August Top 15: Spotify makes the top podcast advertisers list for the first time

More than 7,000 brands have advertised on podcasts. Get a heads-up when new brands test podcasts as a marketing channel for the first time: learn more.

2 min readSep 27, 2019

Spotlight: Spotify

With the acquisition of Gimlet Media in Q1 of 2019, is Spotify doubling down on podcasts over music? This is the first time Spotify has ranked on our top 15 advertisers list. We first picked up ads in September 2017, when we were tracking the top 200 podcasts. In August, Spotify increased its advertising on the top 2,000 podcasts. We detected 2.9X the number of ads in August compared to July.

Spotify, a brand awareness advertiser, ran ads promoting podcasts now being available on their streaming service. Ads on WSJ Your Money Briefing and Earn Your Leisure, promoted listening to podcasts on Spotify for free. In the ads for Spotify on Beach Too, Sandy Water Too Wet, the host talked about how you can listen to both music and podcasts all in one place with Spotify. Notably, some shows that Spotify placed ads on are hosted by Anchor, which Spotify acquired earlier this year.

Spotlight: FabFitFun

We first picked up ads for FabFitFun in October 2017, when we were tracking the top 200 podcasts. This is the first time FabFitFun has ranked on our top 15 podcast advertisers list. In 2017 and the first half of 2018 we picked up a few ads from FabFitFun. We detected 3.7X the number of ads in August compared to July.

FabFitFun, a direct response advertiser, ran host read ads talking about their Fall Box. You can listen to some examples for each of the following podcasts; Heather Dubrow’s World, The Goal Digger Podcast, and Chatty Broads with Bekah and Jess.

August 2019

Magellan identified 1,795 brands or products on the top 2,000 during the month, the top 15 are listed below. Click to play a sample mid-roll or pre-roll ad for each advertiser:

Methodology

Every week, Magellan samples episodes from 1,299 shows that rank in the Top Podcasts view available through Apple Podcasts in the US. This sample includes up to seven episodes from shows that published new episodes in August 2019.

The brands listed above were ranked by the number of individual pre- and mid-roll ads that appeared in our sample. Podcasts advertising on other podcasts, foundations, and those advertising on only one show were excluded from the sample.

Magellan AI creates tools that help marketers at brands like SimpliSafe, Wix, and ThredUP 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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