Podcast ‘OGs’ Still Outperform ‘The Next Big Thing,’ Oxford Road Finds.

In a medium where so much focus is placed on what the next hot podcast will be, Oxford Road is celebrating the old guards in its latest ranking of which shows are top performers when it comes to actually selling products for advertisers. Those “OG” podcasts — those that began publishing before March 2020 — are still outperforming many newer shows, according to Oxford Road. Using ORBIT, its Oxford Road Benchmark Intelligence Tool, which matches up shows with sales data, Oxford Road finds that 75% of today’s top performers launched before the pandemic. It credits the show’s “consistent, exceptional production” rather a particular genre being trendy. The “OG” ranking of the top 15-performing shows spans nine genres, ranging from Leisure to True Crime to Alternative Health.

Oxford Road says “Critical Role,” a show that began in 2012 as a bunch of voice-actor friends playing role-playing games, comes out on top as the top-performing “OG” series for advertisers. It is followed by “Explain It To Me,” a podcast that debuted in 2015 as a weekly series that tackles all sorts of listener questions, from health and personal finance, to relationships. The “Monday Morning Podcast,” which dates to 2011, ranks third. It features host Bill Burr’s rants about relationship advice, sports and the illuminati.

The rankings are based on Oxford Road’s analysis of $1.6 billion in verified podcast spending across hundreds of advertisers during a 12-month period. ORBIT normalizes performance across different advertiser goals. It says that allows for a direct comparison across different campaign types and objectives. That normalized, goal-based data allows Oxford to make conclusions it says were impossible in the past.

“This data proves what we all know in our hearts — trust deepens over time,” says Dan Granger, CEO of Oxford Road. “Time-tested content may not have the same wow factor as the hottest new podcast, but the hosts have years of relational capital built up with their audience. This translates into higher conversion rates and better lifetime value.

For ad buyers, Oxford Road says “OG” shows also carry a 12% efficiency premium. It says multi-year listener relationships create a “defensive moat” that newer shows cannot quickly replicate. The result is that an “OG” podcast’s deep history lowers discovery costs and increases stickiness.

Oxford Road cautions marketers that “buying fame is expensive,” noting one podcast hosted by a high-profile host costs 19-times more per drop than “Critical Role,” yet the latter delivers superior conversion results. “Savvy buyers look for the shows that may be undervalued due to less buzz, but generate greater results,” it says.

Oxford Road released its ranking of the top-performing Comedy podcasts last month. It expects to release new ORBIT rankings monthly, covering categories including genre-specific performance, international markets, emerging shows, and vertical-specific results. Each ranking draws from the company’s proprietary database of campaign outcomes across podcasting, streaming audio, terrestrial radio, and creator-based video.