Survey: The Skip Button Isn’t Stopping Podcast Ads From Delivering For Brands.

Podcast advertising appears to be defying one of digital media's biggest assumptions: that skipped ads don’t work.

New research from YouGov shows podcast advertising continues to generate website visits, product searches and purchases at rates that outpace other forms of audio media, despite that most say they routinely skip podcast ads. The findings point to a medium that continues to generate consumer engagement while avoiding many of the trust and annoyance problems facing other forms of digital advertising.

“One of the most distinctive things about podcast ads is how frequently they’re not listened to,” YouGov’s Clifton Mark said during a webinar Wednesday discussing the findings. “Half of Americans who answered say they usually skip or tune out podcast ads when they come on.”

The survey found only 8% of podcast consumers say they typically pay attention when an ad appears. Another 52% usually skip or tune out podcast advertising, while 16% say they do so sometimes. Yet YouGov argues that skipping does not necessarily prevent advertising from having an impact.

The study found 60% of podcast consumers have taken some type of action after hearing or seeing an advertisement vs. 54% of music streaming users and 53% of radio listeners. Actions ranged from visiting a brand’s website and searching for products online to using discount codes and making purchases.

Perhaps more surprisingly, ad skippers remain active consumers. YouGov reports that 55% of listeners who say they usually skip podcast ads have still taken some type of conversion action after hearing an ad. Among those who only sometimes skip ads, the figure rises to 82%.

“Even though skip happens, it doesn’t necessarily stop the ad from working,” Mark said.

The findings arrive as advertisers continue to scrutinize podcast measurement and attribution. The YouGov report notes that podcast advertising has long faced an attribution challenge because listeners can “skip ads, tune them out, or avoid them altogether,” making it difficult to determine who is truly engaging with campaigns.

Another finding may help explain why podcast ads continue to perform despite high skip rates: consumers dislike them less than other forms of advertising.

Only 25% of respondents described podcast ads as annoying or disruptive, the lowest score among all ad formats measured. By comparison, 50% said online display ads were annoying, 46% cited YouTube and other video platform ads, and 42% pointed to television and streaming video advertising.

“Only 25% of people find that podcast ads are actually annoying or disruptive, so that seems like there’s some opportunity in the advertising space,” YouGov VP Schenck said during the webinar.

Mark suggested listener control may play a role.

“I think part of it is a skippability and just giving you that power to skip the ad makes it feel less of an imposition,” he said.

The study also examined trust. Podcasts lag traditional media, with 14% of consumers saying they trust podcast advertising vs. 19% for both television and radio. But podcasts fare better than many digital channels, topping YouTube advertising at 13%, online display ads at 7%, and social media advertising at 6%. Podcasts also generate less distrust than those digital formats.

Among podcast ad formats, host-read ads continue to hold a clear advantage. One in five podcast consumers identified host-read ads as the most trustworthy format vs. 12% for sponsorship mentions and just 5% for pre-recorded brand advertisements.

“People find them more trustworthy,” Mark said of host-read ads. “The host actually reading the ad, people find it more trustworthy than sponsorship mentions and pre-recorded brand ads.”

Taken together, the findings suggest podcast advertising’s effectiveness may have less to do with forcing listeners to hear every ad and more to do with the medium’s overall relationship with audiences. Listeners may skip, but they are not tuning out entirely. And for advertisers, that distinction could matter more than whether the fast-forward button gets pressed.

Download the full report HERE.