Podcasts have been around for over a decade now, but it’s only within the last few years that the format has really begun to capture the attention of the general public as a whole.
Many shows now are garnering over 50,000 regular views on Apple Podcasts. The Joe Rogan Experience for example has more than twice that amount and that’s on just one streaming platform.
The industry’s surge in popularity hasn’t escaped the attention of advertisers looking to capitalize on the format’s momentum, either. Last year, domestic podcast ad revenues grew by just over 53% to an all-time high of $479 million and is expected to further exceed over one billion dollars by 2021. Earlier this year, Spotify invested $400 million dollars to acquire smaller podcast networks and tools to help bolster its position as a leading audio platform provider.
With the rapid influx of revenue and investment going on, brands are assessing the viability of podcast advertising as a vehicle for their messaging. Here are some crucial factors and pointers to get the most out of your podcast ad campaigns.
The pluses and minuses of podcast advertising
Pluses. First, you get access to a brand new audience (podcast listeners) and you’ll be able to pitch your products or services to them. You’ll learn this when you oversee your company’s podcast ad trial with a popular show. Even if they don’t instantly convert, you’ll get your name out to thousands of listeners and that will stick.
Podcasts currently reach over 62 million Americans weekly, and 78% of listeners say they don’t even mind the ads because they get that it helps to support the content they enjoy, making it a receptive channel for virtually all advertising campaigns. Careful here however as platforms love to stick their own ad clients all over your content. They do after all use models which target your listeners and you don’t get a dime.
Host-reads have also been a primary delivery vehicle for podcast ads in the past few years as another way to promote your clients ads. I remember when kate and I worked in New York radio, we also had a series of podcasts online and we began doing host-reads in 2012. For host-read ads, the hosts play a pivotal role in the delivery and efficacy of their ads. Hosts can turn your product pitch into native advertising, which may decrease the odds of listeners skipping over it. Loyal listeners are also more likely to trust a host’s endorsement because it’s coming from someone they’re already familiar with.
We’ve heard from a number of companies who advertised directly with our internet radio station over the past few years and they often tell us that they get new customers telling them that they found out about them by listening to one of our podcast shows all the time, or that they first heard kate or CRASH talking about one of their features or benefits and they ‘just had to!’ check them out after because they were such huge fans of kate or myself.
What’s also interesting to note is that if their brand left an impression on them, the hosts themselves may also become fans of the company’s advertising and even mention their offerings organically on episodes they didn’t even pay for! I used to do that (and get in trouble for it) all the time.
Now, Host-read ads are baked directly into podcast episodes, meaning that listeners who dive into a podcast’s archive may hear a company’s ad many many times long after it originally aired. This may increase the company’s brand’s exposure without increasing their ad dollar spend. But…this can also be a minus.
Minuses. You’ll want to keep offer timeframes in mind when planning host-read ads. Listeners don’t want to find out your advertisers offer already expired when they tune into older episodes.
Presently, the podcast advertising industry lacks some of the data, transparency and tools that digital advertisers are accustomed to. This has been the primary reason advertisers have been so slow to use the medium on a regular basis. All the money has been going to the hosting platforms. BlogTalk, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart etc. all get rich while the podcaster starves on the platform just being grateful the mighty giants allowed them to even be there, and in most cases made the podcaster pay for the privilege.
Now, accredited audience information, such as demographics, are becoming more readily available, even research firms heavily relied upon for such information in Television and radio like Nielsen are offering such data, sourced through listener surveys. You as the podcaster simply need pay for the privilege of those services as well, but at least the option exists now whereas before it simply didn’t. If you can afford it and offer this to advertisers, you’ll have little to no issue landing clients.
Without detailed, reliable and indeed credible audience information, targeting capabilities were also limited further driving the wedge. The reason it was an issue with advertisers is that the lack of that kind of information can result in inefficiencies in targeting and ad value and make it even more difficult for the advertiser to scale their podcast ad campaigns. This is changing over time as networks begin to introduce more advertising features. Spotify, for example, enabled targeting by genre earlier this year, so it is getting better in that regard overall.
While podcast ads can result in direct conversions, more often than not, it’s a top-of-funnel broad awareness thing, I know in our experience “doing it” for the past 8 years, touching upon the format’s historically limited targeting capabilities. the advertising rep can’t go to their boss and say ‘okay, 500 new leads are now aware of our existence and may or may not convert down the line. Until recently, that’s what companies at the forefront of podcast advertising have had to do by enlarge as there was not real reporting. Also, the considerable time and effort spent researching suitable shows, contacting hosts, educating them about a company’s brand, negotiating prices and dates and collaborating on the ad spot was often lost on many a podcaster as they were not professional broadcasters who at least had a taste of these kind of things before.
Prospective advertisers should also be aware of the challenges to attribution and tracking conversions. Direct response ads combined with a dedicated landing page and “how did you hear about us” fields during a registration or checkout process are common tactics, but they still may not account for listeners who convert later or after encountering their brand multiple times.
Types of podcast ads
Ads are usually placed at the beginning, middle and end of a podcast. These slots are referred to as pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll, with pre-roll and post-roll ads typically ranging from 15–30 seconds and mid-roll ads running as long as a minute. For lengthier podcast episodes, there may be more than one mid-roll ad slot. Our rule at our online station was that there would be no more than 2 minutes in commercials per 20 minute segment ever. It’s a good model and one I see more podcasts using, and that’s a good thing.
Regardless of the position within the episode, podcast ads are either read by the host during recording or pre-recorded and dynamically inserted when the episode is downloaded. Last year, 51.2% of podcast ads were delivered by a host. Dynamically inserted ads accounted for the remaining 48.8% (up from 41.7% in 2017), according to an IAB study.
Host-read ads. With careful planning and coordination, this format has the potential to tap into the audience’s trust in the show’s host, which may allow your ad to be conveyed more as a testimonial than marketing collateral. In this way, it’s akin to influencer marketing.
This is very powerful as the host usually has a good amount of influence on their audience and advertisers are essentially ‘borrowing their credibility as they tap into their audience in this way. One disadvantage of course is that it takes more time and energy to execute these types of campaigns, but you can streamline this process a good amount.
And, as previously mentioned, host-read ads become part of the episode’s content, which means the ads will continue to serve as long as the episodes are available.
Dynamically inserted ads. Now, we have more targeting capabilities which works great for advertisers that have time-sensitive requirements or need to reach a certain geographical area. Having the ability to leverage data tied to listeners’ IP addresses for example. Dynamic campaigns can also easily scale now as it’s all executed digitally.
One potential, but could be considerable, trade-off for these targeting and scaling abilities is that their ads may be less engaging to listeners due to the lack of host involvement and cohesion with the rest of the episode’s content, which may hinder your overall objectives in the end.
Cost structures
Ad spots are commonly priced according to one of the following models:
Cost per mile (CPM): This is the most common pricing model and refers to the cost per one thousand downloads. Streams are also included as downloads, but a thousand downloads may not equate to a thousand listens as an episode may be requested but not played immediately (as is the case with automatically downloaded episodes that a listener may overlook or not be interested in). Pricing varies. For example, a mid-roll 60-second ad CPM is about $25 on average.
Cost per acquisition (CPA): While there may not be an upfront cost associated with this model. Instead, the cost is determined by the number of leads or conversions that a podcast sends to your business. Not a popular one with podcasters but a number of advertisers will seek this.
Negotiation: My personal favorite for our online shows. This method can be a mix of the other two or something different altogether. It’s up to the advertiser and the podcast to work out and come up with a deal they can both be happy with.
The length of the ad and its position within the episode can also have an impact on the overall cost as well. In addition, remember that the most popular show length by far is a 30 minute daily or 60 minute podcast weekly. Remember advertiser demand for the inventory and a show or host’s popularity are also major factors that can influence pricing and everything is negotiable.
Measuring success
The technology and platforms that facilitate attribution and conversion tracking of podcast ad campaigns have yet to reach the full maturity of web search and social media advertising, but they are evolving as companies like Spotify pour in investments and advertiser demand rises. Tracking and measurement are challenging for several reasons. For one, listeners can access podcasts across a number of competing apps and services. Conversions happen off-podcast, which makes attribution a challenge — it’s why the ads so often include custom URLs tailored to each podcast. Yet, despite the challenges, gauging success is possible and it is situations like these which spawn innovation and advancements.
Direct response. Many podcast ads use a direct response mechanism to point listeners to their websites.
A a few common podcast advertising practices include a dedicated landing page, an easy-to-remember vanity URL and sometimes a free trial or offer.
Traffic to the landing page is one way to gauge a campaign’s reach and trial sign-ups are one way to measure ROI. An exclusive offer for today only banner can also add a sense of exclusivity that may compel prospects to take further action.
Social media engagement. For initiatives in which conversions may not necessarily be the goal, such as brand awareness campaigns, social mentions, shares and hashtag activity are ways to quantify your campaign’s reach. But caution here as if you don’t know what you’re doing in this regard, you can end up with less than successful returns. A giveaway component can also be added to social or direct response campaigns to further enhance the offering and entice listeners to engage with your brand more willingly.
Website and social traffic. Monitoring your website traffic and social media metrics can also give you a good sense of how your podcast ads are performing overall, so long as you’re accounting for other variables such as seasonal trends or concurrent campaigns that you might be running in tandem.
“How did you hear about us?” Note that sometimes this channel has a long tail as listeners consume the content well past the air date. It’s not uncommon to see results trickling in for months after a spot airs! To help you attribute conversions over the long term, consider adding a “how did you hear about us?” field or drop-down menu to your registration or checkout process if you work under a subscriber model.
Studies and surveys. The tactics mentioned above assume that a brand’s online presence is one of the main ways consumers convert or interact with it. If that doesn’t describe your business model, some podcast ad networks offer off-site methods of estimating your campaign’s reach as well.
Stitcher is a platform who’s advertising partners measure the impact of their ads through several streams of data tailored to their specific marketing needs. For example, Midroll, Stitcher’s advertising arm, conducts industry brand lift studies through partnerships with Comscore and Nielsen that measure a listeners’ brand recall and overall intent to purchase after hearing a podcast ad.
Third-party tools. Some measurement platforms and ad networks offer pixel-based attribution that may provide more information on a potential customer’s journey. With regards to a podcast’s advertising. Pixel-based attribution usually involves correlating a pixel fired upon ad insertion with pixels on an advertiser’s website in order to match listeners with on-site activities such as conversions.
Third-party tools may also enable you to view reports on your audience and ad performance. Some providers also offer re-targeting capabilities that may help expand your ad campaign.
Should you handle all this yourself or partner with an ad network?
It will cost less to run your own podcast ad campaign, but there are a number of other factors that should influence your decision as well.
Doing it yourself. In addition to the cost savings, you’ll have the freedom to choose which advertisers you’d like to partner with and in some cases will open the door to full on sponsorships of a show. You may also benefit from being able to negotiate your terms and communicate directly with the advertiser and build rapport with the people who are actually selling their products all over your brand.
If it’s your first time getting an advertiser, your in-house team will also get the opportunity to gain experience that may save your brand money or increase the efficiency of future podcast advertising offerings.
There are, however, risks associated with doing it yourself: Dedicating some of your own team members and time to land an advertiser may leave you short-staffed. Inexperienced podcasters will likely make mistakes that affect their continuing results. And, individual advertisers may not offer as much in the way of support, or money.
Podcast ad networks. One big shortcut resources-wise is to give podcast networks a try. These networks do a ton of legwork for you, from narrowing down advertisers keyed to a particular (your) segment to allocating budgets and managing ad schedules for you and the advertiser.
The expertise, resources, technology and access to ad inventory that ad networks bring to the table may be worth the additional headache, especially for brands that prioritize having more data, targeting capabilities and scaling options.
Having these capabilities at your disposal may appeal to you as a podcaster, but working with an ad network is likely to cost more out of your pocket and you may be limited to advertising only with advertisers within that network.
Getting the most out of your podcast advertisers
From selecting an advertiser to partner with to optimizing your overall monetization, there’s a lot to consider. Here are a few pointers to guide your podcast advertising initiatives.
Know your listener data. Many podcasts survey their listeners to get a feel for what kind of content and advertisements their audiences may be interested. Some ad networks, such as NPR, even make their audience demographics readily available for prospective advertising partners. Don’t just assume that your audience is interested in a particular podcast based on genre or anecdotal evidence, inquire about audience surveys and data and compare it to existing personas that your marketing team (or you) has already built out.
Make sure the advertiser’s products are part of your audience’s lives, or could be. As cheesy as it sounds, the advertisers are number 2 behind the listeners, If you were to promote anything, it should have to be something that a) your listeners use (or would use) regularly b) something that you, or your hosts have tested & liked.
If you can capitalize on b), you are paving the way for not only a good shot at the advertisers dollar, but may also be a good foray into partnering with them in a co-brand scenario or even gaining a coveted sponsorship deal with them as well! Getting and having that positive experience with the their product is key to this opportunity.
Successful podcasts are in tune with their listeners, and giving the host firsthand experience with the advertisers product offerings can help them craft their pitch in a way that really resonates with their listeners and subscribers.
Get em’ in line early. If you’re looking to be offering the widest reach for advertisers you’ll of course need to be one of the top podcasts in your particular niche. You’ll want them to get in touch and express interest as early as possible. If you’re doing it right, you will have sold your entire advertising inventory before the next season even begins.
When creating commercials for those companies who may not have audio ads, Craft a clear message. “Make sure your audio ad points out the clear advantages of using their product or service and gives a clear call-to-action that the audience will remember. Thirty to sixty seconds isn’t a lot of time and without the aid of visuals, making your ad informative while keeping it concise and distinct can help you making a lasting impression on listeners.
For those of you who have made the leap to video streaming your shows as well, this (while being able to offer more in terms of a commercial) can cost you more than you think now having to produce a 30 or 60 second video commercial for the client. Done right, these can cost you thousands to do properly and if you do them wrong, can take you right out of the game entirely.
Give it time. Many podcast apps and platforms allow listeners to subscribe and automatically download new episodes, which means that your clients ad may not immediately get heard. One way we got around this was to broadcast all shows LIVE at scheduled days and times. While it is good for the advertiser and in some cases mandatory, this will completely change your workflows into studio chaos! You could easily run into the need for more experienced staffing and that costs more.
Listeners may also need to hear your client’s ad or have the host endorse your brand several times before they even visit their site or make a purchase. Running their ad on the same podcast a number of times and keeping an eye on the KPIs for a few months after all the ads have aired may provide a fuller picture of your clients campaign’s results.
Test their ads. After you’ve gathered enough data from the client’s first campaign, you can begin to experiment on ways to help improve their ads. Tweaking just one variable at a time will go a long way to helping them yield better data for comparison. You can test out different placements as long as the client agrees (such as pre-roll placement instead of mid-roll or vice versa), different lengths, having a different host read your ad can help also. Also, don’t be afraid of changing the script, or allowing the host to improvise without a script, advertising with the same script but on a different podcast or switch between host-read ads and dynamically inserted ones can have a very positive impact for the advertiser.
Dynamically inserted ads also lend themselves to A/B testing. You can play the same ad in the same position on different podcasts to see which audience is more responsive. Remember, everything about this is like navigating in the middle of an ocean in a dingy without a compass.
Mix and match. Running a longer mid-roll ad at the outset of a campaign can be a great way to introduce your client’s brand to the podcast’s audience. After loyal listeners gain some familiarity, you may be able to save money and get more from your client’s investment by switching over to shorter pre or post-roll ads that are scripted to keep your brand relevant and continue the momentum you’ve built earlier in the client’s campaign.
Podcasts are still a relatively novel approach to reaching an audience and technology and best practices and technology solutions are still developing. Marketing teams that are able to keep the above guidance in mind, can tailor their messaging to the format and aren’t afraid to experiment stand to extend their reach to audiences that are more than ready to listen.
There, I hope my endless chattering has given you some food for thought and that from it you may be able to chart your course to success and rocket your podcasts to Legend status.#
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