As a business owner or marketer, you’re always looking for ways to increase sales and get more customers. Well, we have great news for you: did you know that podcast advertising could be a great way to do just that? Podcast advertising, specifically programmatic podcast advertising, is a relatively new ad placement opportunity, but it’s growing in popularity fast. “Today, there’s more than two million active podcasts around the world with 424.2 million listeners tuning in, representing 20.3% of all internet users.”
Here is everything you need to know about podcast advertising and four main ways your business can benefit from it.
What Is Podcast Advertising?
It’s exactly what it sounds like – podcast advertising is a form of advertising that involves placing ads in podcasts. Some popular podcasts have millions of listeners, and your target audience probably listens to many different types of podcasts, which makes them a great way to reach your audience.
Podcasts are especially effective because people tend to listen to them while doing other activities such as driving or working out at the gym. This means that listeners are more likely to hear your ads and remember them than if you were just running them on television or radio.
There are two main types of advertising in podcasts: host-read ads and pre-produced ads.
- Host-read ads are read by the podcast host. These can be at the beginning or end of an episode, or sometimes in the middle. They’re typically up to 30 seconds long and are usually read at a slower pace than the rest of the show.
- Pre-produced ads are recorded by you or someone from your team and then played during the episode. These ads can be up to 60 seconds long, and they’re usually played at a faster pace than other parts of the show.
How Do You Purchase Podcast Ad Placements?
Podcast ad placements can either be purchased directly with podcasts, or accessed with programmatic buying. Programmatic advertising is the automated selling and insertion of ads in podcasts, but it can also expand to audio articles, digital radio, and streaming music services. As a result, advertisers get better targeting, measurement, and retargeting opportunities to execute campaigns with great efficiency.
Programmatic podcast advertising is expected to grow from $117M in 2022 to $238M in 2024 – an increase of over 100%.
Four Benefits of Programmatic Podcast Advertising
1. Reach a new engaged audience
Podcast advertising can help you reach a new audience that you might not have been able to reach before. By advertising on podcasts, your business will be exposed to an audience of listeners who are already interested in the content being produced. Since these listeners have opted into receiving this content on their mobile devices, they are more likely to listen to your ad and be receptive to it than if they had been interrupted by it while watching television or listening to the radio.
With programmatic podcast advertising, you can serve ads directly on any podcast your audience is listening to, not just on the category-based podcasts that all fall under the same umbrella.
2. Build brand awareness
Podcast advertising can help you build brand awareness and get your name out there.
Because they’re so popular, people listen to podcasts all the time. The listeners are often very engaged and active, which means that they’ll be more likely to remember your brand after hearing it advertised on a podcast.
With programmatic podcast advertising, you can be sure that you’re building that kind of brand awareness and getting in front of your target audience every step of the way to do so.
3. Increase sales
Podcast listeners tend to be highly engaged, meaning that when they hear about something on a podcast, they’re more likely than other types of listeners to take action and make purchases.
Podcasts can also provide a very targeted audience, especially when utilizing programmatic advertising: the people who listen to podcasts are typically interested in what the show has to offer, so when they hear about brands/products on those podcasts, they’re more likely than other types of listeners to buy them.
4. Boost website traffic
Podcast advertising can help you boost website traffic by encouraging listeners to visit your site. Include a call to action in the podcast ad that tells people to visit your website, and maybe even try to include something about the podcast on the website, even in a small way.
On the inside of this, with programmatic you are actually able to see this boost in website traffic in more detail and the weighted actions may have come from it as a result.
How To Get Started with Programmatic Podcast Advertising
Programmatic podcast advertising is a great medium to reach a new audience, increase brand awareness, and make money with your advertisements. The best part of all of this? The incredible amount of podcasts out there means that you can choose the right one for your business and make sure that it gets heard.
The team at Above The Fold, a programmatic podcast advertising agency, can work with you to build a custom media plan that will reach your target customer persona through a great variety of podcasts. Just request a custom media plan or connect with us!