You’ve probably listened to at least one podcast this month.
That is according to Pew Research Center, which says that about a third of all US adults listen to podcasts monthly—while 10% of all US adults are avid, daily listeners.
As advertisers, podcasts aren’t only a source of information or entertainment. For you, it can also be an effective promotional channel.
But how effective are podcast ads actually? Let’s check it out.
🖱️📈 Clicking on each individual chart will take you to its interactive board.
Podcast listeners keep growing every year
There were times when people thought podcasts were a passing fad.
But not anymore.
According to stats, podcast users have been steadily increasing in the US every year—and are expected to keep growing in the next five years.
The start of the decade fueled by the pandemic brought a boom to the podcast industry. However, the trend hasn’t slowed since its end. Quite the opposite.
Today, there are over 76M podcast listeners in the US only.
That’s a lot of users you can target. In the next half a decade, the number is expected to grow by 37.2M, or almost 50%—making it one of the most prominent channels.
🌐 Did you know: There are over 500M podcast users worldwide on various platforms, according to Exploding Topics.
Who is listening to podcasts?
It’s not only about the ears. It’s what’s between them.
And first, let’s look at some data that can tell us who are actually podcast listeners:
Among all adults, there’s only 20% of podcast users, with traditional radio still being the dominant ad-supported audio channel (67%).
But if we narrow it down to users aged 18-34, the radio–to–podcast ratio percentage would be much closer—45% for radio, 37% for podcast.
In other words, most ad-supported podcast listeners in the US are actually in the Gen Z and millennial range.
Here’s another chart to back it up:
The index shows that most podcast listeners are aged 25-34.
Also, the most dominant audience is male, with a $100k+ household income and a higher education.
According to the same Triton Rankers’ report, these are the top audiences for different podcast genres:
- News: Adults aged 55+, college graduates
- True crime: Female aged 25-34, parents of small children
- Comedy: Adults aged 18-24, students
- Sports: Males aged 35-54, household income of $100k+
Also, business and finance category had the 5th biggest listening share of 5%, but the report doesn’t provide data on the demographics.
Nevertheless, all this might help you choose the right podcast shows and genres when creating campaigns.
💡 It appears that Gen Z and millennials are the top podcast listeners.
You can combine that insight with our two earlier Data Stories—on millennials and Zoomers—to get the full picture.
Podcast ad spend and ad load both keep increasing
Time for the main dish.
We can’t know for sure if the ad channel works on an individual level. But we can follow the money.
Hence, a quick glance tells us that the trend follows the listener growth:
It didn’t take long for podcast ad revenue to jump from $840M in 2020 to almost $1.5B in 2021.
This year, that number went to $2.16B and is forecasted to reach $2.5 in the next two years.
Knowing that, we can say that podcast ads definitely work for some.
And that old advertisers keep either increasing or retaining their ad spend, while new ones are also dropping money into this channel.
Now let’s look at the ad loads—or the percentage of time an ad is played in a podcast episode:
Notice something?
Not only did ad revenue increase, but also the time you’d hear an ad while listening to your favorite podcast went up a few percent in a single year.
In fact, a jump from 5.56% to 8.36% is a 50% year–over–year rise. Nothing to scoff at.
Another interesting thing is that almost 2% of the current ad load goes to pod-on-pod ads—which promote other podcasts within a podcast.
🎧 Bonus: The same report from Magellan says that:
- True Crime genre has one of the heaviest ad loads (20.53%)
- Ad loads in Society and Culture genre went to double digits in 2024 (11.6%)
- The most common ad length is 30 seconds
- The most frequent ad position is mid-episode
What do podcast listeners think about ads?
Advertisers’ love for podcast ads might be increasing. But what about the listeners?
Well, you might be surprised:
It appears that listeners tolerate ads more than the general population—if that’s a condition for their favorite creators to keep creating.
Plus, 39% say they’d support brands that advertise on their favorite podcasts.
But keep in mind, that doesn’t mean that the ads will lead to conversions. They may still boost brand awareness, especially if placed next to popular podcasts.
There are a few other positive signs, such as at least one-third or more saying that podcast ads are engaging, memorable, likable, and relevant. Positive signs.
On the other hand, half claim they often grow tired of hearing the same ads.
And here’s another thing to keep in mind:
The message is clear: podcast ads and radio ads aren’t the same.
Listeners who clearly feel a special relationship with the podcast creator prefer that the ads be read or voiced by that familiar voice.
The Crew’s opinion: As long as your ads are relevant, and engaging, and you manage to get them read by the show’s host—the odds are in your favor.
However, if you don’t pay attention to the ad fatigue, your winning ads can easily turn sour.
So pay attention.
What kind of ad makes listeners buy stuff?
Now to see what makes a winning ad.
Here’s what the users say:
No surprises here.
As we already mentioned, podcast ads read by the host work. And almost half of the listeners claim they’ve bought at least one product advertised directly by the host.
A little less effective are pre-recorded audio ads that interrupt the content, followed by visual ads and pre-recorded video ads.
📰 Further reading: If you’ve liked what you’ve read about podcast ads—and are looking for another underutilized marketing channel—check out our Data Story on video game ads. You might like it!
Industries that advertise in podcasts the most are…
Well, let’s take a look:
If we ignore “other,” which encapsulates various micro industries or wasn’t identified, the rest of the list is pretty interesting.
Most ad revenue is attributed to arts, entertainment, and media, as well as financial services, CPGs, and retail.
On the other hand, B2B advertising, restaurants, and travel services aren’t promoted much.
Which makes sense.
Bottom line: it appears that there is more podcast content that’s relevant to arts, CPG, and financial services than B2B, for example.
But that isn’t necessarily bad if you’re—for instance—a B2B business. It might be an indicator that it’s more difficult to find opportunities to advertise that type of industry.
And if you do, you might see more gains than one of the more prominent verticals.
Time to pick the headphones up?
What’s the verdict? Driven by a growing listener base and increasing ad spending, podcast ads might be an effective channel to test.
Podcasts, particularly popular among Gen Z and millennials, offer a unique advertising platform with high engagement rates.
Finally, if you decide to run podcast campaigns, you should test ads read by podcast hosts that are particularly effective, and resonate well with listeners.
Overall, the podcast industry will keep expanding and could be a valuable new channel for targeted, impactful advertising. Do you agree?
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