Podcast Ad Spending Jumps In December As Brands Flood Year-End Campaigns.

Podcast advertising accelerated sharply in December, with the top 15 advertisers spending a combined $75.9 million, marking a significant 23% jump from what the biggest advertisers spent in November as brands leaned into year-end campaigns and seasonal reach. Overall, Magellan AI reports that 13 of the top 15 spenders in December boosted podcast budgets on a month-to-month basis.Holiday gift-giving had an impact on which brands spent the most last month. Aura Frames topped the December rankings after more than doubling its monthly investment to $7.1 million, signaling a major scale-up following its breakout performance in November. Amazon ranked a close second at $7 million, while T-Mobile placed third with $6.8 million, continuing a steady upward trajectory in podcast advertising. Automotive remained a major force, with Toyota investing $6.5 million during the month.

One of the most notable shifts came from the Coca-Cola Company, which surged to $6.5 million in December spending, reflecting a heavy late-year push from one of the world’s largest brand advertisers. Quince ranked sixth at $5.5 million, remaining one of the few top spenders whose primary genre focus skewed toward comedy rather than sports.

Insurance and telecom brands continued to deepen their presence. State Farm spent $5.3 million, while BetterHelp ranked eighth with $4.9 million, one of the few advertisers in the top tier to post a month-over-month decline. AT&T followed closely at $4.6 million, reinforcing telecom’s outsized role in podcast advertising.

Big Tech and commerce brands rounded out the top ten. Meta spent $4.2 million, while Shopify invested $4.2 million, both continuing to favor sports podcasts for scale.

Sports betting and home services also remained active late in the year as college football bowl games filled the airwaves. FanDuel spent $3.6 million, while SimpliSafe increased its investment to $3.3 million. Rocket Companies stood out for its focus on science-oriented podcasts with $3.2 million in spend, and Verizon rounded out the top 15 at $3.1 million.

Podcast advertising saw another surge of new and returning buyers in December, with Magellan AI’s top 15 “movers and shakers” spending a combined $15.5 million, as brands moved aggressively to scale podcast campaigns during the year-end advertising push.

The list — Magellan AI’s monthly ranking of brands that deliver the largest increases in spending in the medium — was led by IBM after increasing its podcast spend to $2.7 million, a nearly 20-fold jump from November levels. 1-800 Contacts followed with $1.9 million, signaling a major expansion beyond test budgets.

Several brands entered podcasting at scale after little or no activity the prior month. Synchrony Health Services and TNT each spent more than $1.2 million after reporting no podcast spend in November, while LG Electronics added just over $1 million.

Retail, travel, and consumer brands also showed strong momentum. Depop increased spend to $1.5 million last month, while Expedia Group more than tripled its investment to $1.15 million. Monster Energy surged to $1.1 million, reflecting continued interest from lifestyle and youth-oriented brands.

Parking and commerce apps posted some of the sharpest percentage gains. ParkWhiz grew spend to $664,000, while Intuit climbed to $533,000, nearly five times its November level. Media and retail brands also accelerated sharply, with The Washington Post, CarMax, and CookUnity each posting triple-digit percentage increases.

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.