Podcasts Can Help TV Advertisers Find Lost Audiences

In December of last year, CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One and Signal Hill Insights released the seventh installment of the Podcast Download series. The Fall 2021 report highlighted trends from prior studies and examined new topics such as the emerging array of social audio platforms. 

The focus of this week’s CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One Audio Active Group® blog is how advertisers can use podcasts to reach consumers who are difficult to reach with TV or advertising-free streaming platforms.

• Nielsen Total Audience Report: Persons 18-49 linear TV audiences are collapsing. According to Nielsen’s Q2 2021 Total Audience Report, TV audiences among persons 18-49 are down -38% from 2018, in part caused by a -20% loss of reach.
• Podcast listeners are avid users of video streaming services. Weekly podcast listeners are flocking to streaming services. 94% have used a video streaming service in the past month. The vast majority (91%) have used an ad-free video streaming service.
• Weekly podcast listeners watch ad-free streaming services (Netflix and Amazon Prime Video) the most. 82% of weekly podcast listeners have used Netflix in the past month. Number two is Amazon Prime Video at 64%.
• Podcast listeners are cord cutters with four out of ten weekly listeners not subscribing to pay TV. 39% of weekly podcast listeners reveal they do not have a subscription with any pay TV company.
• 38% of weekly podcast listeners only watch ad-free video streaming.
• Compared to weekly podcast listeners, heavy podcast listeners are +47% more likely to be heavy video streamers. On average, heavy podcast listeners spend 12.4 hours with TV streaming services, +22% more time than the weekly podcast listener.
• TV tune-in: Despite declining TV viewership, the bulk of video streaming ad budgets is spent on linear TV. According to Kantar, video streaming platforms spent $1.3 billion from January to October 2021 on linear TV to market their subscription services and promote show launches.
• In 2021, podcast advertising spend from video streaming services tripled, according to Magellan AI. In Q1 2021, video streaming services spent $3.7 million in podcast advertising. By Q4 2021, video streaming service podcast spend tripled to $12 million.