Nearly nine in ten (88%) podcast listeners say they have taken action based on hearing a podcast ad, whether visiting a brand’s website (57%) or buying a product (41%). And a new report from Acast finds that when it comes to niche podcasts, listeners are more motivated into action as 94% have responded to an ad they’ve heard.
Those are some of the many findings in the wide-ranging Podcast Pulse report, which shows the typical podcast listener consumes content across six different topics. It points to an opening for brands that go deeper into niche shows.
Greg Glenday, Acast’s Chief Business Officer, says audience engagement is a major contributing factor for how well niche shows perform.
“When content is sought out, not served, it seems pretty obvious that it is more relevant,” he says. “It’s also important to note the relationship between podcast hosts and their audiences.”
According to this report, nearly 60% of listeners agree that podcast personalities feel like their friends and 63% say they trust a host they listen to.
“What this suggests is that advertisers need to be buying at the audience rather than just the podcast,” Glenday says. Because listeners tune into podcasts on a variety of topics, he says that opens the door to go beyond the obvious. It means a brand looking for sports fans can buy other genres where sports fans over-index. Yet Glenday thinks the ad industry hasn’t truly caught up with podcasts yet based on some RFPs that mirror traditional media requests.
“We still see new brands entering the space who are trying to apply strategies that work on other forms of media to podcasting — which is what you need to reach sports fans on sports content,” he says. “In addition to the need to educate these advertisers on buying across a variety of genres to reach the right audiences, there’s also still a lot of education to be done around the role of podcasting in omnichannel campaigns.”
Niche shows can come with higher CPMs, and their higher rate of effectiveness suggests those rates are justified. But that could also push some brands away from going deeper into a network’s roster. Glenday thinks as companies like Acast and others use technology to make smaller shows easy to find, evaluate, or buy, that will change.
“We believe the best brand use cases might deeply integrate with larger shows, and then extend that message to a collection of smaller reach shows,” he says. “Because podcasting is mostly a one-to-one medium the listener doesn’t think of shows as big or small. A brand might have a much higher share-of-voice on a smaller show and that drives up the effectiveness too.”
As the case for niche is being made, the reality is most brands buy across multiple mediums. For advertisers, Acast’s study finds the omnichannel influence of podcasts creates more opportunities to engage with these audiences in ways they are receptive to. Three in four podcast listeners say they will consider a brand from their favorite hosts on social media. And on YouTube, 72% of podcast listeners say they will consider brands advertised on the video platform.
Most significantly, of the 84% of listeners who say they have taken action after seeing or hearing brands promoted in podcast-first omnichannel campaigns, nearly half have made a purchase and two-thirds have been introduced to a new brand. This proves that podcast-led omnichannel campaigns are valuable for driving purchase behavior as well as for discovering new consumers.
“Siloed media buying and planning teams and budgets pose a huge challenge to getting advertisers to execute in this way. Historically, audio teams have been just that: audio while social media and video operate in their own lanes,” Glenday says. “As an industry, we need to keep breaking down those metaphorical walls so brands can see the creative potential of campaigns that begin with podcasting and incorporate a mix of channels.”
The data also shows just how influential podcasters can be in the decision-making of listeners and in their communities. It comes from the well-established connection that the medium has with its fans, which continues to hold even as more people convert to podcast listeners. Acast says more than half of listeners feel they are a part of a community when listening to podcasts, ahead of even social media. And podcast listeners even drive their own influence in these communities and are 57% more likely than average consumers to recommend new products, services, or content to friends.
The connection fans feel also stretches beyond audio, as eight in ten listeners say they follow media personalities across multiple platforms, with 75% following a podcaster on YouTube, 59% on Instagram, 54% on Facebook, and 41% on TikTok.
Nearly half of podcast listeners also say they feel more engaged with podcast hosts they see or hear outside of the show. This has led to 77% of podcast listeners saying they have watched a video version of a podcast, and half commented or posted on a podcast’s social media account.
How podcasters use the data depends on where their show fits and their goals to determine the best way or ways to engage with their unique community. Glenday says just because one in four podcast listeners have joined a paid subscription or membership doesn’t mean an early-stage show should focus on that.
“I think it’s important to remain very respectful and honest with your audience,” he says. “Overall, I think every creator should be excited about the influence power of their audience.”
Acast created Podcast Pulse with research of 1,031 podcast listeners in the U.S. conducted by Edison Research between Aug. 14-20. Download a copy HERE.
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