Online Advertising
The most attentive audience in advertising, and the hardest to measure. Both facts have the same cause.
Podcast listeners are the most attentive audience commercially available. They choose the show, listen for 30 minutes or more, and mostly do not skip. That attention is why the channel works and why it resists measurement.
A host-read advertisement is spoken by the presenter in their own words. A produced spot is a finished recording inserted into the feed.
The difference in effect is large and consistent. Host-read placements achieve recall and response rates several times higher, because the recommendation carries the host's credibility.
The price difference is smaller than the effect difference. Where both are offered, host-read is almost always the better buy.
| Position | When | Price | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-roll | first 60 seconds | low | often skipped |
| Mid-roll | middle of the episode | highest | best |
| Post-roll | at the end | lowest | weak |
Mid-roll is the only position worth paying a premium for. By then the listener is committed to the episode.
Podcast reach is sold on downloads. A download occurs when a player fetches the file, whether or not anyone listens.
Ask for three things instead: the average completion rate, ideally above 70 per cent; the download figure at 30 days rather than at 7, since podcast consumption has a long tail; and the geographic split, because a show with a large audience outside your market is worth less than the headline number.
Attribution is genuinely hard here, because nobody clicks a link while driving. Three methods work.
The third catches the effect the first two miss. Most podcast listeners do not use the code; they search for the brand three days later.
Book four to six insertions in one or two shows rather than one insertion in six shows. Repetition in a trusted environment is the whole mechanism.
Typically £15 to £40 per thousand downloads, higher for niche business podcasts. A mid-roll in a 10,000-download show costs roughly £200 to £400.
Reckon on four to six insertions in the same show. Single placements almost never pay.
More from Online Advertising
Online Advertising
Cost per click is the most widely misread number in online marketing. Look only at it and you will pay more per customer than the competitor with the pricier click.
Online Advertising
Most accounts grow wild. After two years nobody remembers why a given ad group exists. A structure that is still readable after a hundred changes.
Online Advertising
A campaign type that plays across every channel and shows you almost nothing. For some firms it is the strongest lever available; for others an expensive trap.