Analysis Shows Podcast Ads Are Converting Listeners Into Buyers.

Podcast advertising continued to result in “meaningful” conversion rates for brands at nearly any ad budget during 2020. That is according to an analysis by the podcast attribution company Podsights, which reviewed the results of 1,274 podcast ad campaigns for 421 brands that spent a combined $65 million in the medium last year. The report also says the average CPM paid across all the campaigns it tracked was $25.

There are several ways to measure the results of an ad campaign. One is by tracking how many people visited an advertiser’s website after hearing a commercial. On that metric, Podsights says the best performing podcast ads were those in the pharmaceutical and health category with a doubling of visits by those exposed to a podcast ad compared to people who did not hear the ad. The arts, entertainment and media category essentially had the same average visitor lift rate, with brands in the financial services category not far behind. Across all brands, Podsights says the data shows the average campaign last year resulted in an 80% increase in website visits for podcast ad buyers.

Another way to measure success is how many podcast listeners purchased a product. By that metric the news was even better. Across all brands, there was an average lift of 121% among people who heard a podcast ad. The biggest bumps for purchase events were in the bar and restaurant (+221%) and pharmaceutical and health (+196%) categories. The data shows on average, 1.56% of people who visited a brand’s website also bought a product.

Overall, Podsights says the average conversation rates rose for website visits, lead generations, and app installs. They did decrease slightly however for purchase conversions.

Download the full report HERE.