BetterHelp Leads Podscribe’s February Ad Market Update As New Brands Pile In.

Podcast advertising remained strong in February, but the leaderboard began to shift as new categories — including fast food and automotive — pushed their way into the medium’s biggest spending ranks.

The latest top podcast advertisers report from Podscribe shows BetterHelp once again leading the industry, with an estimated $6.2 million in podcast ad spend during February. While that was slightly lower than the $6.8 million it spent in January, the mental health platform maintained a comfortable lead as the single largest advertiser in the medium.

Behind it, the rest of the leaderboard tightened as several brands increased their presence.

Shopify climbed into the No. 3 position with roughly $5.2 million in podcast advertising, one of the strongest showings among major advertisers during the month. Shopify has long been one of podcasting’s most consistent buyers, frequently leaning on host-read ads and broad distribution across business and entrepreneurship podcasts.

One of the most dramatic shifts came from McDonald’s, which surged into the No. 6 position after increasing its podcast advertising by 121% month-to-month, reaching about $3.5 million in estimated spend. The jump highlights the growing interest from large consumer brands in podcasting as a brand-building medium rather than strictly a direct-response channel.

Another new entrant came from the automotive category. Toyota invested roughly $2.9 million in podcast ads during February, landing at No. 8 and signaling continued expansion of auto marketing budgets into digital audio.

The February rankings show that while direct-to-consumer stalwarts still anchor the medium — led by BetterHelp and other performance-driven brands — the mix of advertisers continues to broaden. Retail, financial services, quick-service restaurants and automotive brands all appeared among the biggest podcast buyers during the month.

The Podscribe ranker includes not only RSS data, but also YouTube views, Spotify Video, and more, even for podcasts without a prefix.