Podcast Advertising Rates: How Much Does It Cost To Buy Ads on a Podcast?
Podcasting is growing at a tremendous rate, and podcast revenue is growing right along with it. It is estimated that podcast ad revenue will jump from $2 billion in 2023 to nearly $3 billion in 2025. There are more than two million podcasts today and that number is growing.
According to Edison Research, in 2021, 78% of the people in the U.S. were familiar with podcasting and 57%, or 162 million people, listened to at least one podcast. That number has remained on an upward trajectory since 2013.
Given my experience running podcast ads for numerous Fortune 500 companies at Content Allies, I have a lot of insight into ad costs and how to be effective with podcast advertising.
What Are the Benefits of Podcast Advertising?
Podcast ads can put your brand in front of your target audience in ways that traditional advertising hasn't been able to do. Most podcasts are centered around a niche subject or topic, and if your product or service is relative to that niche, you know those podcast listeners are the listeners you want to reach.
Traditional advertising breaks down viewers (or listeners) by demographics such as age, gender or location. With a niche podcast, you get to focus on the interest of the listener and the expertise of the host. If you build automated robotics for the logistics industry, you can advertise on a podcast about logistics operations. That's the power of podcast ads, they can provide great value by delivering audiences that consist of potential customers for your business.
Advertising Your Podcast for Growth
If you want to use advertising to grow your audience for your podcast, you need to be careful about your strategy. We've seen large companies squander away thousands of dollars on advertising that did nothing for audience growth.
Advertising on Spotify or any other leading podcasting hosting platform doesn't move the needle on podcast growth. At Content Allies, we watched one company spend $60,000 in Spotify ads with no noticeable growth.
For B2B podcasts, brand awareness ads don't grow your podcast audience. Brand awareness ads should send listeners to your company website, not your company podcast.
Sponsoring other podcasts may move the needle a little, but even if it does, there is no way of knowing if new listeners came from your ad. There is also no way to determine if the new listeners are actually the right audience for your show. We've watched companies spend as much as $250,000 on sponsorships with TedX and NPR, and their podcasts showed no signs of audience increase.
New technology, developed by Listen Network, provides a proven, data-driven way to increase your podcast audience through verified downloads. Listen Network is an industry-leading, ad-buying and management platform for podcasters who want real growth.
Listen Network uses targeted keywords in content that people are already consuming online. Those keywords are chosen to be relevant to the episode of the podcast that you are targeting for growth.
For example, if your podcast episode is about climate change in an urban area, Listen Network will insert ads on articles that mention, or are focused on, climate change in urban areas. The banner ads have a built-in podcast player and the consumer can start listening to your episode without leaving the page.
Listen Network only charges for verified downloads, which according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) TechLab Podcast Technical Working Group, is a listen that lasts for at least 60 seconds. So you only pay for verified downloads.
These banner ads appear in major publications like Entrepreneur, Forbes and The New York Times, and pilot campaigns have shown remarkable results.
This new type of advertising is great for large, enterprise company podcasts in the B2B and B2C industries as well as SMBs. Many times the people running those podcasts have to hit KPIs to show upper management, such as the Chief Revenue Officer, that the money being spent on the podcast is worth it. Audience reach is often the main KPI for a podcast. Growing an audience organically is difficult. This new platform is an easy way to grow that shows immediate results.
In addition to growing verified podcast downloads, Listen Network recently launched a suite of promotion services targeted at increasing Spotify Followers, YouTube Subscribers and YouTube Podcast Views and driving verified podcast downloads through LinkedIn Ads.
Moreover, it's not just about pure audience numbers. With Listen Network, you also know you're getting the right audience because they're already consuming media on the topic your show is about.
Plus the cost is much cheaper. Listen Network gets rid of the old fixed rate CPM model, where you have no idea if the listeners you're paying for actually heard your ad and searched for your show. With this platform, you only pay for verified listens for a fraction of the cost of other advertising platforms. So what you're paying for is a 100% conversion rate.
This is one of the best podcast advertising strategies we've seen and we think Listen Network is going to quickly become the industry's premier podcast advertising platform.
Podcast Advertising Through Sponsorship
Podcast advertising rates will vary based on the type of advertising you want to do. If you really want to swing for the fences with your advertising efforts, you can do a podcast sponsorship.
Sponsorships refer to when advertisers pay popular podcasts to be the title sponsor of the shows. This is to get maximum exposure to your brand. To sponsor a show you'll pay a premium in the thousands, or even tens of thousands, of dollars depending on the size of the audience. In exchange, you'll get credit in the title and in promotional materials.
An example would be the Acme company sponsoring the XYZ podcast. Every time the show is mentioned, it will be something along the lines of "The XYZ podcast, powered by the Acme company.” This is true for the show notes, any social media posts and any other platform where the show is mentioned. Also, when the podcast hosts read host-read ads, they usually mention the sponsor. It's a powerful way to build brand awareness.
Sponsoring a podcast can influence listeners in a strong way. According to Semrush, 20% of podcast listeners are more likely to support a brand that advertises on their favorite podcast, and 60% of listeners searched for a product they heard about on a podcast.
B2B Podcast Sponsorship
In B2B podcasting, it is common for the sponsor of the show to be the company that actually owns the podcast. Often the host is a top executive at the company, sometimes it's even the founder or CEO.
As the owner of the show, the sponsor pays the production cost of the B2B podcast. This can range from simply covering the salaries of the people working on the podcast, if it's done in-house, to paying $3,000 to $15,000 per episode, if you're using a podcast production agency with full-service capabilities.
For small to medium businesses that are using podcasting as a networking and sales lead-generation tool, it is usually a good idea to keep the sponsorship subtle so that potential guests don’t feel that they’re getting into a high-pressure sales situation.
For large enterprise companies, it's a different story. In this case, using brand recognition and website domain authority to promote company podcasts can be a great way to attract large audiences and expand the reach of those enterprise shows.
Types of Standard Podcast Ads
If you don't have the budget or interest in sponsoring an entire show, you can purchase ads on podcasts in the traditional way. This can be per episode and reach, or number of listeners. The majority of podcasts offer three types of ads: pre-roll ads which are inserted or read live at the beginning of the episode; mid-roll ads, which are somewhere near the middle of the show; and post-roll ads, which happen at the end of the episode.
Pre-roll ads are typically the most expensive because that is the ad that most or all listeners will hear because of the placement at the beginning of the episode. These spots are usually 15 - 30 seconds in duration. Mid-roll ads can be longer, sometimes as long as 90 seconds or even two minutes. Post-roll ads are the least desirable because listeners have to listen to the end of the show to hear them. That makes post-roll ads the least expensive option in most cases.
Dynamic podcast ads are recorded outside of the recording of the episode and then inserted into the show. They're also called dynamic insertion ads. Because they're not part of the episode recording, they can be changed out for different ads at any time. This can be helpful if you sponsor a show that has evergreen content and you want to update your ads on older episodes that still get listeners. You might want to update a CTA, talk about a new product or advertise a new promo code.
Ads that are part of the original recording are called baked-in ads. These are often ads that are delivered by the host/s, and they become part of the show forever. Baked-in ads can be scripted, or alternatively, the host can ad-lib about your product or service. Baked-in ads can give an organic feeling of authenticity because you're using the voice of a well-liked and trusted host.
The Cost of Standard Podcast Ads
The following rates are the industry standard for podcast advertising, calculated using CPM, or Cost Per Mille. This is the price you pay per thousand listens. According to Podchaser, the average CPM rate for podcast advertising in 2022 was $15 CPM for a 15-25 second pre-roll ad, $30 CPM for a 30-60 second mid-roll ad, and $10 CPM for a 15-25 second post-roll ad.
Podcast advertising rates can vary based on several factors such as the popularity of the show, the number of advertisers bidding (supply and demand) and whether the ad is host-read or pre-produced.
The cost can also vary based on the length of your campaign. You can probably negotiate a lower rate than the single podcast episode rate if you commit to a lengthy campaign running ads on multiple episodes.
Also, ad rates can vary at the podcaster's discretion. Most podcasts are independent operations, and creators can charge whatever they want if they think someone will pay for it.
Finding a Fit
When you're looking for podcasts to advertise on, you're going to have to do some extensive research to ensure that the show (or shows) you choose are the right fit. You don't want to run your 30-second spot on a show that has listeners who don't care about your product or service. Don't simply use your personal experience with your favorite podcasts, or simply pick the most popular shows regardless of fit. You'll want to consider all the factors to make sure your advertising is a good fit.
Many of the larger shows will have media kits to give advertisers the relevant information needed to advertise on their show. A good media kit will have information on the target audience, including demographic information, such as age range, percentage breakdown by gender and location.
It will also provide an overview of the show's content. You should come away with a good idea of what the show is about without having to actually listen to it. Of course, you should listen to the show before agreeing to spend any money on digital ads, but the media kit can help you eliminate many shows from consideration right off the bat.
The media kit should also provide comprehensive insights on metrics and podcast statistics such as social media reach and the size of their email subscriber list, in addition to obvious categories like downloads and listens.
It will often include any awards or other accolades the show has received in the previous months or years, which can be an effective way for them to increase your interest in the show. But take this with a grain of salt, there are some pay-to-play awards out there that are essentially meaningless.
Finally, the media kit should have a clear breakdown of the total costs involved in advertising on their show. This should include the advertising costs for 30-second ads and 60-second ads, broken down into pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads. It might list other options like the cost for baked-in, host-read ads and the cost of a paid interview, where you pay to appear on the show.
There is some information that might not be included in the media kit but that you might want to ask about. This could save you time on research. It includes a list of their previous advertisers, which will help you determine if what you are advertising is a good fit for the show, audio samples or a sizzle reel of the show, and video samples of the show if the show includes video.
It is also important that you get an idea of the available inventory, so you can determine if you can run the type of ad you want, in the position you want.
When you determine which shows are the finalists for advertising dollars, go ahead and listen to several different episodes from each show. Note who the current advertisers are, to make sure they're not your competitors. You can determine pretty quickly if the tone and attitude of the host are the right fit for your brand. Listen to what the guests have to say and decide if you want your brand affiliated with that type of guest.
Affiliate Advertising
One of the more creative ways to reduce the upfront cost of sponsoring or advertising on a podcast is to negotiate an affiliate marketing deal with a podcaster. Often the deal is a lower up-front rate for advertising in exchange for a trackable URL on the podcast website or in the show notes.
When listeners click on the URL, they're taken to your website where purchases are tracked and credited to the podcaster in the form of a commission. This approach can be a win-win for both you (increased sales based on actual sales data) and the creator (more revenue).
Conclusion
You can get a lot of traction for your brand, and increase leads and sales by advertising on podcasts, especially ones that focus on your industry or product category. But before spending your money, make sure you know how podcast advertising works, and make sure that you understand the different podcast audiences and how your product or service fits.
If you're looking to grow your podcast through advertising, use a platform that only makes you pay for verified listens. Otherwise, you could be simply throwing your money away.
Need help with your ads? Check out our list of top podcast production companies and our list of top podcast advertising agencies.