Podcasts are coming back!

Podcasts, one of the oldest and historically least sexy digital content channels, may become the new hot digital marketing channel. According to AdAge, the new found success can be mainly attributed to the success of “Serial”, a podcast centered around a crime drama, advertisers are quickly jumping on this new trend. Podcasts have historically been relegated to the bottom of digital publisher’s properties given its long form content and lack of visual media – two major weaknesses in the current digital media marketplace.

However, podcasts also have some unique strengths. Podcast audiences are usually well-educated and tech saavy, making them the coveted influencer/early adopter segment that advertisers spend millions to reach. In addition, podcast advertising can best be compared to native advertising where the podcast teams both create as well as deliver the marketing messages within the podcast itself. This lack of differentiation between the editorial and advertising content makes what can be considered native podcast advertising up to 5 times more effective. Given that the advertising can be highly customized, direct response advertisers like Warby Parker have been using podcasts to better track ad performance.

Scaling advertising measurement through podcasts can be difficult however. Since there is no click involved, podcasts must rely on more inconclusive measurements such as downloads. However, publishers are quickly pivoting to provide advertisers the metrics they need to make podcasts a viable advertising channel. Apple is currently in talks with Nielsen to institute industry-wide standards of measurement, similar to Nielsen ratings in TV. It is interesting to note the negative correlation with advertising effectiveness and measurement. Often the most effective channels, especially like PR and influencer WOM, whether in person or through social media, can often be the most difficult for advertisers to track back to the source.