Magellan AI to podcast advertisers: Book your placements now (research study)

Podcast advertising intelligence company Magellan AI released some research on how buyers place their holiday marketing in podcasts. Looking at last year’s holiday advertising, and examining podcast holiday content, the company comes up with recommendations for this year. Chief among them to buyers: Get your podcast advertising in place now.

The research starts with looking back at holiday podcast advertising in 2019, comparing it to Q1 – Q3 (pre-holiday) spending. The increases are sizable:

In the ranking above it’s easy to see advertisers whose product represents a traditional holiday buying category (e.g. wine), compared to advertisers whose product is agnostic to holidays (toothbrushes).

Next, Magellan analyzed the content of podcast episodes, looking for holiday themes. One finding: Podcasts did not pick up on holiday themes until  December, contrary to the much earlier start of the holiday shopping/decorating season. The company notes this: “Many of the
shows never published holiday-specific episodes – which isn’t surprising when the show genre is taken into context.” (Think: True Crime.)

The research indicates that advertisers act sooner than podcasts, when gauged by the use of certain discount-product terms selected by Magellan used in ad copy — e.g. free shipping, percent off,reward, and free. Assuming those ads were meant to stimulate holiday shopping, the research indicates that advertisers moved into the holiday season earlier than podcasters:

The research report has other conclusions and takeaways — and also audio examples to hear. Download the free report here, in exchange for filling in a few  identity fields.

 

Brad Hill