Study: Podcast Listenership, Advertising Up
Podcast Listenership Skyrockets
Advertisers are following the consumer lineup for podcasts. That is a key takeaway from new MediaRadar data which finds that advertising revenue for podcasts has skyrocketed, up 20% between 2020 and 2021. What’s more, these new advertisers aren’t just a flash in the podcast pan – about 40% continue to run campaigns through podcasts, hoping to key in on this engaged audience.
According to the research there was a 14% increase in new companies buying ad space within podcasts in 2021; combine that with a 42% retention rate and podcast companies have a strong base for feeding their hungry audience.
Advertisers Key In On Podcast Silos
“As podcasts’ consumption grows exponentially, brands are optimizing this medium to reach across their listeners,” said Todd Krizelman, CEO & Co-founder of MediaRadar. “With so many different types of podcasts available to suit your interests, there seems to be a podcast genre for every taste. As such, advertisers are strategically considering where their ad dollars are best spent that translates to a higher engagement rate and loyal audience base.. It’s evident from our findings that popular podcasts genres like True Crime, Comedy and News have seen substantial growth in ad spend to cater to their audience.”
According to Krizelman True Crime, News, and Comedy podcasts are three of the hottest podcast segments, each showing significant growth from 2020 through 2021.
Hot Podcast Categories
News podcasts remain the top audience-getter, with a 36% YoY growth rate; about 1,400 brands are advertising within the news category. This helped the news category increase advertising spends by about 20% YoY.
Comedy podcasts are the next highest category, showing a 20% increase in ad spend and a 26% increase in the number of companies putting their ad dollars into the segment.
True Crime rounds out the top three, holding a 15% ad spend growth rate and a 19% increase in the number of advertisers in the segment.
As to the types of ads, in comedy listeners prefer standard ads to host-read (65% vs. 35%), while in the news category they prefer host-read to standard (65% vs. 35%). True Crime listeners are nearly even, with 41% preferring host-read ads to 59% preferring standard ads.
