June 2021: Top spenders, movers and shakers in podcast advertising
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Top 15 Spenders in June
Top 15 Movers & Shakers in June
Wine.com
One of the earliest online wine retailers, Wine.com was founded in 1998 and over the years, has navigated complex restrictions to be able to sell in 42 states across the US. First detected in November of 2020, Wine.com increased their investment 998% between May and June this year.
The alcohol industry has been growing its presence in podcast ads over the past couple years but advertisers really ramped up spend this summer. Magellan AI detected over 200 new alcohol brands in podcasting this year. Much of the ad volume in June came from the drink brands themselves but Total Wine & More put up some competition for Wine.com with their estimated $281,000 spend in June.
Wine.com's direct-response ads were primarily in mid-roll positions with many pre-roll ads as well. The mix of produced and host-read ads offered $50 off the first order for listeners who use a custom URL. Hear a host-read ad on BiggerPockets Money Podcast and a pre-produced ad on Voices for Justice.
Literati
Literati started their business as a children’s book subscription in 2016 and expanded to include book clubs for adults in late 2020. Literati’s ads in June focused on promoting their book clubs hosted by celebrities, well-known authors, and visionaries. With a monthly subscription, readers will gain access to all the book clubs and their choice of books delivered each month. This unique approach to community building around books sets Literati apart from the numerous individual books and other services (Audible, Scribd) that we detected ads for last month.
The direct-response ads offered a free trial in their host-read ads if listeners use the provided URL. 81% of ads in June were in a mid-roll position.
Hear ads from Literati on What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood and By the Book.
Two Nine Sports, Inc. (StatHero)
Fantasy sports is a crowded industry in podcasting, as evidenced by both DraftKings and FanDuel making our top 15 spenders list in March. StatHero stands apart as a daily fantasy sports book: choose your sport then choose the lineup you want to face off with, and build your winning team.
Magellan AI first detected ads from StatHero in December of 2019 and spend between May and June increased by 2538% making June their highest spend month yet. StatHero’s ads were heavily weighted to sports podcasts but also branched out to some Comedy and Society & Culture shows.
The ads were evenly distributed between pre-, mid-, and post-roll positions with a mix of produced and host-read ads. Hear the produced ad on The World of Phil Henrie and host-read ad on Dunc’d On Basketball NBA Podcast.
Methodology
Magellan AI analyzes podcast advertising data from the top 3,000 podcasts in the U.S., as ranked by Apple Podcasts. For parts of this analysis, we relied on Magellan AI’s proprietary model to estimate advertising spend. Our model incorporates a number of factors, including:
- The number of ads and variation in ad load detected for a given episode
- Number of downloads for each episode
- CPM, as reported on select media kits and estimated based on popularity
From time to time we adjust our model based on new inputs and user input.
Magellan AI creates tools that help marketers at brands like SimpliSafe, Wix, and BetterHelp spend intelligently on podcast advertising. Podcast publishers like WNYC and Audioboom use Magellan to track advertisers spending money in the podcast space. Learn More.
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