Accelerating advertising on podcasts

Already a must-have in 2020, podcasting is taking more and more place in the media strategies of French advertisers. They no longer hesitate to invest in this listening format in order to reach a targeted and more attentive audience than in other media. Indeed, podcasting is a medium that is perfectly adapted to the consumption mode demanded by today's consumers.

Some figures on the American podcast market

For the first time in 2021, advertising investment in podcasts in the United States is expected to exceed the symbolic billion-dollar mark for the first time, an increase of 44.9% compared to 2020.

US podcast advertising expenditure

Here are some additional figures on the American market:

• 55% of Americans have already listened to a podcast (against 51% in 2019)
• The majority of monthly podcast listeners are between 12 and 34 years old (48%).
• On average, American listeners listen to 6 podcasts per week.

The podcast market in France

In France, two main families of podcasts are studied:

• remedial podcasts
• the native podcast

The first offers replayed radio broadcasts or on-demand, the second is original content dedicated to podcasting (without radio passage). In 2020, catch-up podcasts will account for 21.2% of monthly listener shares compared with 9.8% (+48% compared with 2019) for native podcasts. Native podcasting has experienced a great acceleration in listening following the Covid-19 pandemic and the confinement in the spring. Indeed, according to the Havas 2020 study, "13% of weekly listeners started listening to podcasts during the confinement" and "61% of pre-confinement listeners increased their listening frequency".

The audience for podcasts has been growing steadily in recent years (more than 1 in 5 Internet users listen to replayed radio content or native podcasts every month), but unlike the United States, France is still trying to structure the economic model of these audio formats in order to generate greater advertising revenue.

This does not prevent brands from launching themselves on this new channel, by creating their own programs (Orange, LVMH...). It is an interesting format to include in a brand content strategy, especially when we see completion rates approaching 75%.

>>> Read also our article on the most listened to podcasts in 2020

Podcast advertising formats

Podcasting is an interesting medium for advertising. It is, in fact, the medium of intimacy that is listened to at the time and place desired by the listener. The consumer is receptive and according to a Nielsen study in 2018, the memorisation of an advertisement in a podcast would be multiplied by 4! Moreover, 78% of users say they have nothing against advertising in podcasts and understand that it supports the creation of content.

Some advertisers have clearly understood the advantages of this new medium and wish to start buying advertising space on it, all the more so as the targets are highly qualified because they are made up of CSP+ urban dwellers, sensitive to brands and larger than average consumers. First of all, here are some explanations of the different advertising formats of podcasts.

In the advertising formats of podcasts, we find the so-called "classic" formats and sponsoring.

In the so-called "classic" advertising formats we find :

• Pre-roll: 15 to 30 second audio spot at the beginning of the podcast
• Mid-roll: audio spot of about 1 min in the middle of the show
• Post-roll: 15 to 30 second audio spot at the end of the podcast
• The host-read: it is the host himself who quotes the mark

And there is also podcasting as part of a brand content strategy.

In this case, it is not a question of buying advertising space on a podcast but of creating your own podcast or designing a co-created program in which there will be product placement during the broadcast.

How much does an ad on a podcast cost?

For pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll advertising, the price is often set at CPM (cost per thousand listenings) and can vary between €15 and €20, but it depends because an advertisement in mid-roll, for example, will be more expensive than a pre-roll advertisement. Also, the cost can be higher if it is a special podcast and can go up to more than 100€. 

There is another system for setting prices, which is a per episode rate based on a minimum number of commitments for a given number of episodes.