Podcasting is one of the fastest growing forms of media in recent years. It's estimated that there are over 750,000 podcasts and over 30 million episodes available on various streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and YouTube. If you live in the United States, there's a good chance you've listened to one. In a 2019 study by Edison Research, over 70% of respondents over the age of 12 were familiar with podcasts, with 32% having listened to a podcast in the last month and 22% listening weekly. The weekly listeners consume an average of 7 podcasts a week.
And where the people go, so follow the advertisers. Podcast advertising is an effective way to create brand awareness among specific communities and as such, is a quickly growing industry. The podcast advertising industry is expected to double from $800M today to $1.6B by 2022. Not only do audiences tend to have higher annual household incomes and higher levels of education than the general public, 54% of survey respondents said they are more likely to purchase from a brand they heard about on a podcast, according to the Edison study. One advantage of podcast ads compared to other forms of advertising, is that podcast ads are usually formatted as unique, live host reads where the host can inject his or her own personality and remarks about the products, making the ads feel and sound more like endorsements than advertisements. In fact, many people consider the live host reads as one of their favorite parts of the program. In an era where advertisers are looking for more genuine ways to connect with audiences, podcast advertising is a great approach and effective tool.
