Podcast Ad Spending Heats Up In May As Marketers Regain Confidence.

Fears of an advertising slowdown are fading fast, as podcast advertising offers another indication that marketers are not pulling back on their spending at mid-year. Magellan AI says the top 15 podcast advertisers spent a combined $60.2 million during May, which was a 16% bump up from what the biggest brands spent a month earlier.

Magellan’s monthly update shows that worries of a potential impact of higher tariffs on ad spending are so far limited. The best example comes from Toyota, which hit reverse on podcast spending in April by 15%, drove forward in May. Toyota had an estimated $4.7 million spent on podcast ads, which is a 15% increase month-to-month.

The biggest spender last month was BetterHelp, which regained the top spot with an 8% increase in total spending. Magellan estimates the online mental health provider spent $5.8 million on podcast ads. Amazon rose to second place with a 17% month-to-month increase in its total spending, which Magellan estimates totaled $5.8 million in May. Unilever, which didn’t make the top 15 ranker in April, is ranked third with $5.1 million in podcast ad spend. Meantime, FanDuel, which ranked No. 1 for the first time in April, slid back to No. 8 in May.

Among the big spenders, Magellan says Sports was the most-used genre by nine brands. Three used Comedy podcasts the most, while two others used News podcasts the most and one allocated the biggest share of dollars to the Society & Culture genre, according to the analysis.

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 McDonald’s. It spent more than four-times more in May than in April, which was enough to put it just outside the top 15 overall.

In addition to consumer brands, the ranking also shows podcasting is seen as a potential avenue for helping not-for-profits. The St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital spent $652,500 on podcast ads last month, which was up from $68,200 in the prior month.

Magellan says its list of movers and shakers spent a combined $8.7 million in May.

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.