The coronavirus pandemic may have had an impact on how advertisers are spending their dollars, but a new analysis by MediaRadar shows podcasters continue to be on the receiving end of those buys. According to the firm’s analysis, between January and June, the number of advertisers in its sample of podcasts grew by 10%.
“Podcasts weren’t immune to the cuts in advertising spend early in the pandemic. Despite the decrease in spend, advertising revenue is still growing year-over-year,” said MediaRadar. It points to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s new outlook that estimated industry revenue would grow by 14.7% this year as a validation of what its data has shown.
The upward trajectory for podcasting has not changed, but the analysis of which marketers were spending in podcasting during the first six months shows some changes that can be attributed to COVID-19. “Among the top fifty advertisers, job-focused brands like Indeed and ZipRecruiter and workplace brands like Salesforce, Trello and Netsuite cut podcast ad spend from Q1 to Q2,” said MediaRadar. “Meanwhile, brands like BetterHelp, Drizly and Simplisafe upped their spending on podcasts in Q2.”
Taken as a whole, MediaRadar said its analysis shows the top five podcast advertisers during the first six months were the online behavioral health services company Better Help, the employment website ZipRecruiter, the video game Best Friends, the website building and hosting company Squarespace, and financial investment firm TD Ameritrade. “Looking at Q1 vs. Q2 we saw the top two categories buying ads trade places. Other than that, much of the rest of the market held steady,” said MediaRadar. The company tracks advertising for more 3.1 million brands across multiple media platforms including podcasting, TV, digital, mobile, email, events, social media and print.
MediaRadar said podcasting is “proving resilient,” even though some data pointed to a “slump” in listening for some podcast platforms at the start of the stay-at-home lockdown. “Consumption is expected to rebound in the latter half of 2020,” it said.
Comments