Are advertisers spending more or less as a result of COVID-19?

2020 digital ad spend is expected to increase, while traditional ad spend will fall.

Want to advertise smarter and build affinity for your product or service? Find a podcast that your target audience loves and go all in as a sponsor. Podcast advertising spend is one area of media that is actually expected to increase during and after COVID.

In fact, 52% of U.S. media buyers plan to increase spend in podcast ads during 2020-H2.

(Via Covid Impact on Ad Spend 2020: The Transformation of the Television Marketplace - IAB, 6/16/2020)

What are U.S. Digital and Traditional Ad Spend Plans for the Rest of 2020?

Digital spend is expected to increase. ⬆️
1. CTV/OTT (connected TV / over the top such as Hulu or CNBC smart TV app): 59% plan to increase spend
2. Digital video (non CTV/OTT, such as YouTube ads): 56% plan to increase spend
3. Social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn ads): 56% plan to increase spend
4. Podcasts (such as buying dynamic ads through a network like Midroll): 52% plan to increase spend

Traditional spend is expected to decrease. ⬇️
1. Linear TV: 54% plan to decrease spend
2. Terrestrial radio: 61% plan to decrease spend
3. Direct mail: 62% plan to decrease spend
4. Print: 61% plan to decrease spend
5. OOH: 51% plan to decrease spend

Brands that advertise their products and services on business podcasts enjoy an average 14% brand lift. Plus, 54% of podcast listeners are either “somewhat” or “much more” likely to consider buying from a podcast sponsor (which vastly outweighs the 7% of listeners who are less likely) according to Edison Research.

How many Americans listen to podcasts?

Over 55% of the U.S. is listening to podcasts. 37% of U.S. adults listen to podcasts monthly (as of 2021).

How many small business owners listen to podcasts?

39% of small and medium-sized businesses owners are podcast listeners.

Hear Emily’s Flash Briefing about this (subscribe free to listen anywhere):

The Brain: Listening, Podcasts, and Decision Making

There is plenty of research on customer behavior proving that podcasts create brand lift. It makes sense because music, sound, and memory are linked to emotion in the brain.

And buying is completely emotional.

Emotion is what really drives the purchasing behaviors, and also, decision making in general.
Studies completed by neuroscientists have found that people whose brains are damaged in the area that generates emotions are incapable of making decisions.
-Harvard Professor Says 95% of Purchasing Decisions Are Subconscious by Logan Chieriotti for Inc.

When marketing a product to a consumer, it's most effective to target the subconscious mind. Read more from Professor Gerald Zaltman in his book How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market.

The relationships that listeners form with podcast hosts over time engender trust, so ads heard during a podcast are associated with that trustworthy and positive relationship.

Hear our latest marketing podcast

“Our brains couple sound with emotional information, storing it as a bundle. Over time, specific sounds elicit pre-conditioned emotions.” -CBC, The Psychology of Sound — “Our brains couple **sound** with **emotional** information, storing it as a bundle. Over time, specific **sounds** elicit pre-conditioned **emotions**.” -CBC, The Psychology of Sound

STATS: Podcast advertising and purchase intent (updated June 2020)

Brands that advertise products and services during business podcasts have a 14% lift in purchase intent. (We love Pivot, The Compound Show with Downtown Josh Brown, and Masters in Business.)
Brands that have ads in podcasts about society and culture have a 9.2% lift in purchase intent. (We love Death, Sex, and Money.)
Brands that advertise in news and politics podcasts have a 12.8% lift in purchase intent. (We love Robinhood Snacks).
Brands that advertise in comedy podcasts are most likely to have a 7.3% lift. (We love Scam Goddess.)
Brands that advertise in sports podcasts are most likely to have a 9.3% lift. (Not big into sports pods but always open to your recs, tweet us @beetlemoment.)

Take it from Seth Horowitz, an auditory neuroscientist at Brown University:

Sound and the mind are very, very intricately linked, and yet we almost never pay attention to sound. Sound is always there. It's our early warning system. It's also our emotional driver. It's our attentional driver. Everything you hear has some kind of an impact on you and changes how you respond to the rest of the world. So since sound provides context, it's operating in the back and is able to give us the basis for a lot of very, very complex cognitive responses. -Seth Horowitz, Sound A Major Emotional Driver For Humans, NPR