Why Podcasting’s Advertising Advantage Is Bigger Than We Thought by Tom Webster
Yesterday Sounds Profitable published The Advertising Landscape 2025: Attention and Trust, the second part of the ongoing release of a landmark study into podcast advertising effectiveness in the U.S. Webster’s article this morning goes over some key findings, and why they matter to the business of podcasting. One key finding is just how much trust audiences have in the medium. 46% of Americans trust podcast content moderation (for a comparison, Facebook is at 26% and Reddit is 25%). 51% believe podcast content is factual and accurate, while 48% believe podcast advertising claims are true. To put that in perspective, Discord, Facebook, Reddit, and Threads all scored between 19% and 25% on advertising message trust. Webster describes this as the reverse of a “halo effect.” Users don’t just not trust the ads that appear on low-scoring platforms, they don’t trust the environment in which that ad appears. And podcasting has high trust with multicultural audiences. Black respondents show 51% trust in podcast advertising voices. Asian audiences ranked up to 46%, and Hispanic/Latino audiences hit 49%. Moreover, Hispanic/Latino audiences ranked social media 19 points lower than podcast advertising. As Webster says: that’s not just a preference, that’s a revelation.
[AUS] Listen up: Why audio cuts through the noise and captures attention
The Trade Desk writes on the attention-grabbing nature of audio, spotlighting new data from The Trade Desk Intelligence team and PA Consulting that finds Australian audiences engage with an average of five different media channels per day. Social media takes first place with 70% engagement, and audio ranks second with 66%. Spoken word content (including podcasts) keeps people company, with 70% of surveyed podcast listeners saying they tune into content while alone. And they focus just on podcasts, with 69% of respondents listening with no simultaneous media.
Marketing budgets stagnate from 2024 to 2025: report by Alyssa Meyers
Gartner’s annual CMO Spend Survey finds the average marketing budget represents 7.7% of total company revenue in the 2025 edition of the survey, which happens to be the same share as 2024. By comparison, the two years prior showed decline in marketing budget as a percentage of company revenue. The report finds protecting media budgets is a trend, with the share of spend on paid media increasing 11% year over year to 31% with respondents. Though, with increased focus on media buys comes concern about rising ad prices, lowering ROI. Conditions where introducing a few CMOs to the wonders of podcast advertising might be beneficial for all involved.
As for the rest of the news…
- QCODE and the podcast And That’s Why We Drink have teamed up to launch Para Pods Network, a network designed to “bring authentic, bold voices to the forefront.”
- Next Thursday, June 12th, at 1 p.m. EST leaders from Kendo Brands, Aura Frames, Barometer, and Statusphere will gather for a conversation about how consumer brands can achieve high-performing influencer content without sacrificing brand safety.
- Spotify has a new in-flight entertainment partnership, which will see 450 hours of curated playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks appear on United Airlines seatback screens.
