Women respond better to ads on female-hosted podcasts, study shows

Data also indicates better representation would increase female listenership

Female listeners interact more positively to ads on podcasts which are hosted or produced by women, according to a forthcoming study. 

The Women’s 2022 Podcast Report, conducted by Edison Research for SXM Media, indicated that almost half of women listeners feel more favourable about a brand if they know it advertises on female hosted or produced podcasts. 

The data suggests that hearing an ad from a brand in a podcast with female hosts or producers makes women listeners 41% more likely to consider and 36% more likely to recommend a brand compared to hearing ads on other podcasts. 31% of the women surveyed were also more likely to purchase a brand advertised on a female hosted or produced podcast. 

More widely, the report, which surveyed 1,500 Americans aged 18+ who self-identify as women, indicates that podcast listenership among women is up, increasing by 67% over the last five years, with women listening to a wide range of genres. The most popular of these being comedy, true-crime, love and relationships followed by entertainment/celebrity/gossip, news and information, and wellness and self-improvement. 

Despite this growth in listenership, over half of the women surveyed said they would listen to more podcasts if there were more that included female stories and perspectives. 52% also said they would listen to more podcasts if there were more hosted by women.

The full report will be released later this month, and a webinar presentation of the report’s findings will take place on December 14. The presentation, led by Edison Research vice president Megan Lazovick and Melissa Paris, vice president of sales research and analytics at SXM Media, will expand on several topics covered by the report, including the demographics and podcast discovery habits of women podcast listeners, and how women feel about brands on podcasts. The webinar will also cover how women promote and share podcasts and why women follow podcasts or hosts on social media.


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