PodWave, a new programmatic service for podcast advertising, hopes to broaden the field by giving more brands the opportunity to dip their toe in the podcast waters without diving in with a full sponsorship. While podcasting is exploding in popularity, only a handful of brands currently dominate its ad inventory.
Podwave was developed by AdsWizz in partnership with National Public Media, National Public Radio’s sponsorship sales arm.
Podcasts are enjoyed by over 56 million listeners in the United States each month, according to Edison Research. Yet the majority of ad spaces sold by the major podcast networks go to a short list of brands, including SquareSpace, Stamps.com, Casper, Lagunitas Brewing Company and, until recently, Scion (the car brand was discontinued by Toyota in February).
“Podcast advertising is very successful,” said Rockie Thomas, the vice-president of business development for AdsWizz. “It’s doing very well. But in order for the industry to grow, we’re going to have to bring demand diversity into this industry.”
Thomas said the current podcasting environment works well for programs that enjoy a large audience and advertisers that can afford to sponsor multiple shows. PodWave, however, is intended for a different kind of advertiser.
“They don’t want to buy 100 different podcast shows; they want to buy an audience in L.A. that wants to listen to financial podcasts. It’s a different buy,” she said. “There’s always going to be direct business – those advertisers will continue to be handled directly by podcasters. But a third-party partnership, like one with PodWave, offers them more revenue opportunities that they would not be able to reach one-on-one.”
Another challenge of traditional podcast advertising is that messages can quickly become dated. Most podcasters make their entire catalogues available online, and listeners often find episodes months or years after their original posting.
“What we provide is a way to dynamically insert the ad into the podcast so that the advertising is not only relevant and evergreen for the listener but also provides great brand revenue for the podcaster,” adds Thomas.
Canadian audio advertising
Having worked with many brands in Canada, however, Jordan Whelan, president of Toronto-based Grey Smoke Media, doubts that his clients would embrace a programmatic exchange for podcast ads.
“Media buyers and marketing companies don’t want to stray from what’s working,” he said. As a media buyer for major Canadian brands, Whelan said that many are skeptical of podcast advertising because of a lack of clear analytics as well as higher CPMs compared to similar media, such as radio.
Thomas suggested that a programmatic exchange will help create a more straightforward pricing model based on supply and demand. Furthermore, while podcasters have traditionally only been able to measure downloads, streaming services like Pandora and Stitcher now provide deeper analytics, such as listen-through rates and location.
However, Whelan pointed out that programmatic insertion would also ignore or remove a popular element of podcast advertising: ads read personally by the host. “When I worked in radio, those were the most effective. Those were the advertisers that kept coming back. If a host is reading you something and they’re a host that you find credible and a personality that you enjoy, that’s what sells to you. It’s coming from the host’s mouth. If it feels like an automated hard sell, we’re kind of averse to all of that.”
While those traditional podcast advertisements still have their place, Thomas believes that PodWave will help usher in a new category of podcast advertisers who perhaps hadn’t considered the medium previously.
“It’s good to be in audio right now,” she said. “I foresee the industry a whole continuing to grow.”
