Best Practices for Developing Impactful Branded Podcasts

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, February 1, 2022 | 11:35am CT

Westwood One

Over the last three years, the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group has commissioned Advertiser Perceptions, a research firm that measures industry sentiment among agencies and marketers, to conduct a study looking at what these groups believe about branded podcasts and how often they are being used. The results, along with best practices for developing impactful branded podcasts, are the focus of this week's Westwood One Audio Active Group blog.

• Branded podcasts are being discussed among agencies and marketers: 47% of agencies have had discussions within their company or with any of their clients about creating a branded podcast. Among marketers, an impressive 42% have discussed.

• Branded podcasts are intriguing to agencies and marketers with over half finding them to be an interesting opportunity: Over half of agencies (60%) and nearly half of marketers (48%) find the prospect of using a branded podcast as an advertising opportunity for their company or client to be very or somewhat interesting.

• Slightly more marketers than agencies have used a branded podcast for their company or clients with both groups seeing growth since 2019: 38% of agencies and 42% of marketers say they have used a branded podcast for advertising or marketing purposes.

• 29% of agencies and 23% of marketers are currently producing a branded podcast.

• In the next six months, 31% of agencies and 26% of marketers are likely to create a branded podcast.

• Best practices: If a brand is going to capitalize on the interest for branded podcasts, here is how to maximize the impact: Developing a unique voice and point of view, taking big swings, avoiding creating 30-minute commercials, using podcasts to augment products, and fitting the brand.