This Week in the Business of Podcasting

What’d I tell you last week? We certainly had something new cooked up! Now The Download is a daily affair and we’re bringing even more news to your inboxes Monday-Thursday. But today’s Friday, so it’s time to round up what happened last week. Let’s get started.

Dentsu Study: Audio Ads Outperform Video for Attention and Brand Recall.

This Tuesday AdAge writer Jack Neff covered a new study on audio advertising by attention research firm Lumen. The study was commissioned by Dentsu and involves participation from Amazon Ads, Audacy, Cumulus Media, iHeartMedia, Spotify, and SXM Media. The research is part of the Dentsu Attention Economy project, which has been running for five years. From the article:

“Among the findings were that 41% of audio ads generated correct brand recall in follow-up surveys, compared to a 38% norm for other advertising, mostly video, in Dentsu’s database. The average impact on brand choice metrics was a positive 10% for audio vs. a 6% norm in Dentsu’s database for other ads. Audio advertising produced average attentive seconds of 10,126 per thousand impressions, more than 50% higher than the norms of 6,501 in Dentu’s database of prior studies.”

Podcasts command listener attention for more seconds per thousand impressions than Dentsu’s benchmarks for TV, digital, and social media. Ads read by podcast hosts had better performance influencing brand preference than ads produced for radio.

The ad slowdown (or lack thereof) gives the industry reason to hope

From Digiday’s Seb Joseph last Friday: the ad slowdown prophesied at the end of last year appears to be waning, as ad dollars are making a comeback. As Q2 numbers are posted by the usual suspects, big names like Google and Meta are showing ad revenue increases. Google got a 3.3% boost to 58.1 billion dollars in the last quarter. Meta reports $31.5 billion for the same period. A quote from Joseph’s article:

“While ad spending may pick up in the second half of the year, according to forecasts from companies including Unilever, Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble, the extent of this resurgence may vary across different markets, favoring certain regions like the U.S. over others like Europe. And even when those dollars do increase, they’re going to be diversified across multiple platforms, benefiting some media owners more than others.

Simply put, the days of unrestricted ad spending are long gone. Digital advertising is now a mature, slower-growth market, much like the rest of the ad market it defied for years.”

While good news, the era of unrestricted ad spend is likely at an end, with an onus on marketers to be more evidence-based in their spending decisions. Luckily, podcasting’s healthy (and growing) measurement capabilities are primed to provide evidence podcasts are a good bet for ad dollars.

The Kid’s Podcast Listener Report

 New from Edison Research: The Kids Podcast Listener Report. Posted last Thursday, the report is built from an online survey of 1,272 parents of kids 6-12 years old, a parent-administered version of the survey that received 245 responses, and in-home interviews with families who listen to podcasts.

Among the findings, 46% of kids in that age range have listened to a podcast at least once. 29% of children surveyed listen to podcasts at least monthly.

There’s also a strong representation of co-listening, with 68% of parents of kids who listen to podcasts at least monthly reporting their children listen to podcasts with at least one parent, while 54% listen with siblings. 73% of parents say podcasts make family car rides more fun.

As has been covered in The Download multiple times in the past: kid-friendly podcasts are on the rise, growing in popularity both with listeners and advertisers. Just this week, fiction podcast company Realm announced the acquisition of Pinna, as well as advertising partnerships with Rebel Girls and GoKidGo. The Kids & Family genre continues to be a hot commodity.

Industry Insights with Magellan AI

During Q1 and Q2 2023, the average ad loads increased from 5.55% to 5.97%. Last quarter year-over-year ad loads were just below 6.00% in Q2 2022.
Looking to get a handle on podcast advertising metrics? Book a demo with the Magellan AI team.

Quick Hits

While they may not be top story material, the articles below from this week are definitely worth your time:

• Introducing The Download by Bryan Barletta. The Download is now a daily podcast Monday through Thursday, with the usual weekly recap continuing on Fridays.

• SiriusXM is betting big on its next-gen app by Amrita Khalid. The much-teased new SiriusXM app is set to debut this fall and was brought up during the recent Q2 earnings call.

• WPP & Spotify Announce First-of-its-Kind Global Partnership. British communications and advertising holding company WPP is now in a global strategic partnership with Spotify to give its clients access to Spotify’s ad products.