-American.
Despite that growing popularity, some brands haven’t fully embraced podcasts. While other forms of digital and linear advertising grow more cluttered, podcasting is incredibly unsaturated. That means there are significant opportunities to stand out. What’s more, the podcast marketplace is boundless, limited only by how many shows producers can create. Listeners are devouring that content, with the average user streaming the average listener is now streaming 100 more minutes per week than they were prior to the pandemic, or a total of 6 hours and 39 minutes per week on average, per Comscore.
Combining a fast-growing listener base with a lagging competitive landscape leads to an advertising market where businesses have more opportunities to actually be heard by their audience.
Reason #2: High conversion
Many businesses may be unaware just how cost-effective podcast marketing really is. Not only does the average podcast campaign deliver a whopping ROI of 242% on the dollar, but studies have found that podcasts deliver the highest conversion rates too.
While TV yields a 3.1% lift in conversion, compared to print with 2.4% and digital display at 1.1%, podcasts come in at 34% lift on average!
Reason #3: Audience targeting
With platforms like AudioGo, advertisers have the ability to target their audience based on behavior, and refine their audience based on specific interests (think car enthusiasts) and their status as a consumer in that interest area (think car owners).
Advertisers can also target Spanish speakers by tapping directly into the more than 30 million Hispanic-Americans streaming Entravision’s AudioEngage. AudioGo is partnered with this platform to give customers another level of audience refinement.
To get even more granular, advertisers can even target by zip codes and cities in order to reach specific local audiences.
Not only does podcast marketing allow advertisers to target their audience in the same ways other digital channels allow, but with display retargeting, businesses can also reconnect with people who have already listened to their audio ad with a display ad as they browse online. That brings all of your campaigns full-circle and allows for seamless integration.
Reason #4: No ad blockers
Another great advantage of podcast marketing is the fact that they’re virtually no ad blockers.
While a very small number of podcast ad blocking apps do exist, these products and their use are irrelevant compared to the widespread use of ad blockers on other channels.
Podcasts listeners also display high recall rates, with IAB studies showing 67% of listeners being able to recall an actual product feature or specific promotion mentioned in a podcast ad.
Reason #5: High audience engagement
The high recall rates shown above make a lot of sense when you take a look at how engaged podcast listeners are while they're tuned into their program.
Separate studies show that podcast listeners display massive engagement rates (76%) similar to that of listeners of the weather or the news (both 79%), putting them far ahead of people watching TV (56%) or using social media (50%).
The Takeaway
To review, podcast marketing brings a fast-growing listener base together with a lagging competitive landscape in terms of advertisers. Audience targeting, as well as high ROI and conversion rates, make podcast campaigns affordable and cost-effective. Most importantly, in today’s cluttered ad market, listeners will actually hear your messages, and they’re more likely to engage and take action. Now that’s a message we’re sure you can get behind.
