The Super Spenders: Who Really Buys From Podcast Ads
Sounds Profitable Partner Tom Webster and ADOPTER Media founder and CEO Glenn Rubenstein will co-host a webinar next Tuesday, October 13, at 2:00 p.m. ET. The two will present new analysis of The Podcast Atlas focused on podcasting’s heaviest buyers, the Super Spenders. The session looks at who they are, how their consumption differs across audio, video, clips and social, and which behavior identifies them most reliably in the study, then connects those patterns to what agencies see when real budgets are on the line and what it means for how podcast advertising is bought, sold and measured. Registration is free, available here.
The New Rules of Podcast Advertising by Leah Reis-Dennis
In a guest article for Sounds Profitable, Audacy Head of Podcasts Leah Reis-Dennis writes that much of the podcast advertising advice brands still follow today was built during the earlier years. She cites Podscribe data showing advertisers on mid-sized shows see a 22% lower cost per acquisition than those on the largest celebrity-led podcasts, and an Audacy study finding listeners are 21% more likely to be influenced by hosts with real topic expertise than by people with large social followings. On format, Edison Research data shows 57% of Americans both watch and listen to podcasts, and 72% of podcast audio listeners say they started with a show’s video version, which she frames as video driving discovery while audio drives deeper engagement. The piece closes on trust, citing Audacy research that 76% of podcast listeners have purchased a product after hearing an ad from a podcast creator.
Barometer Announces Podcast Brand Suitability Solution for Advertisers Using Amazon Ads
Barometer, an AI contextual brand suitability platform, announced that its targeting and brand safety segments are now available within Amazon Ads DVA+ for podcast campaigns. Advertisers can activate Barometer’s pre-bid, episode-level targeting and suitability ratings as third-party verification across Amazon Ads, SiriusXM Media, Spotify and iHeartMedia inventory, as well as the Triton, AdsWizz and Magnite supply side platforms. The launch starts with podcast audio, with other content types (including video) to follow.
Krystina Rubino and Lindsay Piper Shaw argue in an AdExchanger opinion column that podcasting is having its viewability moment, a decade after display advertising went through its own. They point to Spotify’s test of skippable podcast ads and YouTube’s engaged view methodology as signs that the word “impression” has lost clarity across platforms, while buyers are still asked to pay a flat CPM for inventory with materially different opportunities for consumption. Display eventually adopted new standards through the IAB and MRC and the medium kept growing, they note, but they do not expect a unified consumption metric this time. Their goal is transparency instead: telling buyers where impressions occurred, what the user could do with the ad and what engagement data exist. Right Side Up now asks partners for that level of detail as it plans for the upfront cycle. They also urge creators to learn how their inventory is sold and measured, and call 2027 the inflection point for buyers to ask what kinds of impressions they are getting.
Dhar Mann is Advertising Week New York’s first chief creator officer, with a mandate to broker deals between creators and brands and a goal of producing $100 million in creator-brand business within 12 months. Mann says CMOs he would not name have pledged combined budgets that already exceed that figure, but he does not expect contracts to be signed this week, noting that brands allocate Q4 budgets in Q1 or Q2. His programming includes a creator challenge, a “Masked CMO” event hosted by Nick Cannon, and invite-only sessions such as a creator deal making room with Fat Joe and Cannon. Go Fish Digital’s Lauren Lyster says putting creator deals on a public stage could help set a standard, though not one applicable to 90% of creators.
…as for the rest of the news:
- Audiochuck’s Park Predators is coming to Tubi through the network’s multi-year partnership with Red Seat Ventures.
- Oxford Road will run The Deal Room on Wednesday at Elsie Rooftop in New York, an upfront with no panels or fireside chats where brands can access about 20 offers available only in the room from sellers including SiriusXM, Amazon, Vox and Acast.
- SoundCast and Rupella Media bring programmatic audio to E.Leclerc, with brands able to book in-store radio campaigns directly or programmatically across 33 hypermarkets in the Paris region, billing it as a first for French retail media.
- WME has unveiled Creator Labs, an in-house digital operations team led by Joanne Lee that helps creators and podcasters build and scale businesses on YouTube and elsewhere, alongside a strategic investment in Astra Media and an expanded creator sales team.
- Ausha, an official Apple Podcasts hosting partner, now enables video distribution to Apple Podcasts from the same workflow used for audio and YouTube. The feature is available on Ausha’s Boost hosting plan or above.
- Flightpath argues that simulcast sales strategies accelerate revenue, saying dynamic-only selling strands inventory on some platforms while baked-in only selling can cut revenue potential by up to 4x.
- Wave Sports & Entertainment will oversee ad sales and distribution for Bad Friends across YouTube, podcast platforms and social channels, building on its existing relationship with co-host Andrew Santino through Whiskey Ginger.
