3 Things to Know about Podcast Advertising in 2021

From Serial, to My Favorite Murder, to Pod Save America, almost everyone has a favorite podcast these days. Data proves out the popularity of this audio format: As of 2021, 41% of Americans aged 12 or older have listened to a podcast in the past month—a number that’s steadily increased since Apple released their podcast app in 2012.

So what should advertisers know about the uses of this format for reaching consumers? Read on to find out:

1. Podcast Listenership is Exploding
Almost 30% of the US 12+ population are now weekly podcast listeners, representing a 17% increase over 2020. There are over 2M active podcasts out there, with every influencer and celebrity jumping on the bandwagon to maximize their brand.

2. Podcast Ads Resonate with Consumers
Podcast ads are especially effective at capturing consumer attention. In fact, podcast ads:

• Are the least-skipped ad format compared to other mediums
• Generate up to 4.4x better brand recall than display ads on other digital media platforms
• Inspire 9 out of 10 listeners to take an action after listening

3. Programmatic Possibilities are Untapped

Everyone’s taking part in the podcast craze, but programmatic podcast activation is a nascent market. eMarketer predicts that US podcast ad spending will surpass 20% of digital radio ad spending this year, but only 6% of podcast advertising will be bought programmatically in 2021 (up from 4% in 2020). For marketers, this means that there’s a big opportunity to get in ahead of the curve.

For more insight into the opportunities available to audio advertisers, check out Audio Advertising: The Inside Track.

Sources:
Audio Advertising: The Inside Track
Podsurvey 2020
Pandora Soundboard and Stitcher Podsurvey Study, March 2021
Signal Hill Research, 2021
Edison Research Infinite Dial 2021, Podcast insights / Podcast Statistics April 2021