Midroll Media survey finds 60% of listeners made purchases from podcast ads

Midroll Media, now a podcast network under E.W. Scripps’ Stitcher brand, has released its podcast listener demographics report for 2018. The company had 205 show hosts ask their audiences to participate in the survey, and this latest iteration included feedback from more than 151,000 listeners between February 2 and October 4, 2017. The results include useful insights for advertisers about podcast listeners’ motivations, as well as analyzing how they respond to both different shows and different types of ads.

The survey leads with metrics showing the extent to which podcast listeners avoid or ignore ads in other media categories — TV, billboards, and radio. In their media consumption, many respondents have made choices to pay for an ad-free experience, with 86% subscribing to premium video services. When ads are present in those non-podcast categories, podcast listeners claimed high rates of resistance: 66% said they sometimes or always ignore digital ads online. The rate of sometimes or always ignoring ads was 63% for television commercials, 61% for billboards, and 59% for radio commercials.

In contrast, 81% of the survey participants said they always pay attention to podcast advertisements. More than half (60%) also said they have bought something from a podcast ad. Among people who have listened to a show for four years or more, the rate of making a purchase rises to 72%.

Midroll also shared demographic data from its survey participants. The podcast listeners from this report fit a profile that has emerged over many studies. Midroll’s data found that 66% of its respondents have a bachelor’s degree or more, 66% are between the ages of 18 and 34, and 44% report a household income of $75,000 or more.

In general, podcasts reported strong figures for listener loyalty. The average Net Promoter Score across all Midroll podcasts is 70, compared with a media industry average of 45. Six Midroll shows boasted scores of 85 or higher.

Anna Washenko