While some traditional forms of advertising are either failing or struggling to translate their analogue success into the digital world, podcast advertising looks set to thrive in the coming years.
Statistics from ZenithOptimedia reported in the Wall Street Journal show that advertisers committed some $34m to podcast advertising in 2015. A respectable figure when taken in isolation, but a drop in the ocean compared to advertising spend on billboards ($3.1bn), internet display ($11.3bn), radio ($17.6bn) and television ($66.7bn).
While that shows that podcasts have some way to go in order to really compete for advertisers’ attention and budgets, it is a growth sector and looks well placed to replicate the advertising success of radio over the coming years.
In order to maximise their earning opportunities, podcasts need to lean heavily on technology. At its most basic level, that means working with a reliable podcast hosting service to ensure a high quality listening experience that keeps advertisers and listeners happy.
But tech can also be used to drive up advertising revenue more directly. Our ad replacement service allows podcasters to play out different adverts to different sections of their audience. This is most commonly done on a geographic basis or local ad replacement, so that podcasters have the opportunity to sell advertising to companies in a specific country while promising that they will only pay to reach genuine potential customers.
So, if you have a decent listenership in Sweden, it is unlikely brands operating only in Sweden would want to pay to advertise to listeners scattered around the world. But offer them the chance to advertise exclusively to your Swedish listeners and it might become a more attractive proposition.
The same technology allows podcasters to avoid any potential cultural faux pas when it comes to advertising in specific countries. For instance, you may have listeners in markets where alcohol or gambling is frowned upon or even illegal. It makes social and business sense then to drop those adverts and instead play a commercial that is more relevant to listeners in that country.
You can combine directly sold adverts with backfill from one or more podcast advertising networks to help ensure the right adverts reach the right listeners.
