Marketing podcasts is still a relatively easy business for hosts and networks alike. 

Podcasts.  It seems like everyone has one these days.   What started as a cheap way to push out recorded shows to more listeners with available spare time on the train, or in the gym, or whenever, has turned into big business for some.

Ira Glass, of This American Life (NPR) had this to say at the recent SXSW festival in Austin, TX

“It’s crazy, it’s amazing, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “It’s a bubble! And we’re gonna ride out this bubble. The podcast ads bring in more money than the radio ads do.”

There are two ways to look at marketing podcasts.   Each has its own merits.

1 – Marketing a product via podcast – which is rapidly moving to the top of nearly every online marketer, course creator or virtual product company list of must-do’s on the marketing checklist.

A quick Google search for the term, “popular marketing podcasts”, reveals listicle after listicle, each one recommending a group of favorite marketers offering advice via podcast on a (semi) regular basis.

Even this website has a podcast, Mobile Wallet Marketing Made Easy, even though we have to report that new episodes have been on hiatus (though that’s changing this very week).  It’s syndicated to Spreaker, Stitcher, TuneIn and a couple of other outlets.

2 – Selling spots to advertisers – just like traditional radio, commercial breaks are a big part of podcast for pleasure networks or individual shows

According to Glass, cost-per-thousand (CPM) rates sometimes reach $50 to $60 for ads during the podcast of the popular radio show he started two decades ago

In both cases, marketing podcasts effectively requires two things, the first one being a podcast that people want to listen to, and the second one being the ability to increase the listener base.  After all, no one is going to pay $60/CPM for ads when a podcast only has 13 listeners and half of those only tune in once.