Video puts new spotlight on podcasts
According to the song, video killed the radio star. But, these days, video is giving the podcast market a boost.
More advertisers are jumping into podcasts and growth is expected to continue as more shows stream video in addition to audio content.
US media buyers say the personal relationship between podcasters and their audiences creates engagement that makes podcast advertising more effective than other channels — especially when popular hosts endorse the sponsor’s product.
“If you want to reach higher-income people in audio, where people are spending more and more time on their phones, you want to be in podcasts,” said Robert Hunt, senior director of national audio at Omnicom’s Hearts & Science New York.
As clients learn more about the effectiveness of podcast advertising and how to measure audiences, spending should grow. “We still very much see a disconnect between the amount of time spent in the arena versus the actual adspend,” Hunt observed.
In the Infinite Dial 2025 report by Edison Research, 47% of Americans listened to a podcast per month in 2024. The study estimated that 48% would listen or watch per month in 2025, with another 7% watching but not listening.
Tricky buy
That high level of consumption is drawing more ad dollars. According to the 2024 US Podcast Advertising Study conducted by PwC for the IAB, podcast revenue rose 5% to $1.9bn, following huge increases of 72% in 2021 and 26% in 2022. The research forecast ad revenue reaching $2.6bn by 2026.
According to the Q4 2024 Podcast Advertising Benchmark Report from Magellan AI, 1,594 brands advertised on a podcast for the first time in the quarter — a 10.2% increase from Q3.
Buying podcasts are tricky because buyers can work with the publisher of a show like SmartLess or deal with distributors like Spotify. The diverse ecosystem creates measurement challenges that may be damping spend on podcasts, Hunt said.
With video in the mix, measurement becomes even more difficult. “As the space grows, we’re hoping to find solutions to continue to put podcasting on a level playing field with all the other digital channels,” he continued.
Despite those difficulties, where once podcast advertisers were mainly direct-to-consumer brands like Blue Apron meal kits, more blue-chip marketers are now sponsoring podcasts.
Amazon was the biggest podcast advertiser with $22.2m in Q4 spending, according to Magellan. Other top spenders included Activision, BetterHelp, T-Mobile and Toyota.
Move into video
YouTube has become the top podcast distributor in the US, topping Apple and Spotify. That has spurred podcast producers to add video to the shows.
Bill Simmons, who sold The Ringer to Spotify for $250m in 2020, renewed his contract as head of talk strategy in March, saying “all of us are motivated to do something pretty special in the talk and video space”.
When one Ringer podcast, Talk the Thrones, added video, its followers reportedly increased by 70%. The majority of Ringer podcasts now feature video.
Locked On Podcast Network began moving its 210 sports shows into video when it was acquired by broadcaster Tegna in 2021. “The definition of a podcast was changing,” said Locked On chief operating officer Carl Weinstein. The rise of YouTube as a podcast platform made it easier for consumers to find shows. In March, Locked On announced a deal creating podcasts for Amazon’s Fire TV channels covering the March Madness men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.
Weinstein said that video enhances the connection between podcasters and their audiences. And while video is attractive to advertisers, prices on a CPM basis aren’t higher for video than audio alone. Instead, video helps increase the reach of its podcasts, thus generating more revenue.
“We have seen growth every single year since we launched in 2016,” Weinstein said. “What’s driving a lot of growth right now is the video side of the equation.”
Video has made podcasts more attractive to clients, said Maria Tullin, senior vice-president, managing director, performance audio, at Horizon Media.
Choosing the right shows
She said that, to get the most out of podcasts, advertisers need to take advantage of their YouTube simulcasts and their hosts’ social capabilities. An authentic product endorsement is also a key. “People who listen feel like they know these hosts. They can tell when they’re not jazzed about a product,” Tullin explained.
According to media buyers, CPMs for host-read podcast ads are in the $30 range. If you want to buy one of the most popular shows, like New Heights, featuring the football-playing Kelce brothers, the rate can be a multiple of that.
Rates are lower for popular true crime shows, because some advertisers don’t want to be associated with that type of content. Programmatic podcast ads run in the $10-25 CPM range, depending on the content and audience target.
The Magellan report found that most of the spending on podcasts goes to the top 500 shows in terms of audience.
That said, Tullin believes advertisers should diversify the podcasts they sponsor, not just buy the biggest ones. That’s partly because high demand is driving up the cost of the most popular shows. In addition, having a wider variety allows a marketer to see which podcasts generate the most conversions for their product, enabling them to shift funds to the shows that give them the best returns.
Buyers also note that podcasting is a relatively inexpensive way to secure a celebrity endorser like Conan O’Brien or Mandy Moore for a brand.
Podcasters are in effect talk-show hosts — the new generation’s Jimmy Kimmel or Oprah Winfrey. And as the video ecosystem fragments, top podcasts like Crime Junkie actually offer advertisers as much reach as most TV shows, Hunt pointed out.
“There’s a huge opportunity for bigger brands to get involved,” he said.
This feature is part of a new white paper on the podcast market, Media Pulse: Podcasts, published by Adwanted Connected, the data platform operated by The Media Leader parent Adwanted.