In the just-released study from Sounds Profitable, The Advertising Landscape, we find 34 info-packed slides representing a survey conducted by Signal Hill Insights. An online protocol queried over five thousand 18+ Americans, and claims to be the largest public study of podcasting and advertising in America. (Download it HERE.)
All the survey participants were consumers of at least one type of ad-supported media.
Video Is Winning
Nary an audio/podcast survey is released these days that doesn’t reveal substantial listening by means of video. In the chart below we observe video as the exclusive consumption channel for 12% of those surveyed. (NOTE: these data are about a single named podcast.)
When we combine the pie slices which represent video as equally, mostly, and exclusively used, we get a clean two-thirds of respondents (67%) who take their podcasts by video to some extent:
Five summary points form the backbone of the learnings here, and they are interestingly detailed:
- More than three in ten Americans 18+ are monthly consumers of ad-supported podcasts. There is a sizable percentage of the podcast audience that does not perceive that they encounter ads – the podcast experience is unusual in that the Premium vs. Adsupported is not necessarily a deliberate choice.
- The conversion of monthly consumers to near-daily and ”PRIME” consumers is below average. While podcasts remain an important choice, that doesn’t necessarily convert to a daily cadence
- Podcasting may be the gateway to spoken-word audio for 18-34s. With streaming music’s prominence, and the continued decline of commercial AM/FM radio with 18-34s, podcasting carries an important torch for the future of spoken word audio.
- Podcasting is the most versatile medium. More and more, we are learning that people dip back
and forth between audio and video versions of their favorite shows – this versatility is something we need to trumpet. - Podcast consumers pay attention. While our next report will delve more deeply into attention metrics across media channels, it is clear that the ad-supported podcast audience is paying attention to messages from brands.
