The Basics of Podcast Advertising

A simple overview of what you need to know when it comes to podcast advertising.

As we covered in our article about whether you should consider launching your own podcast, podcast listening is on the rise in the United States. As you may rather advertise on podcasts—rather than go through the effort of creating one of your own—where do you start?

Even experienced advertisers can feel a little lost when it comes to advertising on podcasts. The relatively newborn state of the medium means that the standards haven’t yet been set. Your experience as an advertiser, your results, the listener data you’ll receive, and pricing will vary widely. We can only give you an overview to help you know how to approach podcast advertising—yet expect surprises.

The Cost of Podcast Advertising

The price of a podcast advertisement is determined by the number of its unique monthly downloads (CPM or cost per mille), the position of your ad (preroll, midroll, or endroll), and the length of your ad (typically 30 seconds to a minute).

In short: Reach x position x length = ad price.

The baseline price of a podcast advertisement is calculated by the CPM. Ads typically cost between $21 and $28 CPM for a 30-second ad. In other words, for 10,000 listeners, you can expect to pay between $210 and $280 for a single 30-second slot.

This price will go up or down depending on where your ad falls in the podcast episode and how long your ad is. Pre- and end-roll ads tend to be more affordable than the mid-roll ads. Obviously, a 60-second commercial is going to cost more than a 30-second commercial.

Podcast Advertising Costs Compared to Other Advertising

Advertising on podcasts can be an affordable way to gain a lot of brand exposure for less than a cost of other mediums.

Based on our experience at FrogDog, a banner ad on a prominent industry website will cost around $3,000 and will gain roughly 45,000 impressions. A branded email sent to roughly 20,000 people could cost around $5,000.

In comparison, you can get ten 30-second podcast ads for a podcast with 15,000 listeners for $3,000. This will expose your brand to roughly 150,000 impressions.

This is a huge difference in cost-per-impression.

Podcast Advertising for Brand Awareness

Podcasts listeners are not sitting at computers, typically: 40 percent of people listen to podcasts while on the move. Therefore, podcasts—as with most broadcast advertising—is best for campaigns with a brand awareness strategy.

Podcasts serve brand awareness campaigns well. Of podcast listeners, 69 percent said that podcasts made them aware of a new brand or product.

The Best Type of Podcast Ad

Podcast ads come in three forms:

1. As a prerecorded audio clip.
2. As the hosts reading from a script that the advertiser provided.
3. As the hosts freestyling a recommendation, based loosely on talking points that the advertiser provided.

Typically, given the intimacy of the medium and the primacy of the host in the podcast format—as most listeners turn in for the personalities in the case of a podcast, not for the music—options two and three are preferable to option one.

In fact, option three is truly the most successful podcast advertising format, as it allows the host’s personality to shine through and bring its glow onto your brand. Also, podcast hosts know their audiences better than anyone else does. Allowing the host or hosts to freestyle with your talking points and, where possible, a product sample, will feel the most authentic to the listener and, therefore, will bring the greatest results.

Is Podcast Advertising Right for Your Business?

Based on the wide popularity and variety of topics, you can find a podcast for every target audience you can imagine and for every type of product or business.

However, as with all things advertising, podcast advertising is an art as well as a science. You can waste a considerable sum if you don’t take care to execute your marketing mix correctly. You need to ensure you achieve the right reach and frequency—and you must remember that no single medium will achieve all your marketing goals.

Considering adding advertising to your marketing plan—including podcast advertising? Contact FrogDog.