What’s in this article:
- Brands that want to strengthen their relationship with their customers are discovering the medium of podcasts.
- Podcasts have proven effective for targeting audiences, engaging their attention, and converting customers.
- Purchase intent rises significantly for podcast listeners as it captures their attention even when TV, radio, or digital ads fail to.
The term “podcast” was not something you would have associated with marketing a decade ago. But that has changed drastically as podcasts have been steadily rising in popularity.
Podcasts take off
The number of podcast listeners in the United State rose from a mere 32 million in 2013 to a projected 120 million for this year, Statista reported. It derived a compound annual growth rate of 17% that anticipates an audience of 164 million for podcasts in 2023.’
Podcast ad revenue has also risen tremendously, more than tripling over the space of just four years. According to Music Oomph!, Podcast ad revenue in 2017 was $317 million, but it is expected to hit $1.13 billion this year and to rise to $1.33 billion next year.
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PodcastHosting.org shared some striking statistics about the extent of its reach in American homes:
- 50% of all US homes are podcast fans
- 55% (155 million) of the US population has listened to a podcast
- 37% (104 million) listen to podcasts at least every month
- 24% (68 million) listen to podcasts weekly
Getting on target with podcasts
A couple of years ago, I interviewed Raina Penchansky, founder and CEO of Digital Brand Architects, (DBA), a digital talent management and social media marketing firm, for DMN. She observed that podcasts are “very much the right medium” for Millennials, particularly given their predilection for “cord-cutting and consuming content differently” than those who grew up with media largely defined by TV.
That is corroborated by the demographic breakdown in PodcastHosting. Nearly half (48%) of American podcast listeners fall in the age range of Millennials and even Gen Z, aged 12-34. Nearly a third (32%) are 35-54. Only 20% are identified as 55 and over.
In keeping with the devices favored by Millennials, in 2019 Edison Research found that 65% of podcast listeners prefer to use a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet, and only 25% favor desktops or laptops. At the time, only 10% said they used smart speakers.
Their income is generally higher than the general population. While 29% of the general population claims a household income over $75K a year, for podcast listeners that rises to 41%, reports PodcastHosting.
Certainly, the income level of listeners makes podcasts attractive to marketers trying to connect to consumers who could afford to buy what they’re promoting.
Additional benefits of podcast marketing
On top of that the benefits for brands include the following:
Versatility – A podcast can be first presented live on your site or on a podcasting platform and then archived to be accessed at any time by those who prefer to get their information by listening.
- Accessibility – The fact that podcasts work off voice without visuals makes them accessible to the visually impaired appealing to people who want to consume content while engaged in another activity like driving, exercising, cooking, doing housework, etc., so they don’t need to carve out time to listen.
- Searchability – Associating your brand with a podcast increases your brand visibility and generates more results for searches on your brand name while increasing traffic to your site.
- Constancy – If your brand invests in recurring podcasts that your audience will tune into regularly, they will feel more connected and loyal to your brand. The payoff may take a few years in terms of conversion, as per the stat measuring results after four years below.
Podcast advertising stats
The proof of all those results is in customer percentages. To that end Edison Research included this question in its survey: “When you hear advertisements on podcasts, how likely are you to consider the brand advertised?”
“Much more likely” was the response of 17%.
“Somewhat more likely” was the response of 37%.
Putting those together gives you a greater positive result than the 39% who said it would have no impact and the 7% who thought it would make them less likely to buy.
According to PodcastHosting, “60% of podcast listeners have bought something from a podcast ad.” But there’s an even bigger payoff for those in it for the long haul by building up loyalty over time: “72% of people who have listened to a podcast for four or more years have made a purchase.”
Podcasts also are the best channel to win the attention of people who ignore other forms of marketing, according to PodcastHosting. It captures their attention even when TV, radio, or digital ads fail to.
81% of podcast listeners pay attention to podcast ads
- 63% say they sometimes or always ignore TV commercials
- 66% sometimes or always ignore digital ads
- 61% sometimes or always ignore billboards
- 59% sometimes or always ignore radio commercials
Purchase intent rises significantly for podcast listeners, according to Music Oomph!, though there is some range depending on the genre. The lowest gain is for comedy podcasts that tend to lift purchase intent for the brands that advertise in them by 7.3%. But the purchase intent results are nearly double that (14%) for those who advertise in business podcasts. News and politics are close behind with a purchase intent rise of 12.8%. Both sports and society & culture offer a boost of just over 9%.
Those are pretty impressive results for ROI in terms of conversions. But even without immediate sales, associating your brand with a podcast that your target market loves will lead to warmer feelings for the brand linked to that content.