Don’t be fooled by the word “checklist” in the IAB’s packed, 25-page Podcast Buyer-Seller Checklist. It is a textbook-level account of how to buy and sell podcast marketing. Imagine a “Grocery Shopping Checklist” which explains the entire inventory of the supermarket.
There are actual checklists in this freely available PDF — several of them. Between those are detailed blocks of editorial. Examples:
- Tie Specific Audience Attributes to Campaign KPIs (8 paragraphs)
- Ensure that the Creative Matches the Environment (8 paragraphs)
Structurally, this document is built on 13 sections plus a glossary. The sections:
- Introduction (a general advocacy of podcast advertising’s growth and effectiveness)
- Strategic Approach
- Audience & Media Placement
- Targeting
- Activation
- Measurement
- Reconciliation
- Strategic Approach
- Audience & Media
- Targeting
- Activation
- Measurement
- Reconciliation (ii)
The checklists are numerous and deep in the weeds, with a mighty emphasis on detailed planning. Below, the “Reconciliation” checklist:
A wide array of research fieldwork powered the intelligence in the IAB Checklist:
- Edison Research, “Share of Ear”, Q1 2023
- Cumulus Media/Signal Hill Insights, “Podcast Download—Fall 2022 Report”
- Edison Research, “Infinite Dial 2023”
- Cumulus Media Audioscape, 2023
- Pew Research Center, “Podcasts as a Source of News and Information”, April 2023
- Nielsen, “Podcast Recontact Study”, 2022
- Acast, “Podcast Advertising: Delivering full funnel effectiveness”, December 2023
- Cumulus Media/Signal Hill Insights, “Podcast Download—Spring 2021 Report”
- dentsu/Lumen Research, Audio Attention Study, August 2023
- Sounds Profitable, “Medium Moves the Message”, March 2023
- Advertiser Perceptions, June 2022
Consider this IAB Checklist a chapter-length course in executing a podcast advertising campaign. It is HERE.
