August Podcast Ad Market Shows Strong Momentum.

Amazon and Teledec Health — the company that owns podcast ad stalwart BetterHelp — traded places at the top of the rankings last month. Magellan AI reports Amazon spent $6.8 million on podcast ads during August, up from $6.1 million a month earlier. Meantime, Teledec Health cut its spending from $6.3 million in July to $6.1 million in August, a move that was enough to reverse who sat atop the monthly rankings.

The latest update from Magellan also shows that while brand advertising has grown significantly in the medium, podcasts continue to be an attractive outlet for direct-to-consumer advertisers. After spending nearly $5 million in July on podcast ads, Washable Sofas further increased its budget last month to just shy of $6 million.

Meantime, the online clothing brand Quince spent just under $5 million on podcast ads in August, which was roughly even with its podcast investment in the prior month.

At the same time, Magellan also shows that some of the biggest brands are also pouring dollars int podcasting. August’s top spenders include names such as Toyota and T-Mobile, both of which spent $4.2 million; State Farm, which spent $2.6 million; Wayfair, which spent $2.6 million; and Unilever, which spent $2.2 million.

The top 15 podcast advertisers spent a combined $54.2 million during August, according to Magellan estimates. That is below the $59.3 million spent by the top spenders in July. Nine invested the most in Sports podcasts, with six others putting the most into Comedy podcasts.

Magellan AI’s monthly ranking of brands that deliver the largest increases in spending in the medium — its list of movers and shakers — is led by the supermarket conglomerate Albertsons. Earlier this year it debuted a digital ad campaign promoting its e-commerce services at its brands, which include Albertsons, Safeway, ACME, Jewel-Osco, and Shaw’s, among others. The retailer spent an estimated $1.5 million in podcast ads last month, compared to just $289,000 a month earlier.

The list of brands that had big increases in spending during August also included some large brands, such as Geico. While rival State Farm spent $2.7 million on podcasts, Geico dipped its toe into the medium with a $388,000 buy. But that was up from spending just $300 on podcast ads in July, according to Magellan.

Fellow insurance company Liberty Mutual also made a similar move. It spent nothing on podcasts during July, but last month the company bought ads worth an estimated $269,000.

Magellan AI analyzes podcast advertising data from the top 3,000 podcasts in the U.S., as ranked by Apple Podcasts. Magellan AI’s proprietary model is used to estimate advertising spend. It includes factors such as the number of ads and variation in ad load detected for a given episode, the number of downloads for each episode, and estimated CPMs as reported in select media kits and estimated based on popularity.