I’m back to talk about podcast advertising! In my last blog post I talked about some learnings I gained while running paid ads for podcasts. This time I’ll be discussing in detail different platforms and a couple of their positives and negatives.

Google Ads

Google Search homepage

Early on, one of the first platforms we tested was Google Ads and it continues to be one of our top performers. An important part of measuring success is ensuring conversion tracking is in place. The easiest way to do this is to track click events within Google Analytics by tracking when a user listens to or clicks into their preferred podcast app. Once conversion tracking is in place, you can test our different bidding strategies to ensure you hit your goals.

            Positive: Being able to target your demographic using keywords and audience targeting helps you hone into your key audience eliminating wasted spend.

            Negative: You should run awareness campaigns on additional platforms as Paid Search works to capture the demand that is generated from other platforms. This can be difficult especially if you’re already running campaigns with a limited budget.

Facebook

Facebook on Mobile and Mac Laptop

I talked about Facebook in my last blog post as well, through audience testing we were able to find the right kind of audience combination that has produced results. Facebook gives you the ability to raise awareness to your podcast using interest, remarketing and demographic targeting while having the ability to test out different creative types. You’re also able to track conversions like Google Ads via button clicks.

             Positive: The ability to test different audience combinations and creative types in large audiences with relatively low CPC’s.

            Negatives: You’re likely to hit recommended frequency limits quickly and you’ll need to have a lot of creative on hand to keep audiences engaged and enticed.

Spotify

Spotify on Tablets

With a simplified user interface, it’s quick and easy to set up and run campaigns. You have the option to select your target demographics and target users based on genre, playlists or all music. Targeting is about to get even better as it was released last month Spotify is releasing in several markets the ability to target podcast listeners by podcast categories.

            Positive: Placing your audio ads in front of users who are currently engaging in audio and not mention the growing number of podcast offerings Spotify has added over the last year.

            Negatives: There’s no current tracking method to gauge subscribers or downloads and their reporting metrics and you’re unable to adjust your reporting range.

Overcast

Overcast Ad Examples

This little-known platform packs a punch when it comes to targeting and measuring performance. With Overcast, you purchase ads within the Overcast podcast app based on podcast categories. You’re reaching users who are already primed and frequently listen to podcasts on a regular basis.

            Positives: They have subscription tracking! Their reporting is updated daily for 30 days, which is how long a campaign flight lasts, letting you know how many subscribers you’ve acquired. They also make subscribing to your podcast easy by removing any friction and letting users subscribe with a single tap.

            Negatives: Ads slots get bought out quickly, limiting availability, not to mention category prices increase after ad slots are purchased.  Also, you can’t pause campaigns, once you make your purchase, the campaigns run non-stop for 30 days.

Since podcast advertising is still relatively new, there are still struggles to accurately measure campaign success and finding a platform that has all the necessary features that help you hit your podcast goals. In the meantime, we can still use several platforms that are typically used in traditional digital advertising.