Some podcast listeners may be getting burned out -- not on their favorite shows -- but on the ads they are hearing. The latest Podsights Benchmark Reports shows that as advertisers continue to pump more of their dollars into podcasting, their hyper focus on the biggest shows is pushing frequency rates to record levels. Podsights says during the fourth quarter the average was a record 5.69 frequency, a 42% increase from the third quarter when the frequency average was an already-high 4.01. The metric means that the typical podcast listening household heard the same ad roughly six times during Q4 compared to four times during Q3.
“We are seeing benchmark conversation rates lower year-over-year, which Podsights believes is driven primarily by the increase in average frequency,” the report says. Podsights predicts that dropping frequency down to 2 to 5 will derive better results. And it advises ad buyers that could be a way to avoid getting diminishing returns on their podcast investments.
Podsights say the average purchase conversion rate -- the number of people who bought a product after hearing the ad -- declined during the fourth quarter to 0.039%. That was a lowest purchase conversion rate recording in the past year, and a 39% drop from the high point record mid-year.
The average conversion rate – the number of people who visit a site after hearing a podcast commercial – was 1.42% during the fourth quarter. That was down nine percent versus a year ago when the average conversion rate for a podcast ad was 1.56%.
Rather than point to podcast ads not working as well, Podsights thinks that can be attributed to high frequency rates.
Download the latest Podsights Quarterly Benchmark Report HERE.
Comments