How Programmatic Podcast Advertising Works

Podcast advertising is growing at an exponential rate, and many advertisers are reaping the benefits of their podcast ad campaigns. As the growth rate of podcast advertising increases, so does the technology along with it. One of the newest ways to advertise on podcasts is with programmatic podcast advertising.

But what is programmatic podcast advertising and how does it work? Read on to learn more.

Defining Programmatic Podcast Advertising

First, let’s talk about what makes programmatic podcast advertising different from your traditional podcast advertising. In traditional podcast advertising, a host-read ad or pre-recorded ad is played at a certain time during the podcast. It’s simple, but effective. Though, it’s not overly personal or targeted. With programmatic podcast advertising, you can take podcast advertising to a much deeper level.

Programmatic podcast advertising allows you to dynamically target your pre-recorded ads in real-time. Essentially, the ads are automated, based on a bidding system, to appear to a user based on their listening behavior. This allows podcast advertisers to reach their audience in a new, more engaging way.

What Are the Benefits?

There are numerous benefits to programmatic podcast advertising. If you’ve done traditional targeted ads, like on social media or search engines, you’re probably already familiar with this system. You place a spend on an ad, choose your target, and if your bid wins it’s served on the platform. So programmatic advertising obviously isn’t new. However, it is relatively new to podcasts and this is a big deal. Why is that?

Benefits of Podcast Advertising

Podcast advertising, perhaps more than any other form of advertising, has an already engaged, captive audience tuned in. Plus, there’s the benefits of audio advertising over visual advertising. Typically, audiences recall audio advertising better than visual advertising. This is especially the case when they’re actually tuned into a podcast, rather than when they’re just scrolling quickly down a web page. 

But the short of it is, when you have someone listening to a podcast, they’re already interested in the subject matter and engaged with the content. When you serve an ad to them that is relevant to the podcast, you’re more likely to get a quality impression. Compare this to social media and web advertising, where the quality of your impressions can vary wildly.

Programmatic Takes it to Another Level

Now, consider these benefits and apply them to programmatic podcast advertising. This allows you to target your exact audience at the time you want to reach them. In-depth tweaks allow you to deliver your podcast ads based on geo-location, time of day, type of listening device, and much more. With these opportunities at your fingertips, your ads will be much more effective than they would be in any other medium. 

Also consider, if you’re already using these kinds of advertising methods through other marketing channels, you’re probably already familiar with where to start. You can use this previous knowledge to your advantage, and apply it to the much more powerful podcast advertising world. 

Unique Insights About Your Audience

Combining attribution with programmatic advertising is one of the most powerful ways to get ahead when it comes to podcast advertising. Attribution shows you where your revenue and leads are coming from, exactly.  

When you’re delivering your ads dynamically, you’ll be able to see things like how many people were listening, the episode they listened to, and other demographic information that will help you perfect your ad campaign and not waste a single cent with your ad spend. 

Beneficial for Publishers and Advertisers Alike

Programmatic podcast advertising is so cost-effective, that it really opens up podcast advertising for more companies that might not be able to afford it at a larger scale. With targeted ads, their ad money is better spent, since they bring in more conversions. 

And this benefits podcast publishers too. With more companies being able to afford podcast ads, it opens up more avenues for monetization. Not only that, but relevant ads are going to provide a better experience to your listeners. Listeners understand that their favorite podcasts need advertising to stay afloat, but they’ll appreciate it if their ad experience is more relevant and less in their face.

These are just a few of the benefits you’ll see if you’re using programmatic podcast advertising. The only thing left to do is try it with your podcast. Keep in mind, although programmatic podcast advertising isn’t exactly brand new, it’s still an emerging and rapidly growing trend. This means that you can really gain a competitive edge when you utilize programmatic podcast advertising right. But if you really want to nail your ads, or bring in advertisers and grow your podcast, it helps to have a tool that enables you to do it. That’s where Backtracks comes in. 

How Backtracks Can Help You Grow Your Listeners

If you’re a podcast publisher looking to grow your listener base, or a podcast advertiser wanting to perfect their ad spend, the Backtracks platform can help. Backtracks is a full-featured podcast analytics and advertising platform. Here’s how that works:

Backtracks for Publishers – Backtracks has tons of useful tools for publishers. Analytics give you unique insights about your users, like total listens, total downloads, who listened to downloads, and so much more. This lets you find out what content is resonating most and learn more about the wants of your audience. Not only that, but a custom player lets you create a player that matches your brand and monetization features allows you to make more advertising dollars from your podcast. 

Backtracks for Advertisers – Advertisers can easily find the podcast they want to advertise on, set their parameters, and buy their ads. Advertisers can also glean powerful attribution insights to learn what’s working best and what could be improved.

In short, Backtracks is the most powerful podcast analytics platform benefiting individuals, companies, and agencies who exist in the podcasting world. Learn more about our platform today or contact us for more information.