Savvy marketers know that radio is the medium with the #1 reach, but podcasts are becoming increasingly valuable for reaching consumers. Podcast listeners are spending more time with podcasts as well as downloading more of them.
According to Inside Radio, “Edison Research reports podcast fans expanded their listening time to 6 hours and 45 minutes per week on average during the second quarter. And Triton Digital said among its clients, podcast downloads grew eight percent between January and August.”
Podcast advertising volume is also up from the previous year. Its continued growth despite the pandemic may be due in part to improvements in podcast ads’ trackability. Advertisers now have the ability to place a pixel into a podcast ad to determine whether the spot was heard. Lisa Risk, SMI’s Podcast Strategist, said, “Testing pixels led to additional success as a direct result of increased visibility. Utilizing pixels on podcast campaigns gives us insight into additional response that we can attribute to specific shows.”
Radio and podcasts have traditionally been viewed as distinct media with different listenership, hosts, and content—even distinct ads. But, as SMI recently wrote, we may soon see a new chapter in radio, one in which the line between radio and podcasts is increasingly blurred. As we start to see more overlap in hosts and similarities in the content and tone of broadcast radio and podcasts, we will begin to see them not as competing forces but as one combined audio powerhouse. If podcast ads and radio spots can work together as complementary voices spreading one message, their reach will be unlike any the advertising industry has ever seen—or heard.
This approach is one SMI has already begun to adopt, with several clients advertising on both podcasts and radio in tandem. To learn more about SMI’s multi-faceted approach to branding, contact SMI today.