Podscribe Says BetterHelp Leads January Ad Spending; Financial Advertisers Accelerate.

January’s top podcast advertisers ranking from Podscribe shows the marketplace started off the year with more than $42 million in estimated spending in January, which is normally one of the lightest months of the year for advertising.

Leading the pack once again was BetterHelp, which reclaimed the No. 1 position with an estimated $6.8 million in spend, a 6% increase from December. The mental-health advertiser’s strategy remains textbook podcast buying: deep reach (1,221 shows), a strong 64% host-read mix, and a heavy emphasis on comedy, a genre long associated with trust-based direct-response performance.

Just behind it, Quince continued its steady ascent, landing at No. 2 with $6.1 million in spend. While Quince edged down 1% on a month-over-month basis, its buying profile stood out for its confidence in hosts. A striking 92% of its ads were host-read across 842 shows, signaling a brand still willing to pay for endorsement-style integrations rather than raw reach.

Amazon ranked third with $5 million, despite a sharp 32% pullback from December. Amazon still appeared on 1,266 podcasts, but with only 21% of its ads host-read, its January presence looked more like a reach play than a persuasion one, centered largely on sports programming.

That same top-down approach was evident from Mint Mobile, which matched Amazon’s $5.0 million spend at No. 4. Mint ran on 1,385 shows — the most of any advertiser in the top five — but relied on host reads for just 27% of its placements, leaning instead into news-heavy inventory designed to maximize exposure.

At No. 5, Shopify spent $4.7 million, down 9% month-over-month, while maintaining a hybrid approach: broad distribution (1,404 shows) paired with a moderate 44% host-read share, again skewed toward sports podcasts.

If the top FIVE reflected stability, the bottom half of the top 10 tells a story of momentum.

Progressive Insurance surged 37% to $4.3 million, landing at No. 6, while Rocket jumped 38% to $3.7 million at No. 7. Both leaned aggressively into sports, but Rocket stood apart for its unusually high 78% host-read mix — a sign that financial advertisers are increasingly willing to trade scale for credibility.

The most eye-catching move came from Intuit, which exploded 485% month-over-month to $3.1 million, reflecting the annual tax-season ramp. Intuit appeared on 909 shows, balanced host-read and announcer-read inventory (43% host-read) and focused heavily on sports — a reminder that seasonal marketers can reshape the leaderboard almost overnight.

Rounding out the list were two brands with sharply contrasting approaches. Squarespace spent $2.9 million, down 5%, but delivered 88% of its ads as host reads across just 226 shows, reinforcing its long-standing preference for deep integration over breadth. Meanwhile, Sierra jumped 59% to $2.6 million yet relied on host reads for only 1% of its placements — the clearest example in the top 10 of a pure reach-driven strategy.