Five years ago, podcast ads were not very popular. Only 15% of advertisers were advertising in podcasts and 10% planned to begin using podcast ads within the next six months, according to a report by Westwood One. It seemed as if this little underdog advertising format would never fully take off.

Podcast Ads Now

Oh, but it did. In just five years, podcast ad usage more than doubled from the 15% of 2015 to 34% today. 66% of businesses are also discussing investing in this format as part of their future advertising campaigns. And podcast advertising reflect great numbers are in spite of the COVID-​19 crisis. In fact, the pandemic barely affected podcast ads at all! Pre-​COVID, advertisers and ad detections were at record numbers among the top 400 podcasts (682 unique advertisers and 4,533 ad detections in March). When full panic swept through the U.S. in April, those numbers dropped to 603 unique advertisers and 3,969 ad detections. However, recovery began a month later for the number of unique advertisers and two months later for ad detections. By June, unique advertisers were back up to 666 and ad detections were at near March levels of 4,257. Overall, podcast ad revenue is expected to reach $814 million this year, which is a 15% increase over 2019.

Looking to the Future

The future of podcast ads is looking bright, as well. Ad revenue is expected to jump another 35% to give 2021 a total of $1.1 billion in revenue. This could be because 37% of advertisers plan on definitely using podcast ads within the next six months while another 46% are seriously considering it. Additionally, podcasts’ ad-​supported audience shares have been growing. Between the second quarter of 2016 and Q2 2020, podcasts’ share of ad-​supported audio among American consumers between the ages of 25 and 54 jumped from 4% to 11%. That makes it the only type of audio media that has experienced significant growth in ad-​supported audio shares. Even SiriusXM and Spotify only increased their percentages by 1%.

Now It’s Your Client’s Turn

Podcasts are an area that numerous companies are beginning to invest in for their advertising campaigns or making a podcast of their own. It’s also a potentially complicated process, especially if your clients aren’t targeting the 19.3% of U.S. adults who regularly listen to audio podcasts, according to AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel.

That’s where you come in. You’re the expert who can help your client navigate this previously unexplored, up and coming terrain. After all, it’s worth the investment. According to the United States Census Bureau, there are more than 255 million adults in the U.S. Looking at the numbers another way tells you that than 49 million Americans are active podcast listeners. These consumers are 126% more likely than others to take action after hearing a brand mentioned on an audio podcast. 51.9% of Podcast Listeners took action after hearing podcast ads last year. What types of talk shows are your client’s target audience’s favorite? Check out their audience profile on AudienceSCAN to find out. Then help your client place some podcast ads!