Dive Brief:
- Almost two-thirds of podcast listeners are more inclined to consider purchasing products and services advertised on podcasts, according to a new report on podcast advertising by the IAB and Edison Research.
- About 60% of consumers surveyed said they prefer to purchase from brands that advertise on their favorite podcasts. The study surveyed nearly 1,000 podcast listeners.
- Podcast listeners say they regularly respond to ads during podcasts by visiting a sponsor's website (45%), considering a new product or service (42%), and gathering more information about a product or company (37%).
Dive Insight:
Podcasts may have a smaller reach than some other channels, but research suggests that podcast listeners are highly engaged with the medium and podcast advertising can have a major impact on those listeners.
“These results quantify for the medium what we've seen in much of our client work,” Tom Webster, Vice President of Strategy at Edison Research, said in a statement. “Podcast listeners not only don’t reject advertising in the medium, they are actually very receptive to the right message, delivered in the right environment."
The IAB study's findings echo previous research by comScore that found U.S. consumers between 18 and 49 prefer podcasts over other channels for encountering digital ads. Two-thirds of those respondents reported acting on podcast ads by either researching or purchasing the advertised product or service.
While podcasts may not get the sheer numbers of other content types, podcast audiences are clearly receptive to advertising, much more so than digital audiences that are blocking ads in increasing numbers. Podcasts are another content type for brands to consider in their content marketing strategies, with many companies now doing branded podcasts.
