Podcast Listeners Take Action Based on Ads They Hear

Written By

Liz Iversen

Published On

Thursday, Feb 16
Girl in white headphones smiling in front of an orange background.

Podcast advertising’s effectiveness has been proven yet again, this time with a new survey from Acast, which found 95% of U.S. podcast listeners have bought a product or researched a brand they heard mentioned on a podcast. Among frequent podcast listeners, that figure is even higher (97%). 

A majority of podcast listeners (68%) say they listen to podcast ads either all the time or more than half of the time, and 82% of podcast listeners agree that listening to ads is a way to support their favorite podcasters. 

According to Acast, the intimate relationship between podcasters and their listeners is largely responsible for podcast advertising’s effectiveness. While host-read ads are slightly more effective at propelling listeners to act, pre-recorded ads are nearly as effective.

As Inside Radio reports, “The survey found seven in ten people who heard a host-read checked out a brand’s social media, which is four points higher than for those who heard a traditional recorded ad. But generally the differences were just a point or two higher for host-reads across the other metrics, including looking at a brand’s website and talking to friends or family about the advertiser.”

For advertisers who want the effectiveness of podcast advertising at a lower cost than host-read ads, pre-recorded podcast ads may offer the best of both worlds.

According to SMI’s Podcast Strategist Lisa Risk, “Programmatic podcast schedules are a cost-effective way for brands to reach a more targeted audience. We recommend utilizing programmatic schedules in conjunction with host-read campaigns in order to maximize ROI. These dual-focused campaigns are able to combine the benefits of lower CPMs and increased targetability of programmatic with the authenticity of host read ads.”

Want to learn more about how podcast advertising can work for your brand? Contact SMI today.