Paying to Advertise Your Podcast (Dollars for Downloads!?)
There are so many different ways to promote a podcast that we literally wrote a book on the subject. But what if you’re struggling to dedicate any meaningful time to marketing and growth? That’s where paying to advertise your podcast might be the best option.
This comes with the caveat that you’re already publishing quality content on a consistent basis, but as you’re reading this site, I’ll assume that’s the case 😊
Best Places to Advertise Your Podcast
So, if you have the means to build even a modest marketing budget, where are the best places to consider spending your hard-earned money?
The following list is ever-changing and ever-growing. But at the time of writing, here are the best options available to you when it comes to advertising your podcast.
They’re in no particular order because in podcasting it’s rarely ever a case of “the best”, and almost always a case of “it depends”.
Advertising Your Podcast on Social Media
Perhaps the most immediate obvious option is to run an ad somewhere like Facebook, Twitter/X, or Instagram.
Your ads can be very specifically targeted on these platforms. Targeting helps whittle down the types of people you’re looking to reach, which means you can spend less money and reach more relevant listeners.
For example, we could advertise our space show – Hostile Worlds – on Facebook this way. We might target users who have listed an interest in Space or Astronomy, or who are members of a ‘space chat’ group, or have liked ‘Astronomy Today’ magazine.
These are busy platforms and, with a good advert and the right targeting, it isn’t too difficult to rack up a few ‘likes’. But, these don’t always translate to listens. In fact, there’s no guarantee the folks you’ll reach with your ads are podcast listeners – or even know what a podcast is.
That’s where a second layer of targeting fits. Target those who like BOTH space AND podcasting. Then, you’ll reach folks who are more likely to listen. This cuts your reach, of course, but makes it more relevant.
That said, there are advantages to reaching outside of our already crowded ‘existing listeners’ pool. A compelling ad that leads folks through how to get your content can create a few brand-new podcast listeners. Podcast fans rarely forget their first favourite show and are even more likely to tell their friends.
Remember, social media advertising can be good for visibility, but people seeing it are still a few clicks away from listening to your show. These platforms are also busy, distracting, and cultivate short attention spans. So, tread lightly at first, test it out, and only commit real funds once you know it works for your niche.
For more on this, check out How to Grow Your Podcast with Facebook Ads, and you’ll find more case studies from successful podcasters who’ve run social media ads on this episode of Podcraft.
Promoting a Podcast on Google Ads
Google ads is another behemoth of online advertising, and there’s a good chance you see dozens of these every single day. The image below shows some examples – spot the [ad] marker beside the URL for the top 3 results.
If you have a show that answers a question in any way, then Google ads could work really well for you. For example, you’re a coach who teaches people how to be more confident on your show, or you’re a running influencer who tells people the best running products to buy.
If you know what people are searching for in your niche, and your show has an answer for that search, then you can use Google ads.
Moving to how they work, Google ads can be ‘text only’, which benefits many people.
Firstly, it means it’s quick. You can have a campaign up and running in just 20 minutes. All you have to do is write—no pesky image or video creation.
Next, it means anyone can compete on an even playing field, regardless of budget. In contrast, on Facebook and Instagram, it’s often those with the biggest budget that win. The big companies can spend more on amazingly designed image adverts, or pro video content.
On Google ads, though, it’s about your message, and that alone. So, if you know the words people are typing into Google, and what they really want as a result, you can hook them in with a nicely crafted message.
For example, we might choose to advertise our ‘how to podcast’ show, Podcraft. I know that one question it answers well is: How do I start a podcast? So, I think of the terms related to that. For example:
- how to start a podcast?
- how to make a podcast?
- how to create a podcast?
I create one ad-set (a Google ads term that just means a collection of adverts) that targets all of those keywords together.
Then, I create a headline and a subheader for my ad that answers the question those searchers have. Such as:
Learn How to Start a Podcast
Podcraft’s Step by Step Guide
Finally, you can give a bit more detail in the description.
Podcraft is a podcast that teaches you everything you need to know about starting your own show. Listen as Colin & Matthew break it down, as if you were a 5 year old!
You can run Google ads for as little as $1 (or less!) per day, just to try it out. Even at that level, you should be able to grow awareness, bit by bit. Just like social, it’ll take a little testing to find the right keywords, and the right message. Once you’ve found it, you can ramp it up and capitalise on that success.
Advertising on Podcast Listening Apps
Advertising your show on a podcast-listening app is a powerful thing. After all, 100% of the people you reach with your ads are podcast listeners. Not only that, but they’re also actively using a podcast-listening app when they see your ad.
These are the folks who are most likely to be receptive to your ads. If your content and message look good, it’s not going to take too much persuasion to win them over.
Podcast Advertising on Overcast
Overcast is a popular iOS-based podcast listening app.
You can pay to run ads inside Overcast. They appear as little non-intrusive banners at the bottom of users’ screens while they’re viewing the app.
When setting up your Overcast ad, you choose a category that best describes your podcast (e.g., business, Comedy, Sports, etc.). The pricing varies from category to category, which is likely due to demand and popularity.
Once live, your ad will then run for 30 days.
Anyone who sees it is only one click away from viewing your show in the app, and two clicks away from listening or subscribing.
We ran our own campaign, advertising Podcraft on Overcast to test it all out. Click the link to see our full results!
Podcast Advertising on Pocket Casts
The Pocket Casts app is available on iOS, Android, or Desktop, so you have a huge potential reach here.
The app has a ‘Discover’ section where you can run paid placements. According to Pocket Casts, this section gets 980k unique views per week. Another stat they provide is that their average user listening time is 10 hours per week.
You need to have at least 2 published ‘episodes’ to run Pocket Casts ads. This includes trailers or Episode Zeros, but shows with no published content will be automatically rejected.
Sponsored slots on Pocket Casts can cost as low as $124 to upwards of $4000. Their higher tiers are well suited to big brand or network shows that are short on time but have a bit of budget behind them to help grow that early core audience.
Podcast Advertising on Podcast Addict
Podcast Addict is another of the biggest listening apps in the world. Recently, Podcast Addict created a podcast advertising feature.
Podcast Addict’s ad setup is similar to Overcast in many ways, in terms of how it works.
One slight variation is that there are two different ad placements available. You can opt for the main screen, which is the area where users search for new podcasts. Or, you can place your ad in a specific category to target users browsing in there.
Podcast Addict asks you to copy your RSS link in and it shows you recommended slots and pricing info. For Podcraft, we could pay anything between $225 and $4000.
Your podcast ad can be in any language and will run for a full month once it is live.
Podcast Advertising on Podbay
A lesser-known podcast advertising option on the market is Podbay. This might be a good starting point if you have a lower budget because you can pay $25 to advertise your podcast for a single day.
Podbay says that their platform “is visited by an average of 40,000+ people per day”, though these analytics are from October 2020.
Here are the full details, pricing, and availability for running ads on Podbay.
Podcast Advertising on Player FM
Player FM offers an advertising package similar to those mentioned above. The difference, according to a source at Player FM, is that “we promote your feed, so no creative work is needed. And we promote episodes and series, allowing podcasters to promote any episode in their catalog they want.”
There isn’t much more info than that at the moment, but here’s where you can reach out to them to find out more.
Podcast Advertising on Spotify
Granted, most Spotify users will still be using the platform to listen to music, but it’s the most popular podcast-listening app on the planet these days. Spotify boasts a whopping 230 million “ad-supported” listeners. These are folks who obviously enjoy audio consumption.
Spotify ads are predominantly audio, though there’s a visual element, too. They display your logo on screen with a “Learn More” button while the ad is playing. The ads are played in between songs or podcast episodes to listeners who use Spotify on their free tier.
You can create and run a 30-second audio ad for your show by signing up to Spotify Ad Studio.
Here, you can really hone in on the targeting, selecting things like age, gender, location, and even the styles of music your ads will appear alongside.
Spotify ads are similar to social media ads in the sense that you set a budget and date range, before being offered an estimated number of ads to be served. For example, $500 might get you around 25,000 ads.
This is better than social media in the sense that you’re reaching people who are actively consuming audio content. If they happen to be looking at their screen while the ad is playing, they’ll also see your ad logo and a “Learn More” button.
Spotify Podcast Ads
Spotify upped its ad game in 2021 by introducing the ability for brands and businesses to advertise on podcasts.
This was somewhat controversial as the ads are also heard by Spotify’s premium subscribers who are listening to podcasts on the platform.
From an advertiser’s point of view, though, this means you can go from being heard between songs of Spotify’s free users to being inserted into some actual shows that share your target audience.
So, if you want to advertise your podcast on Spotify, you can now wedge it right into the middle of one of your favourite shows!
Creating Your Spotify Ad
You can create your own ad, or work with Spotify to have them create it for you.
Spotify provides audio and image specs for ads you can create yourself. They also offer a free Voiceover Tool service for ad buyers.
With the Voiceover Tool, you write your script, select the ad language, choose a preferred voice type to read your ad, and you can choose background music from their extensive library too.
Spotify will then record and mix the ad. It will be ready for review within 24-48 hours, after which you can approve it, make changes, or reject it.
Once approved, your ad is ready to be heard.
Podcast Advertising in Print Magazines
Are you podcasting in a traditionally “non-techy” niche? Maybe you spend quite a lot of time explaining what a podcast is to your target audience.
If this is you, then the best route for running paid ads might be through industry or trade magazines.
Print magazines have experienced a renaissance in recent years. In fact, it seems that the ultra-niche ones have best weathered the digital storm and continue to grow.
This is perfect for doing some targeted advertising for your show. Whether you’re podcasting about fly fishing, gardening, or model railways, you’ll likely find a magazine serving up the same topic to a dedicated fanbase.
In your ad, you might still have to dedicate a bit of space to the “What is a podcast?” question. Just be sure to really sell them on the benefits of listening (and stress that it’s absolutely free!).
For maximum effect, you might even want to send them to a dedicated ‘how to listen to a podcast‘ page on your site. Be sure to create your podcast media kit, too—check out our guide there, which can walk you through it.
Some magazines might also be open to a sponsored content partnership. This is something that I’ll talk about further on in this post.
Deeper Dive: How to Pitch Your Podcast to Journalists
Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla marketing is a great podcast advertising option for those with little or no budget.
The concept is that you use creative, unconventional, or surprising methods to draw attention to your show. This could be anything from a street performance to releasing a bunch of branded balloons at an event or gathering. Or, have some beer mats or coasters made up and leave them at your favourite watering holes.
It’ll always depend on your topic and your target audience, but there are infinite possibilities for getting out there and drawing attention to your podcast. Just be mindful of any local laws, and be sure to stay on the right side of them – no stickering over important road signs, etc!
Here’s our full guide to Guerrilla Marketing for Podcasters, which will help get you started.
Podcast Newsletters
There are loads of podcast-focused newsletters out there, and almost all of them offer paid ad slots.
Podnews is an essential daily email newsletter. It’s predominantly aimed at keeping podcasters up-to-date with the latest industry news. But most podcasters are podcast listeners, too, and you can advertise your podcast to them here for $29 a day.
You can write your ad, choose the dates you want to run it, and pay online.
With Podnews advertising you can promote your show to over 31,000 subscribers every weekday. And recipients include folks from the likes of the BBC, NPR, Gimlet, and Apple Podcasts – you never know who might take an interest.
All ads run in Podnews will also appear permanently on their website.
If you run a storytelling podcast, you can advertise your show in the Fiction Podcast Weekly for anything between $4.99 and $340, too. The newsletter has over 1700 subscribers.
Running Podcast Ads on Reddit
Reddit is described as a “social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website.” On top of that, it’s one of the most visited websites in the world – and it’s yet another place you can run paid ads to promote your content.
To advertise your podcast on Reddit, you first need to sign up with Reddit Ads. You can then look at creating your first campaign.
Here, Reddit will ask you for your campaign objective. The options they give include “Brand Awareness and Reach”, “Traffic”, “Conversions”, and “Video Views”.
You can tailor your ad targeting, going as wide or as narrow as you like, selecting from a range of interests and niche Reddit communities.
You can also run location targeting. If you’re based in the US, you can even do this on a per-State basis. On top of that, you can choose which devices your ads will run on – for example, a podcast about iOS/Apple products wouldn’t want to waste their money advertising to Android users.
One interesting aspect of Reddit ads is that you can upload video as your promoted content. This gives you the opportunity to use a compelling section of one of your episodes, reworked in video format. For podcasters, this has the potential to work really well.
YouTube Advertising
YouTube has at least 2.7 billion active users. They’re also working hard to make sure people with anything to promote can buy into their YouTube Ad Sales program.
The simplest way to promote your show there is, of course, to publish your podcast on YouTube. There, you can post for video, highlights from your episodes, or upload episodes with static images (usually your podcast logo) as the “video”.
But you might want your podcast’s ad to replace that shouty beardy guy who’s always asking you if you need a website. Check out our full guide to advertising a podcast on YouTube to learn more about whether it’s the right fit for you.
Sponsoring a Blog
If you’re running a podcast focused on a certain subject, then there’s a good chance a few blogs out there cover the same thing.
Most bloggers are open to the idea of you doing a guest post or even sponsored content on their site.
This works with you writing an article that’s interesting and useful to the audience. This article also links back to your own content, encouraging the reader to check it out once they’re done.
These relationships can be mutually beneficial and great for fans of your topic as a whole. If you run an interview show, you might even invite a blogger to be a guest on a future episode.
Advertising on Other Podcasts
This isn’t always a paid advertising option, but definitely a useful one, if done in the right way.
Podcasts of similar size, covering the same (or similar) topics, can benefit from exchanging short promotional trailers to be played on one another’s episodes.
After all, you’re not in direct competition, in the way two TV shows that air at the exact same time are. And each podcast is unique, with its own exclusive features, angles, and quirks. Your audience isn’t going to leave you just because they find another show they enjoy covering the same topic.
Where trailer swaps don’t work is when there’s no thought gone into it. Someone on a Reddit thread agrees to advertise someone else’s cooking podcast on their baseball show, and vice-versa. Is the podcast enough like yours that your listeners have mutual interests?
Advertising on other podcasts can still take the more traditional ‘sponsor a podcast‘ approach too, though. If you’re willing to pay, you can get your ads out there just like the sock company, the mattress company, and the food hamper company do.
Summary: Paying to Advertise Your Podcast
Hopefully, that’s helped give you some ideas for places to advertise your podcast that best suits you, your content, and your budget.
Remember, paying to advertise can get you a lot of hits, clicks, or downloads in the moment. But your content will need to be good enough to hook those listeners, and you’ll need to publish new content consistently to keep them interested, too. A couple of handy resources on this front are:
Inside the Podcraft Academy, you’ll also find our full Growth Mastery course, an exhaustive guide to growing your show’s audience to its maximum potential. Be sure to check it out if you’re serious about steady, sustainable, long-term podcast growth!
