Report: As Podcasts Show Broader Appeal And Increased Listening Time, Brands Need To Boost Ad Budgets.

A new report from Cumulus Media citing multiple research sources shows podcast listening trends that suggest advertisers should be upping their spend on the audio medium.

“No brand is coming close to ‘saturating’ podcast audiences,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says in Westwood One’s weekly blog. “Podcast ad campaigns are too light, [with] new podcast advertisers far too timid with their media spend. Brands should allocate 5% of digital budgets to podcasting.”

Backing up this claim is Edison Podcast Metrics’ weekly reach of listeners based on the top five on up to the top 500 podcasts, showing that, Bouvard says, “Even if a brand purchased ads in all of the top 10 podcasts, two-thirds of the weekly podcast audience would be missed. Even if a brand purchased ads in all of the top 500 podcasts, one-fourth of the weekly podcast audience would be missed.”

Add to this podcast attribution and measurement firm Podscribe’s finding that nearly all podcast advertisers are achieving less than a 25% reach of monthly podcast audiences, with advertisers running less than 500 million monthly impressions where 1.25 million are necessary to achieve strong mass reach. Likewise, podcast advertising analytics firm Magellan AI reports that during Q3 2024, more than 1,400 new podcast advertisers spent an average of $25,900, amounting to only a million impressions.

Advertisers are in a position to take advantage of podcasts’ younger audience, with a current median age of 36 vs. Netflix’s 44, AM/FM radio’s 46, and ABC/NBC/CBS TV’s 56. According to Edison, as daily podcast listeners have grown across all demographics, the older the demographic, the greater the growth of podcast daily reach.

Meanwhile, podcasts’ share of audio time spent among podcast consumers has also grown significantly since 2016, up from 26% to 35%.

“This is a testament to the compelling nature of podcasts to its audience,” Bouvard says. “Podcasting is America’s fastest-growing audio platform; all of the audience growth in audio is coming from podcasts. Despite this soaring audience growth, podcasts only represent 1% of total national ad spend, per Guideline’s Standard Media Index reporting.”

One advertising group sure to benefit from podcasts is connected TV, as according to market researcher Screen Engine/ASI, podcast advertising increases the incremental reach of ad-supported streaming video platforms such as Hulu, Peacock, and Disney+ by anywhere from 64% to as much as 4,800%, and non-ad-supported platforms like Netflix and Max by anywhere from 55-74%.

“The addition of podcast advertising offers brands the ability to reach these consumers out of the reach of video streaming ads,” Bouvard says. “For media planners, podcasts can extend reach for CTV advertisers and can also provide significant impact among audiences out of the reach of video ads.”