Marketing News
How podcast advertising can raise positive perceptions of brands and encourages buying action
When Apple officially added podcasting to its iTunes Music Library, Steve Jobs demonstrated how anybody could create one using their computer and share it with the world.
With the proliferation of smartphones, now everyone has a podcast player in their pocket and as the world becomes busier, the format has become incredibly popular with the main advantage being that it offers endless variety and options for both brands and listeners alike.
Today’s consumers spend more time subscribing and listening to on-demand audio content than they do social media and now this boom has been heralded as the golden age of podcasts. According to new research by The Guardian, podcasts have shown the most growth of any media, helping them to become more mainstream with 41% of users listening to them more than they were 12 months ago.
Brands are no strangers to podcasts with the most popular networks of today, iHeartRadio, NPR and Spotify, securing a whopping 22 million listeners every month!
With the length typically allowing a deep dive on topics or an extended version of a conversation between people, there’s a large variety of content to choose from, such as Ted Talks and small business advice from Britain’s best CEOs, that keep people engaged over a longer period. It’s perhaps the most significant benefit that 80% of listeners will finish almost the entire podcast episode.
The research by The Guardian also indicates that podcast advertising raises positive perceptions of brands and encourages listeners into buying action.
According to their findings, podcast advertising has the biggest influence of any media channel as its study found that 65% of listeners paid attention to podcast adverts compared to TV (39%) and adverts on the radio (38%).
This high level of attention translates into a greater likelihood to buy the product or service being advertised, as more than half (51%) of weekly users of each channel said podcasts influenced them to buy something from a brand.
Interestingly, in combination with other media, the overall effectives of marketing campaigns are boosted with more than a third of listeners (34%) saying that ‘it tells me something new about the brand’.
Furthermore, when combined with visual cues such as advertising or digital displays, podcasts make marketing campaigns more memorable and trustworthy when they are added to the media mix as the data shows that trust levels increase from 45% to 63%.
They also help to dial up the brand as part of branded content online with 47% of listeners saying, ‘it improves my opinion of the brand’.
And for podcasts that have more than 5k downloads a month, there’s a growing demand among brands to sponsor them.
One retail brand that recognises the benefits is Ocado, which has seen an uplift in new customers, with 25% saying they’d listened to a podcast. The retailer also saw a 62% increase in positive customer brand perception and 89% new unique visitors to their website after sponsoring popular podcast show ‘Comfort Eating’.
Sources:
New research: podcast advertising commands highest levels of attention The Guardian
Podcasts in the UK – statistics & facts statista
