February Top 15: 1–800-Flowers and BetterHelp break in
More than 4,000 brands have advertised on podcasts. Get a heads-up when new brands test podcasts as a marketing channel for the first time: learn more.
1–800-Flowers
1–800-Flowers has been advertising on podcasts since December 2017, but this is the first time they’ve been in the top 15. Although they run ads throughout the year, we’ve see an increase in their ad volume during the months of January, February, May, November, and December, surrounding holidays were flowers are common gifts. In February we picked up a total of 125 ads on the Top 2,000 podcasts. The top podcast categories were Sports & Recreation, News & Politics and Comedy across 10 networks.
We picked up 108 mid-roll ads and 17 pre-roll ads for 1–800-Flowers. All of the ads were run leading up to Valentine’s Day, with one ad airing on Valentine’s Day. All ads contained deals for rose bouquets. Each host told listeners to got to 1800flowers.com, click the radio icon and enter their show specific code. Each code led listeners to an identical page that had two deals for roses. All ads were similar to this one on the Rubin Report.
BetterHelp
BetterHelp has been advertising on podcasts since December 2017 and doubled the amount of ads from January 2019 to February 2019. This is the first time they have made it on our top 15 list. In February we picked up a total of 76 ads on the Top 2,000 podcasts. The top podcast categories were Society & Culture, Comedy and TV & Film across 8 networks.
We picked up 63 mid-roll ads and 13 pre-roll ads for BetterHelp across 36 different podcasts in February. Not all ads were host read, but all ads did include information about the services BetterHelp can offer — licensed professionals, private online environment, and a secure video or phone call. Each ad contained a vanity URL (e.g. https://www.betterhelp.com/garage on the True Crime Garage Show). Each podcast’s landing page, however, is identical to the next other than the box on the top of each screen that welcomes listeners and lets them know that a discount will be applied at checkout.
February 2019 Rankings
Magellan identified 9,470 pre- or mid-roll ads placed on the Top 2,000 podcasts in February 2019. Out of 1,380 brands or products advertised during the month, the Top 15 are listed below. Click to play a sample mid-roll or pre-roll ad for each advertiser:
The Top 15:
- ZipRecruiter
- Geico
- Indeed
- Squarespace
- Robinhood
- Simplisafe
- 1–800-Flowers
- Quip
- Zenni Optical
- BetterHelp
- Casper
- ThirdLove
- Care/of
- Audible
- LifeLock
Methodology
Every week, Magellan samples episodes from 2,000 shows that rank in the Top Podcasts view available through Apple Podcasts in the US. This sample includes episodes from shows that published new episodes in February 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.
Note: this methodology previously inaccurately stated that we had sampled “up to two episodes” from shows that published new episodes during the month. This analysis includes ads on more than two episodes, if more than two were published for each show on the top 2,000 every week. We limited our sample to up to two episodes starting in March 2019.
Magellan AI creates tools that help marketers at brands like SimpliSafe, Wix, and ThredUP spend intelligently on podcast advertising. Podcast publishers like WNYC and Gimlet Media use Magellan to track advertisers spending money in the podcast space. Learn More.
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