By one reckoning, podcasting gives $400M “intrinsic added value” to advertisers

Podcast advertising is famously looser than radio and TV advertising. When delivered via a host riff, it is more informal and improvisatory. But there is something else in bespoke deliveries of ad copy: the length. And podcasting chronically over-delivers on that length, giving extra value to advertisers.

That is the premise proposed by Thomas Mancusi, EVP Global, Sales & Development at Audioboom, and the basis of new research he conducted with advertising intelligence company Magellan AI. In an Audioboom blog post, Mancusi calculates that podcasting gives advertisers $400-million “intrinsic added value” to advertisers.

The basis of this calculation is Magellan’s research into podcast ads in four top categories — True Crime, Comedy, Society & Culture, and TV & Film. Magellan measured the length of ads in January — only direct response advertisers, and not pre-rolls.

From this Mancusi calculates that each category delivers double-digit percentage added value, led by Comedy at 58% added time to the purchased duration of the spots. (He notes that his company, Audioboom, overdelivers on the average overdeliveries, and the average overdeliveries over the Podtrac and Triton digital top publishers.