Today in the Business of Podcasting
Brands Are Slowly Going Always-On With Hispanic Audiences by Catherine Perloff
In 2021 consumer good company Danone North America decided to progress beyond occasional one-off campaigns targeting Hispanic consumers. After successful initial test campaigns in English, Danone has scaled up to national campaigns specifically targeting Hispanic consumers over the last two years. Unfortunately Danone’s story remains an outlier, not the norm. A performance agency rep told AdWeek some companies looking to reach Hispanic audiences set themselves up for failure by only running test campaigns with budgets too small to generate meaningful results. Or they fail to target publications specifically serving Hispanic audiences. As the recent Edison RADAR report we covered last week showed, podcasting’s Hispanic audience is a powerful one if the content is made accessible and relevant. [Source]
Rising podcast ad rates break 3-month trend in September by Brad Hill
AdvertiseCast’s tracker of podcast advertising rates has been updated to include the averages for September, and it’s good news. Over the previous three months the CPM (cost per thousand impressions) for a sixty second ad spot has been on a decline from May’s peak of $23.43, bottoming out at $21.06 in August. Now the average is rebounding, sitting at $22.91 for September. [Source]
Acast and Henkel Celebrate Conversations about Hispanic Hair Care in Podcast Advertising Campaign
According to an Acast brand lift study, a recent podcast advertising campaign for Schwarzkopf’s Keratin Color Haircare product saw a purchase intent increase of 43%. The campaign targeted Hispanic podcast listeners through host-read spots on Spanish-language podcasts Yo Quiero Dinero and Se Regalan Dudas from April to July. Both host-read ad spots and integrated brand storytelling (either as four minute “sponsored stories” or full branded episodes about the host’s experiences with changing hairstyles) were used to bring authenticity to the campaign. Once again, the benefit of consistency and authenticity. The audiences are there, advertisers just have to meet them where they’re at. [Source]
Spotify Subscription Audiobooks by Ben Thompson
As announced in Fast Company yesterday, Spotify is updating their audiobook offerings to give Spotify Premium subscribers access to 15 hours of audiobook listening per month. If a listener needs more time before their monthly refresh they can purchase a further ten hours. The new feature is debuting in the UK and Australia this week and will arrive in the U.S. sometime this winter. This listen-time scheme aims to solve for the in-app purchase restrictions implemented by the Apple App Store and serves to “bundle” audiobook content in an attractive way for consumers. Publishers get paid on a listen-time basis, and listeners with a strict listen-time budget might be more motivated to purchase a book they enjoy but don’t have enough in-app time to finish. [Source]
Give Your Brand the Gift of Reach and ROI this Holiday Season
A new festive study from Veritonic surveyed 300+ individuals in the US who reported listening to podcasts and streaming audio on at least a monthly basis. 76% of respondents felt holly and/or jolly, saying they expect holiday-themed ads on podcasts and streaming audio. Of the categories surveyed, the top three subjects respondents want ads for are beauty, health and fitness, and Travel or local amusements. 63% of respondents say during the end-of-year holiday season the majority of their podcast and streaming audio listening will be holiday-themed episodes and/or playlists. [Source]