Are podcasts the next big ad opportunity for brands?
While it's easy to think of platforms like Instagram and Facebook as being the prime new media outlets for companies, wellness brands are successfully getting customers' attention through an advertising outlet that's been overlooked until recently — podcasts.
Wellness companies such as feminine care brand Lola, oral care brand Quip, vitamin brand Care/of and hair care brand Madison Reed have been finding success advertising on podcasts, according to an article on Glossy. Lola's co-founder Alex Friedman notes that having the host of a podcast describe the features of a product, how it works and why it's worth the listener's consideration is "hugely valuable."
Advertisements in which a host of a show pauses to explain the benefits of a product to the audience may sound like a throwback to an era when commercials were longer, less frenetic and couldn't be fast-forwarded through. But the strategy is demonstrating value for wellness brands which, as Glossy reported, benefit from being able to communicate a certain level of personal intimacy. Podcast listeners, for their part, are already an engaged audience because they've sought out the podcast and signed up to listen. Listeners may also be more apt to take a podcaster's word on the quality of a product s/he uses.
Other types of brands have been directing their ad dollars to podcasts, as well. Techworld reports that meal kit brand Blue Apron, website hosting and creation solution Squarespace and mattress brand Casper are all endorsed regularly on popular podcasts. The article speculates that podcasting may be the next big frontier of advertising and cites a 2017 Apple study, which indicated that people listen to 90 percent of their favorite podcast on average and rarely skip advertisements.
According to a study by Edison Research, 24 percent of the U.S. population listened to podcasts on a monthly basis in 2017.
Some retailers and brands, such as Trader Joe's and Barneys, are looking at podcasting as more than an advertising channel. Both recently launched their own podcasts to tell brand-appropriate stories to their fans and customers.