There are many benefits to advertising on podcasts. Not only does it reach a broad and diverse audience, but about 4 in 10 podcast listeners say they have purchased a product advertised on a podcast. So, which companies are advertising most on podcasts? Per data from Magellan AI, as reported by eMarketer, BetterHelp is the biggest spender on podcast ads in the US so far this year.
In the seven months spanning from January through July of this year, BetterHelp spent an estimated $35.7 million on US podcast ads. This is more than twice as much as spent by ZipRecruiter ($13.6 million) and Geico ($13.5 million) which ranked #2 and #3, respectively, in estimated podcast advertising for the period.
Other notable advertisers who ranked within the top 15 include NBC Universal (#5; $12.2 million), Amazon (#6; $10.9 million) and Progressive (#8; $10 million).
Magellan AI’s data shows that BetterHelp has maintained the top spot in podcast ad spending each month since at least September 2020. In the meantime, monthly podcast ad spending by other top advertisers has seen much more movement. Although NBCUniversal was the #2 podcast ad spender for June ($2.5 million), July ($3.8 million) and August ($3 million), it dropped to #7 on the list of top spenders in September. And, while ZipRecruiter has fluctuated somewhat on its monthly expenditure on podcast ads, it has remained within the top 10 since January 2021.
It is worth noting that, while BetterHelp is consistently the biggest investor in podcast ads, Q2 2021 data from Podsights shows that Health and Wellness podcast ads have a below-average purchase conversion rate from attributed visitors.
About the Data: Findings are based on an analysis of podcast advertising data from the top 3,000 podcasts in the US as ranked by Apple Podcasts, supplemented by Magellan AI’s proprietary model to estimate advertising spend.