7 Biggest Trends To Watch In Podcast Advertising Right Now

This transcript has not been edited.

[00:00:00] [00:00:00] Heather Osgood: [00:00:00] Welcome to the podcast, advertising playbook, a show dedicated to podcast advertising. If you're a podcaster or an advertiser, and you're wondering how you can take advantage of this rapidly growing space, you're in the right place on the program. We'll discuss strategies and techniques to optimize your experience with podcast advertising.

[00:00:28]Hello, and welcome to the podcast advertising playbook. I'm your host, Heather Osgood. And on today's show, we are going to be talking about seven trends that I see in the industry.

[00:00:38] The first trend that I am seeing is that big business has definitely paid attention to podcasting, is interested in getting involved in podcasting, and they are making a big play to see what they can do to really grab some share.

[00:00:52] Of the podcast industry. Of course, we all know that there are companies like Google and Pandora, and of course [00:01:00] Apple that have been on the scene now for quite some time. And they definitely have

[00:01:04]had a foothold in the industry, especially Apple.

[00:01:07] We're seeing, I would say movement. Other companies like Spotify that is really invested quite heavily in trying to get a bigger presence in the industry. And then, of course we did hear recently here that Amazon and Audible are also making a play to try and enter the space in a big way.

[00:01:24] Now, that is a good thing on a lot of levels, because with all of this recognition comes to a lot of just, I would say verification that podcasting is headed down the right path. When we have outside money from large companies being invested in this space, I think that's a good thing in many ways, but it can also be a bit challenging because podcasting has been very open sourced, independent type voice for the people medium.

[00:01:53] How are these big companies coming into the space, going to be affecting the industry for positive and negative? So, I think [00:02:00] that's certainly something that we need to keep an eye on and it does here to be a trend because more and more companies are entering the space all the time.

[00:02:08] So, certainly something to be watching. Next, I think we need to be aware of all of the different little companies that are coming into this space and how they are affecting the podcast industry. Lots of different people are starting companies to help work with the podcast industry.

[00:02:24] And that is great, but also I think something that we have to be a bit cautious of. Especially when we've got products that are free. Now, there is a product Anchor, which most of you know, is owned by Spotify. That allows you to record a free podcast and upload it. And everything seems great there, of course, Anchor is going to be selling ads onto your podcast, which is just fine.

[00:02:46] And that could even be, they really may be an asset for you as a podcaster to make some money off of your show. Also, I just challenge you to consider what does we mean, exactly. And how could that be impacting [00:03:00] you or your show, if you're doing something that is free. I've certainly talked to people who feel like anchor could potentially be the YouTube for podcasting. And what would that look like and how would that affect the space.

[00:03:13] But I do feel that if you are interested in creating a professional podcast, there are lots of other companies in the space besides just Spotify. And I think that we have to be a bit cautious about what is happening with Anchor. As well as be aware of these different companies that are coming into the space and how they might be impacting the space for negative or positive.

[00:03:34] Right. So, you know, just being really aware of what's happening there.

[00:03:38] Next, I wanted to talk about technology that is coming into this space for a long time. Podcasts have set. Somewhere, I would say between offline mediums and online digital mediums, because of the information that we're able to gather from podcasting. We haven't been able to tell a ton about, in all cases who's listening or where they're listening or when they're listening.

[00:03:59]All of [00:04:00] these little bits and pieces that other digital mediums are used to having are not available in podcasts. But I certainly see that there is a trend toward more technology in podcasts, especially around the ad tech space. I think it's certainly something that we need to be aware of. We need to see the presence of technology growing within this space and how that technology is going to positively, I think most of the time, but sometimes possibly negatively affect what's happening in the podcast industry.

[00:04:30] So something to keep an eye on.

[00:04:32] I feel like one of the big things to look at here is the attribution that is coming on board and how we are able to take a look at who has been listening to a podcast.

[00:04:41] And then who goes and visits an advertiser. What is that playing in? What role is that playing in the industry? as well as geo-targeting, which is a big thing that a lot of companies are interested in. They don't want to reach the entire nation. Maybe they don't want to reach the entire world.

[00:04:57] Like a lot of, ads do reach. [00:05:00] They are looking just to reach specific people in specific areas. Technology is certainly available. It has been available for a while to do things like that. But I think all of this technology is improving. So it is definitely something to keep an eye on.

[00:05:14] The next trend that I wanted to talk to you about was the sheer number of podcasts out there.

[00:05:19] My goodness, there are so many shows, right? When I started in 2016, there were about 400,000 podcasts. And now there are over a million, I think at last count. 1.3 million podcast and growing. So there are lots and lots of shows. It feels like everybody needs a podcast, which is just fine, as long as you know why you're creating a show and what exactly you're expecting to get out of your show.

[00:05:46] I always like to put this in context and let people know that there are 600 million blogs out there, right? So we have just really, the very iceberg of what the potential could be [00:06:00] for podcasting. And when we compare it to other forms of content creation, podcasting is really still just getting it start.

[00:06:07] So something to consider, there are a lots of people joining this space. Lots of people are starting new shows. Let's see how it looks in seconds. This months. For some of those shows, it's easy to start a show. It's not always easy to keep podcasting. So something definitely to look at, but I would say a trend is starting a podcast, right?

[00:06:29] The next thing I wanted to touch on was dynamic ad insertion and programmatic advertising and podcasting. So we, I would say, have seen an increase in the use of dynamically inserted ads. One of the things that I always like to clarify around this is that a dynamically inserted ad can certainly be host read, and in my opinion should be host read. So host red dynamic likely inserted ads are giving hosts the capability to reach their entire listening audience.

[00:06:58] So, this advertiser is now [00:07:00] able to just not only reach listeners to one episode, but reach listeners to the entire catalog, both current and back catalog episodes within a specific timeframe.

[00:07:12] So I think dynamic ad insertion is, I believe, a trend when I am certainly rooting for and would like to see expanding. I would love to see dynamic ad insertion is something that, maybe available to all podcasts and not just people with a pro account. Now, programmatic ad insertion is certainly a topic that could be talked about for quite some time.

[00:07:33] When we look at the latest IAB report, in terms of how ad dollars have been spent in this space, programmatic was just a sliver, right? Just a portion of what is being sold in the space, but it is increasing. And I think it's something that we need to keep an eye on.

[00:07:50] In terms of programmatic, what we're talking about are these prerecorded ads that are then being distributed across many, many podcasts. And really [00:08:00] the buyer is just looking to target a specific demographic, a specific geographic location with a prerecorded message. Definitely something to keep an eye on. Now as we continue to look at trends in the space.

[00:08:15] I think one of the most important trends that I am seeing here in September in 2020 is that the pandemic is not affecting podcast the same way that it is affecting many industries.

[00:08:28] As someone who has been an entrepreneur for many years, as someone who has a lot of friends who are entrepreneurs, what is happening in the business economy right now breaks my heart.

[00:08:39] It makes me so sad that there are so many small businesses that are suffering and really having to go out of it business because of the pandemic. I am happy though, to say that podcasts have not been affected in a, an extremely negative way. Now, yes, we definitely saw cancellations of ad buys when the [00:09:00] pandemic hit, but we have certainly seen a return to podcast advertising and the upside is looking great.

[00:09:07] We still have an interview increase in sales in a year where lots of businesses are going under. So that's pretty impressive and definitely a trend that I think we have to keep an eye on. We are expected to hit the billion dollar mark in ad sales in podcast advertising in 2021, despite the fact that we have a pandemic.

[00:09:30] People are coming to podcast for a lot of different reasons, but it is definitely assigned that the medium is vibrant. It's growing, it's developing and it's something that a lot of people want to be a part of whether it's the content tense side, whether it's the ad side, whether it's the tech side, whether it's a big business, a small business, there is a lot of it attention and excitement that is being paid to podcasting right now.

[00:09:55] And, I for one, am super excited that I'm part of this industry. If [00:10:00] you want more information about True Native Media, you can hop on over to our website truenativemedia.com, where you will find lots of information about podcast advertising. Check out our blog there.

[00:10:11] And finally, if you were interested in learning yourself how to build an audience and sell ads for yourself, you can go over to Heatherosgood.com and check out the course, the Podcast Moneymaker.

[00:10:24] I hope you guys have a great day and I'll talk to you again soon.

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