After an unsure 2023, podcasting is seeing an advertising boom, according to Magellan AI’s latest analysis of podcast advertising trends. Marked by a 22% year-over-year rise in the second quarter, the report also showcases an interesting comparison to radio.
The Q2 2024 Podcast Advertising Benchmark Report, which scrutinized 101,628 episodes from various US podcasts, incorporated a range of data points including ad loads, episode downloads, and advertising costs to provide comprehensive insights into the evolving podcast advertising landscape.
Unsurprisingly, podcasts in the top 500 attracted the majority of ad spend, with these shows garnering an average of $252,000 per month each. However, the profits made by series down the list don’t have much to complain about – podcasts ranked 501 to 3000 earned about $30,000 monthly.
Magellan found seven out of the top ten advertisers from the first quarter continued their heavy investment in the second quarter, with one new entrant making its way onto the list. The report highlighted that BetterHelp led the spending with $22.4 million, followed by Amazon at $13.5 million, and Shopify with $10.1 million.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau predicts that podcast ad revenues will exceed $2 billion in 2024, a milestone achievement following a more modest 5% growth to $1.9 billion in 2023.
The gaming industry saw the most significant quarter-over-quarter increase, with spending more than tripling. Companies like Monopoly Go, Senua’s Saga, and NYT Games were prominent contributors to this surge. In contrast, the share of 30-second ads dipped slightly to 40% of all ads, reflecting a shift towards varied advertising formats.
Possibly the most interesting measurements taken by Magellan had to do with ad load per episode. The percentage of podcast time dedicated to ads increased to 9.11% in Q2 from 8.69% in Q1. Even more significant: this was a 5.95% year-over-year growth. This ad load, while almost doubling, still remains around half of what the average radio station offers in an hour.
The report detailed that single advertisers filled all ad slots in 7% of episodes, with Business, Technology, and Education genres showing the highest incidence of this trend.
The full Q2 2024 Podcast Advertising Benchmark Report can be found on Magellan AI’s website.
