Dive Brief:
- Content marketing is all about leveraging multiple types of media, and brands ranging from Prudential to Netflix and GE are testing the podcast waters.
- With that in mind, Panolply, Slate’s podcast network, has launched a custom unit to work with brands in creating podcasts.
- And as podcasting continues to gain traction among marketers, another podcasting trend that has come about is native advertising with sponsored content within otherwise non-branded podcasts.
Dive Insight:
Big-name brands are looking to expand their content marketing strategy and have turned to Slate’s podcast network, Panoply, to create branded podcasts.
The brands work with Panoply for editorial ideas, and the results include Prudential’s series, “40/40 Vision,” hosted by public radio personality Faith Salie with content that addresses being 40 and older. Prudential VP of Media Anna Papadopoulos told Digiday, “Forty-year-olds are the generation that has been impacted the most and benefited the most from what is happening culturally, so we wanted to talk about that.”
According to research firm Edison, 46 million Americans listen to podcasts with the average listener tuning into six a week. Advertising is common within podcasts, and there’s a growing trend for native advertising in sponsored podcast content. Meanwhile, wholly-branded podcasts take the format out of the realm of advertising and into the content marketing strategy.
Even though podcasts offer advertising and content marketing opportunities, one challenge that really sticks out in using podcasts for any marketing activity is a lack of clearly defined performance metrics.
