Hot off the presses! Our fascinating new study with Audacy reveals that advertising in the podcast medium is safe for brands. Read the news release below (and the linked study!) for more information:

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Brands are safer than they think on podcasts, a joint study by Audacy and Alter Agents finds

Study reveals that consumer approval, attention, and engagement with podcast advertising is high across genres

PHILADELPHIA, PA – November 6, 2023 – A new study has revealed that consumers are highly accepting and open to podcast advertising despite persistent brand concerns about suitability and safety. The research, conducted by Alter Agents – an independent market research consultancy – in partnership with Audacy, found that podcasts provide a safe advertising environment for brands, with eight in 10 consumers finding branded podcast messages suitable as long as they are contextually relevant, even when it comes to controversial content. Podcasts garner an engaged listening environment that bolsters attention, with 80% of listeners claiming they listen to ads, most as they enjoy the whole podcast.

The study identified key themes regarding brand safety and suitability in podcast advertising for marketers, as well as consumers. The B2B community listed controllability, genre-specific myths, trade-offs of produced vs. host-read advertisements, and the complex categorizations of podcasts. Consumers indicated ads must be a good fit within the content, hosts must be authentic, and controversial topics in the content can be acceptable and even enjoyed as long it is not defamatory towards one group. 

Engagement and ad fit are also fairly consistent across genres. Ad pairings in potentially controversial genres like true crime and news genres perform similarly to less contentious genres like sports and health/fitness/lifestyle pairings.

Brand fit is not an issue for listeners. Few say they have heard ads that are unsuitable for the podcasts they listen to but are more likely to call out ads sounding too much like a sales pitch or not being more native to the podcast style as reasons for unsuitability or poor fit. 

Foul language is not a top reason for not listening to a podcast, but where content or hosts cross the line is through racist statements. In fact, foul language is accepted in many genres, especially comedy, entertainment/pop culture, music, and true crime.

“Brand safety is critically important, and there’s a perception in the marketplace that certain genres of podcasts may not be as brand-safe, given the free-form host-driven nature of podcasts. In turn, podcast advertisers have hesitated to leverage the reach and scale of podcasts to remain brand-safe,” said Idil Cakim, Senior Vice President of Research and Insights, Audacy. “While brands are smart to assess the risks and rewards of advertising on podcasts, they may be missing out on reaching critical consumers. That’s because podcasts deliver highly engaged audiences, create prime listening environments, and host authenticity offers a strong personal connection to listeners.”

“Audacy’s study does a great job of highlighting that the material qualitative and technical advancements in brand safety and suitability within the podcast industry have mitigated a perceived risk for brands to advertise on podcasts,” said Kurt Kaufer, Co-Founder, Ad Results Media. “It also nicely contextualizes the positive listener perceptions of brands who make podcast ad investments a material part of their marketing mix.”

Methodology:

We first interviewed marketers and experts in the podcast and audio space to understand all the industry experts’ and marketers’ barriers and hesitations. Then, we surveyed podcast listeners to give a consumer perspective and see if these perceptions have merit. The study had 6,000 respondents. 

Please click here to access the full podcast advertising and brand safety study. 

About Audacy

Audacy, Inc. is a leading multi-platform audio content and entertainment company with the country’s best collection of local music, news and sports brands, a premium podcast creator, major event producer, and digital innovator. Audacy engages 200 million consumers each month, bringing people together around content that matters to them. Learn more at www.audacyinc.com, Facebook (Audacy Corp), X (@AudacyCorp), LinkedIn (@Audacy-Inc) and Threads (@AudacyCorp).

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