Podcaster's Guide to Buying Ads to Grow Your Audience (March 2024)
Podcasters have different ways to get more listeners through ads - and some are better than others. We reviewed them all so you don’t have to find out the hard way.
"How do I get more listeners?"
If you have a podcast, this question will be living rent-free in your head. If you are willing to invest some cash - and you invest it wisely - you can grow your audience without having to do too much heavy lifting by investing in ads.
These are the most common approaches podcasters take with paid promotion:
Buying ads on the internet. This could include promoting a post on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, or buying Google Ads so you appear at the top of the page for relevant searches. Typically these ads include a link to your podcast and in some cases an image or video.
Buying ads in other podcasts. This includes dynamic ad insertion, where ads are typically bought from podcast hosting companies, and host-read ads, which are bought from other podcasters. Pre-roll, mid-roll or end-roll refers to their position within the podcast audio and they are served to listeners on all podcast apps. Typically these are audio ads where the listener is unable to tap to view your podcast page or start listening.
Buying ads in podcast apps. This includes any native ad placements in podcast apps and are bought from their website. The formats across the different apps vary, but typically these are cards with your podcast, title, image and sometimes a short description.
Targeting people with an ad while they are listening to a podcast or looking for a podcast are much more likely to convert - and this is basically impossible when buying ads on the internet.
This is possible if you are buying ads in other podcasts, but dynamic ads and host-read ads as are usually bought by brands - not podcasters. One reason for this is that the listener is already preoccupied with listening to the podcast they are currently playing and they are unable to tap through to view it and start listening.
Therefore we will focus on the different ways you can buy ads in podcast apps. Before we get into it, here are the different metrics you will encounter. The metrics lower down the list are more valuable (listens are worth more than page views).
Impressions: how many times your ad is served. Bear in mind that this is slightly different when buying dynamic ads or host-read ads, as an impression is counted every time your ad appears in an episode that is downloaded to a user’s device. It doesn’t mean the episode will be listened to (and many of us skip ads anyway).
Taps: how many times your podcast page is viewed. When buying ads in podcast apps, tapping on the ad will usually take listeners to the podcast page where they can read more, listen to your episodes and subscribe.
Listens: how many times your podcast is played. This is different from downloads, which tell you how many times your episodes were downloaded to a user’s device (whether they were listened to or not).
Subscriptions: how many new subscribers you gain. Only some apps that you can buy ads in don’t share this information with you (Overcast and Podcast Addict were the only apps we tested that do).
You will often see some of these metrics priced as a CPM (or cost per mille), which helps you compare the cost per thousand impressions across different platforms and placements. When you are buying ads in podcast apps, you are typically buying taps or listens - we can price these as a CPM too.
Comparing the CPM means that it’s immaterial how many people use these podcast apps, since you’re spending money based on every thousand taps or listens. If your goal is to get more listens, that’s all that matters.
We compared the cost and estimated results when buying ads to target all categories on Podbean, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Podcast Addict and Fountain. This is what we found.
TL;DR…
There’s the summary. Now let’s get into the detail…
Podbean
Minimum Spend: $995
Minimum CPM (Impressions): $1
Podbean is a podcast app on iOS and Android. Podbean give you estimated impressions but don’t give you an indication of how many people might tap, listen or subscribe - so it’s a shot in the dark. A banner ad on the home page in the app will set you back $1995 and generate over 2,000,000 impressions. Buying a placement in the “you may also like” section under the player screen costs half the price and get you at least 500,000 impressions. A CPM of $1-2 for impressions is a bargain by any standard, but the high minimum spend and no guarantee of results is a red flag.
Pocket Casts
Minimum Spend: $1200
Minimum CPM (Taps): $535
Pocket Casts is a podcast app on iOS and Android. A premium ad placement on the Discover page targeting all categories will cost you $5000 a week and they estimate between 3400 - 8400 people will tap to view your podcast page. Their cheapest ad placement costs $1200 a week and will generate an estimated 200 - 800 taps. This means your CPM could be anywhere between $535 - $6000. For taps. Let that sink in.
Overcast
Minimum Spend: $1050
Minimum CPM (Taps): $525
Overcast is a podcast app on iOS. Podcast ads appear below the controls on the player and on the search page. Targeting all categories will cost you $1050 a month and they estimate that between 1500 - 2500 people will view your show page. This results in a CPM for taps between $525 -$700, which is still incredibly high. Choosing this option you are looking at around $15 for every new subscriber - which isn’t exactly a bargain. You can also target specific categories, which is cheaper in price and could result in a higher or lower CPM.
Podcast Addict
Minimum Spend: $4250
Minimum CPM (Taps): $60
Podcast Addict is a podcast app on Android. Podcast ads appear on the search page, category pages and sometimes in the native ad unit where you would usually see ads from brands. Targeting all categories will cost you $4250 a month for an estimated 50,000 - 70,000 taps. A CPM between $60 - $85 for taps sounds more reasonable, but you’re still just paying for people to look at your podcast - not to listen to it. You can expect 500 - 1,350 new subscribers (which will cost you $3.14 - $8.50 per subscriber). Like Overcast, you can also target specific categories.
Fountain
Minimum Spend: $50
Minimum CPM (Listens): $45
Fountain is a podcast app on iOS and Android. For as little as $50 you can automatically promote your latest episode or choose an episode from your archive that is perfect for first time listeners. You promotion gets served on the home page in the app free of charge and 60% of your budget gets paid back to listeners for every minute they spend listening to your episode until your budget runs out. You can choose how much you want to pay to each person who listens. Right now, setting the lowest possible reward equates to a CPM of $45 - not for impressions or taps, but for for one thousand IAB-compliant downloads. No other app is able to guarantee results like this.
So here’s a summary of why you should promote your podcast on Fountain:
Low minimum spend. On Fountain you can promote your podcast for as little as $50. On other apps the minimum spend required to promote your podcast across all categories ranges from $995 - $4250.
Promote specific episodes. On Fountain you can automatically promote your latest episode or choose an episode from your archive that is perfect for first time listeners. On other apps you are just buying an ad that takes listeners to your podcast page.
Pay for listens, not taps. On Fountain you pay as little as $45 for one thousand IAB-compliant downloads. On other apps you pay anywhere between $60 - $6,000 for a thousand people just to tap on your ad - no listeners are guaranteed.
Better listener experience. On Fountain 60% of your budget gets paid back to listeners for every minute they spend listening. On other apps all of your budget is fees and listeners are not incentivised to try out your podcast.
Better reporting. On Fountain you can check many impressions and listens your promotion is generating and see the CPMs in real time. On other apps you usually just get an email report when your campaign ends.
Looking to create your first Fountain Promotion?
To get started, download the Fountain app on iOS or Android then claim your podcast to create a promotion. You can pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay and your promotion will be live within 24 hours.