Behind the Scenes of the Episode
I was listening to an episode of the Media Roundtable where people who work in the podcast advertising space answered if they listened to ads. I know I do not like bad ads, but I wondered what my audience thought. If you're considering putting advertisements into your podcast, you want to hear what NOT to do.
What Studies Show Around Skipping Podcast Advertising
An article by Marketing Week cited a study by YouGov suggests just one in seven listeners (14%) find ads in podcasts to be interesting and not interruptive, while more than two in five (42%) skip them altogether, an increase on the previous year when 36% of regular listeners felt the same.
Acast (a company that sells podcasting ads) has run surveys and found “that nearly two-thirds (64%) of podcast listeners pay attention to ads.”
Podcast advertising seems to work (I would add, when done properly). An article on business.com cried, “The Nielsen Podcast Ad Effectiveness study found that podcast ads had a 71 percent aided recall rate.”
In this episode, I heard that in some cases it depends on where and how a person is listening. If they just picked up their phone and press play and get hit in the face with a ton of pre-roll podcast ads, they are more likely to skip. If they are listening in the car where pressing buttons is more of a challenge, they may not.
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Best Practices For Podcast Ads Based On User Feedback
- Make your ads relevant to the listener. Accepting advertisers that do not fit your audience is the textbook definition of “selling out.”
- Repeating the same ad over and over annoys most listeners. So, if you have pre-recorded ads, do more than one and swap them out on a regular basis.
- Having multiple pre-roll ads seems to annoy just about everyone.
- Radio's content is 30% advertising. One sixty-second ad for a 20-minute show is 5%. Don't be radio.
- Make them entertaining. If you want people to listen, don't make them boring.
- Don't complain about your advertisers as if it's a burden.
Does Your Favorite App Have Tools to Help You Skip Ads?
I know both Overcast and Castamatic (both iOs) have the ability on a per-show basis set a start time. For example, I hate the first seven minutes of Conan Obrian needs a friend. I could set up these apps to start every episode of that show at the seven-minute mark. Castamatic allows you to skip chapters that have certain words (like “better help” or “Casper). You can typically find this under “settings” in the apps. You may be able to configure your earbuds to skip X amount of seconds by double-tapping on them.
Timeline
00:00:00 – Introduction / Opening
00:01:30 – Matt: The Author Inside You
00:03:26 – Scott: What Was That Like?
00:07:22 – Kim: The Pharmacist's Voice
00:11:32 – Clay: Fish Nerds
00:13:32 – York: Welcome to Earth Stories
00:16:51 – Zoe: Back Look Cinema
00:19:29 – Mark: History of North America
00:20:18 – Paul: Pass ACLS Tip of the Day
00:22:51 – Chris: Podtastic Audio
00:23:56 – Timothy: Create Art Podcast
00:30:49 – Join the School of Podcasting
00:31:50 – Daily Podcast Tips
00:32:08 – Media Roundtable Chimes In
00:33:27 – Sanborn: Best Coop Games
00:35:04 – Chris: Deal Casters
00:38:14 – Chris: Dads with Daughters
00:38:54 – Brian: Relaxed Male
00:40:44 – Skipping Ads Settings
00:42:20 – Dave: School of Podcasting
00:43:05 – What Did We Learn?
00:44:09 – Media Hosts With Dynamic Tools
00:45:14 – Programmatic Complaints
00:47:42 – Consider Your Source
00:49:38 – Question of the Month
00:50:38 – Live Appearances
00:51:39 – Next Episode
Mentioned In This Episode
Episode 858 on Bad Advertising
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