March Top 15: Hulu, HelloFresh and Article came out on top for the first time

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.

3 min readApr 17, 2019

Hulu

In the past, we’ve picked up ads for Hulu advertising a specific show, like this ad on NPR News Now, promoting their show The First. February was the first time we picked up ads for Hulu as a service rather than ads for content. In March, Hulu joined the top 15 when we picked them up across eight Apple Podcast categories. The top categories advertised on were Society & Culture, TV & Film and Arts.

Ads from Hulu include some of the following talking points: how TV will never be the same and the exclusive content, documentaries, plus live TV, sports & news they offer. No vanity URLs were used. Instead, listeners are directed to hulu.com to claim their 30 day trial offer. Ad copy varied from show to show. For example, this ad from Ellen On The Go mentioned Handmaid’s Tale; while other ads like this one from The Minds of Madness mentioned both Killing Eve and the live TV option.

Also new to the list this month: HelloFresh and Article

We first picked up ads from Article and HelloFresh in September 2017, but this is the first time either brand has been in the top 15.

Ads from HelloFresh were found on nine different Apple Podcast categories. The most advertised on categories were Comedy and Society & Culture. Ads were mainly host read, but copy varied slightly depending on the show. Although, each host talked about how convenient and simple HelloFresh is, and the time it saves customers. Hosts also mentioned a meal that they’ve tried. Here are two examples, one from My Favorite Murder and one from Tired Dad. At the end of every ad there is a vanity URL and code for listeners to use to get $80 off their first month.

Ads from Article were picked up on seven different Apple Podcast categories. The most advertised on were Society & Culture, Comedy and News & Politics podcasts. Ads included information about their Scandinavian design, flat rate shipping, low cost, and high quality. Some ads like this one from Undisclosed and this one from Small Doses included a personal endorsement. At the end of every ad there is a vanity URL like article.com/smalldoses, where listeners got $50 off an order of $100 or more.

March 2019 Rankings

Magellan identified 1,197 brands or products that advertised 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:

The Top 15:

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 up to two episodes from shows that published new episodes in March 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 Gimlet Media use Magellan to track advertisers spending money in the podcast space. Learn More.
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