Podcast Spending Up In Q1 As Industry Adds More New Advertisers, Sees Lighter Ad Loads.

Mixed economic signals and sentiments did little to dampen the onward march of podcasting’s growth during the first quarter of the year. Podcast ad spending continued to climb, increasing 21% from a year ago, according to newly released Magellan AI estimates. The firm says even with uncertainty building in the economy during the quarter, Q1 followed what has become a familiar pattern for the industry.

Podcast ad spending was below the typically robust year-end marketing frenzy driven by the holiday season — this year it wound up 6% less than fourth-quarter totals — but as the months passed, ad spending grew. Magellan says while January and February were on par with ad spending a year ago, Q1’s biggest gains were made up in March. That’s also when the biggest share of Q1 spending occurs.

The quarterly data from Magellan also points to a further diversification of podcasting revenue. The top ten brands during the first quarter spent a combined $107 million, but that total was down 15% from Q4 — meaning smaller advertisers did more to contribute to the industry’s gains.

The online mental health provider BetterHelp, which had typically been the top spender before falling to third in Q4 — regained the top spot. Magellan estimates BetterHelp spent $14.9 million on podcast ads during the quarter. T-Mobile spent an estimated $12.8 million, while DraftKings rode Super Bowl interest into third, with $11.7 million worth of podcast advertising. Amazon, which had been ranked as the top spender in Q4 when it spent an estimated $22.2 million on podcast ads, cut that total in half in Q1, when Magellan says it spent $10.9 million in the medium. The top ten also included a pair of newcomers in HelloFresh and LinkedIn.

The continued growth of industry revenue will be tied to not only getting a larger share of existing client budgets but also bringing new brands into podcasts. In a progress report on that effort, Magellan says it detected 1,025 new brands on podcasts during the first quarter. That was double the number of additions it recorded during Q1 of last year. 

The average test budget was $42,100 for brands new to podcasting, which is larger than what has been seen in the past. Magellan says that points to bigger campaigns being used to test podcast advertising. And while the Super Bowl may have helped, one in five new brands included a Sports podcast in their media plan. News and Comedy shows were also popular among the newcomers. And they were also most likely to use a mid-roll ad, according to the analysis. But that’s not surprising since 56% of all podcast ads in Q1 were mid-rolls.

Across all Q1 advertising, Magellan says the industry that is marketing the most on podcasts is business software and service companies. It detected 744 brands on shows during Q1, including 70 new brands. Financial services ranked second, with 651 brands, followed by food (596 brands) and television and film (585 brands).

The industry has been keeping a sharper eye on ad loads, and during the usually quieter first quarter, many shows aired fewer ads. Magellan calculates an average ad load of 8.01% during Q1, which is down from the 8.22% of episode time that went to commercials in Q4 — and the lightest load in more than a year. In absolute terms, the firm says that means about 26-seconds less advertising per episode across the industry in Q1.

As advertisers remained focused on the larger shows, the size of a podcast determined its ad load. During the quarter, Magellan says shows in the top 500 dedicated 9.1% of episode time to ads compared to 8% for shows in the 500 to 3,000 range. And podcasts beyond the top 3,000 averaged 7.1% of their episode time to commercials. The numbers also reveal that the lighter spot loads were in all three segments.

The quarterly report shows variations also remain among show genres. In Q1, Magellan says five of the 13 biggest genres experienced increased year-over-year ad loads. It says Kids & Family genre ad loads climbed from 7.54% in 2024 to 8.33% in 2025. And True Crime pod-on-pod ad loads increased from 1.16% in Q4 to 4.7% in Q1 as more shows looked to promote themselves on other podcasts.

Among the other findings in Magellan’s quarterly update is the continued concentration of ad dollars. It reports that in Q1, about $4.80 of every $10 spent on podcast ads went to the top 500 shows. While that share is larger, it notes it is smaller than $5.10 level recorded in Q4. Even so, Magellan estimates advertisers spent an average of $300,000 per month on podcasts ranking in the top 500 in Q1. That compared to $33,000 spent on podcasts ranking 501 to 3,000.

The report says four in ten ads run during Q1 were 30 seconds, making that length the most popular pick among advertisers. Another 11% of ads were 15 seconds, while 16% were a minute in length.

Direct response made up 46% of overall market spend during Q1, with brand awareness at 51% and tune-in at 3%.

Download a copy of Magellan AI’s Quarterly Podcast Advertising Benchmark Report HERE.