The non-overlap of radio and podcast advertising

from Inside Radio

In today’s edition of James Cridland’s Podnews, he makes an interesting comparison. Taking the just-published list of radio’s top advertisers (from Inside Radio), Cridland has the idea of comparing it with Magellan’s recent list of top 15 podcast advertisers. He notices zero overlap. The radio advertiser list is jammed with major national brands: The Home Depot, Geico, JCPenny, Lowe’s, Macy’s, Walgreens, McDonald’s, Staples and Progressive. The Magellan list contains direct response advertisers ZipRecruiter, SimpliSafe, Squarespace, Rocket Mortgage, Stamps.com and 10 others that avid podcast listeners have often heard.

There is one standout on the radio advertiser list: Indeed.com, which markets enthusiastically in podcasts, even though it didn’t make the Magellan October list.

The comparison is eye-opening in its absolute non-duplication, but really not surprising. It illustrates the historical strengths of two mediums which are related but different. Radio advertising seeks to extend brand recognition through repetition, and conversion of listening to store visits. Podcast advertising targets active online citizens, and tries to convert them to website visitors who enter a code to authenticate the ad’s effectiveness.

Podnews’ study also points to differing aspirations in the two audio categories. Radio with its huge reach seeks more data fluency, and transparency to advertisers about effectiveness. Podcasting would like to open up the big national brand advertising budgets by evangelizing the brand recognition impact of its unique sponsorship styles.

 

Brad Hill