The run-up to the holiday period has seen major increases in podcast ad spending for many retail businesses including Etsy, Skylight Frame and Peloton, according to the latest statistics from podcast advertising analytics platform Magellan AI.
Based on the figures for November 2022’s top podcast advertisers, mental health services platform BetterHelp continues to be the number one podcast advertiser with over $8 million spent in November across 879 shows. Amazon also continues to follow behind BetterHelp in the list with just over $5 million spent in November across 775 shows. For both companies, Comedy was the most popular genre that the advertisements appeared in.
Seasonal advertisers Skylight Frame and Aura Frames, which both sell digital picture frames, saw a significant increase during the holiday period. Skylight spent the most it ever has in a single month with a special focus on true crime and comedy podcasts. The company spent a total of $635,000 in November, which is a 1,500% increase since October 2022 - more than three times the increase in Skylight’s spending for the same period last year.
Similarly, Aura Frames spent $490,000 in November this year, representing double the amount that it previously spent in November 2021. The podcasts that it invested in the most with direct response ads include political show Pod Save America and true crime podcast Crime Junkie.
Lastly, e-commerce company Etsy also experienced a jump in podcast advertising spending in November, with $957,000 spent compared to just $1,000 in October 2022. It ranked second in terms of spend in Magellan AI’s top ‘movers & shakers’ list, just behind Peloton which spent $1.6 million in podcast advertising for November, representing a 335% increase. Half of the ads for Etsy were targeted towards true crime and news podcasts and half being host-read.
The Magellan AI report analyses podcast advertising data across 3,000 of the top podcasts in the US and estimates advertising spend through number of ads per episode, number of downloads, and CPM as reported on media kits or an estimated figure based on the podcast’s popularity.
