Plenty of research has shown that podcast listeners are less likely to skip past the commercials than other digital media, despite how easy it is to just click forward. That has held true even as a new generation of more casual listeners has come to the medium. And it is paying off for advertisers according to new data from Edison Research. Its Podcast Metrics survey shows nearly half (46%) of U.S. weekly podcast listeners say they have ever purchased a product or service as a result of hearing a podcast advertisement. In fact, as podcast has grown, so have purchases. Edison says the number of weekly podcasting listeners who have bought something they heard advertised during a show has jumped from about a third (34%) in 2020 when it first started asking the question.
Edison’s Podcast Metrics data also shows it is more than just the big shows that are making sales for brands. It says 44% of the U.S. podcast audience who do not listen to shows within the top 1,000 have ever purchased a product as a result of hearing it on the medium. That is similar to the 47% rate of U.S. podcast listeners to shows in the top 1,000 who say the same.
To illustrate how big a potential customer base is, Edison says 19% of the U.S. Weekly Podcast audience, which translates to 17 million listeners, does not listen to a show in the top 1,000. Its message for podcaster advertisers is that podcasting’s advertising effectiveness for that group of listeners can be unlocked exclusively through the gateway of smaller shows. The upshot for going deeper into podcasting’s ranks, it adds, is those smaller shows tend to be more flexible on ad pricing. They can also be more precise when reaching specific demographics and targets.
“Naturally, the longer an ad-supported medium exists, the more people will say it has helped connect them with a product they may have never connected with were it not for podcasts. The aptitude for delivering such purchases isn’t only reserved for big shows,” Edison says in a blog post. “By advertising on podcasting’s long tail, brands can harness the power to expose their product to audiences who have as much affinity as the big-show audiences for choosing to purchase a brand they hear on podcasts.”
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