Four New Findings About Podcast Advertising From Cumulus Media’s 2025 Audioscape
Click here to view a 12-minute video of the key findings.
Click here to download a PDF of the deck.
Cumulus Media’s 2025 Audioscape report examines the latest podcast consumer trends from Edison Research’s Podcast Metrics and “Share of Ear” Report, MRI-Simmons, Screen Engine/ASI, Podscribe, and Magellan AI.
Here are four key findings:
- Podcast ad campaigns are too light: No brand is coming close to “saturating” podcast audiences; Brands should allocate 5% of digital budgets to podcasting
- After five years with a median age of 33 to 34, podcast audiences finally age to 36, reflecting broader appeal with older audiences
- Screen Engine/ASI: Podcast audiences offer CTV advertisers significant incremental reach
- Podcasts tighten their grip on audio audiences: Among podcast listeners, 35% of all audio time spent now goes to podcasts
1. Podcast ad campaigns are too light: No brand is coming close to “saturating” podcast audiences; Brands should allocate 5% of digital budgets to podcasting
Edison Podcast Metrics is one of the few measurement services that can measure podcast reach and the duplicated audience between podcasts.
Edison’s reach curve reveals that even if a brand purchased ads in all of the top 10 podcasts, two-thirds of the weekly podcast audience would be missed. Even if a brand purchased ads in all of the top 500 podcasts, one-fourth of the weekly podcast audience would be missed.
Podscribe, the podcast attribution and measurement firm, reports virtually all podcast advertisers are achieving less than a 25% reach of monthly podcast audiences. Podscribe reports podcast advertisers are running less than 500M monthly podcast impressions. To truly achieve strong mass reach, a billion to 1.25 billion monthly podcast impressions are required.
New podcast advertisers are far too timid with their media spend: “Spray and pray” is not an impactful media strategy
“Arnie Semsky’s 5% solution”: It is time for brands to get serious and allocate 5% of digital budgets to podcasting
Podcasting is America’s fastest growing audio platform. Ad-supported music streaming audiences for Spotify and Pandora peaked in 2016. All of the audience growth in audio is coming from podcasts.
Despite this soaring audience growth, podcasts only represent 1% of total national ad spend, per Guideline’s Standard Media Index reporting.
At the dawn of cable TV, legendary BBDO media chief Arnie Semsky created the “5% solution,” which stipulated that brands devote 5% of media budgets to cable. 5% is enough of allocation to generate meaningful impact.
Semsky was prescient. His brands hugely benefited from taking an early, bold, and strong position in a growing new medium, a lesson for the marketers of today when it comes to podcasts.
2. After five years with a median age of 33 to 34, podcast audiences finally age to 36, reflecting broader appeal with older audiences
Still, podcast audiences are far younger than virtually every major media.
Edison’s “Share of Ear” reveals the older the demographic, the greater the growth of podcast daily reach. In 2017, podcasts’ largest daily reach occurred among 18-24s. Now it’s greatest reach occurs with 25-34s and podcast 35-44 reach is equal to its 18-24 reach. Reach among 45-64s is up 3X to 4X.
3. Screen Engine/ASI: Podcast audiences offer CTV advertisers significant incremental reach
Each quarter, Screen Engine/ASI, a leading market researcher for movie studios, video streamers, and TV networks, conducts a study of 2,000 Americans to understand their awareness and usage of video services. Screen Engine/ASI is one of the few measurement firms that can quantify the ad-supported audience and non-ad supported audiences of video streaming services.
Screen Engine/ASI reports that podcast listeners are more likely to use video streaming services. As such, the addition of podcast advertising to connected TV campaigns offers substantial incremental reach.
Hulu’s monthly reach of 32% of U.S. adults 18+ can be nearly doubled to 63% with the overlay of monthly podcast listeners. Netflix’s ad-supported service reaches about one in five Americans monthly. The addition of podcasts more than triples the Netflix reach to 60% of the U.S.
A large proportion of the U.S. watches subscription video streaming without advertising. Screen Engine/ASI also reveals that 62% of the non-ad-supported video streaming audiences can be reached with podcast advertising. The addition of podcast advertising offers brands the ability to reach these consumers out of the reach of video streaming ads.
55% of Netflix’s ad-free monthly audience is reached monthly by podcasts. 61% of Disney+ ad-free service is reached by podcasts. For media planners, podcasts can extend reach for CTV advertisers and can also provide significant impact among audiences out of the reach of video ads.
4. Podcasts tighten their grip on audio audiences: Among podcast listeners, 35% of all audio time spent now goes to podcasts
In 2016, the podcast audience devoted 26% of all audio time spent to podcasts. Today, this has grown to 35%. This is a testament to compelling nature of podcasts to its audience.
Key takeaways:
- Podcast ad campaigns are too light: No brand is coming close to “saturating” podcast audiences; Brands should allocate 5% of digital budgets to podcasting
- After five years with a median age of 33 to 34, podcast audiences finally age to 36, reflecting broader appeal with older audiences
- Screen Engine/ASI: Podcast audiences offer CTV advertisers significant incremental reach
- Podcasts tighten their grip on audio audiences: Among podcast listeners, 35% of all audio time spent now goes to podcasts
Click here to view a 12-minute video of the key findings.
Pierre Bouvard is Chief Insights Officer of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group®.
Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.