According to Magellan AI’s Q2 2025 Podcast Advertising Benchmark Report, the top 10 podcast advertisers spent a combined $128 million from April to June 2025, marking a 20% increase from the $110 million spent in Q1 2025.
This surge contributed to a 28% year-over-year growth in podcast advertising, outpacing the 17% growth seen in Q1. The report highlights a robust recovery in ad spending as economic concerns eased, with each month in the quarter showing stronger performance than the last.
BetterHelp led as the top spender with $16.4 million, followed by Amazon at $15.9 million and Toyota at $14.4 million. Unilever debuted in the top 10, spending $10.2 million to rank ninth. Financial services was the leading ad category, with $104.3 million spent (up 56% from 2024), followed by business services and software ($77.3 million) and consumer services and software ($70.7 million). Other high-growth sectors included insurance (+54%), gambling (+26%), automotive (+24%), and food (+20%).
The report notes 1,196 new brands entered podcast advertising, with an average spend of $42,600, favoring sports, news, and comedy genres. Mid-roll ads dominated at 56% of placements, while ad loads dropped 11.6% year-over-year, reducing listener ad exposure by about 39 seconds per episode. Top 500 podcasts averaged $318,000 in monthly ad revenue, up 6% from Q1, with True Crime shows carrying the highest ad load at 12.06%.