Dive Brief:

• The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) will hold its second “Podcast Upfront” event in New York on September 7. 
• The Upfront will enable publishers to pitch new podcast content to media buyers and educate them on integrating podcast advertising into their content strategies, according to Adweek.
• Twelve media and podcast companies will participate in pitching new content with 20-minute presentations. The list of presenters at the event includes: NPR, ESPN, HowStuffWorks, Time Inc., WNYC Studios, AdLarge, CBS Radio's Play.it, Authentic, Midroll, Panoply, PodcastOne and Wondery.

​Dive Insight:

Podcasts aren't always the most popular form of content, but they typically have high engagement among users. Interestingly, comScore research from June found that podcasts are the preferred medium for consumers between 18 and 49 for encountering digital advertising. Two-thirds reported acting on a podcast ad by researching or purchasing the advertised product or service.

"Podcasting is a huge area, and it covers a lot of different interest groups, so we want to have diversity in terms of voices and the point of view on the subject," Anna Bager, svp and general manager of mobile and video at the IAB, told Adweek. "We're going to have science, sports, news, history, opinion [and] music." 

Even though comScore’s survey found that consumers prefer to be served ads on podcasts rather than other digital media, separate research from Pew Research Center found that only 36% of Americans listened to a podcast in 2015.

Bager recommended that marketers keep podcast ads very short, or weave them into the content itself in a way that people want to listen to them.