There is no longer any doubt – podcasts are the marketing golden geese

In addition to being American presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump share the commonality of brilliantly engaging their voting base through new media. Roosevelt sent messages to voters via radio, and the first-ever televised presidential debate in 1960 was largely responsible for Kennedy’s victory and Nixon’s defeat. Obama was the first president to harness the power of social platforms (MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) to engage a (younger) audience and attract new donors, while Senator George Allen is remembered for the first gaffe that went viral on YouTube. In 2006, at a campaign rally against an opposing ‘intruder’, a man of Indian descent, he referred to him as a monkey.

This was recorded, and the viral video cost Allen his position. The first victory of the current president Trump brought social platforms into the spotlight, but in the context of misinformation and fake news, while the second convinced the audience of the power of a new media format – podcast. As Bloomberg columnist Ashley Carman recently stated, the last American elections should be called ‘podcast-elections’ because candidates preferred chatting on influential podcast-shows like ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ and ‘Call Her Daddy’ over appearing in traditional media houses like CNN, Fox News, or NBC.

This popularity, along with the fact that the media format has been embraced by the strongest names in the global political scene, indicates how in a world of media fragmentation and shocking polarization of opinions, podcasts can do something that traditional media (no longer) can: engage a mass audience, spark global discussion, and strongly influence public opinion, and thus the global political and social scene. As AdWeek suggests, brand owners should take a notebook and start writing, learning from podcast(er) how to win over their target audience.

Rapid Growth

But first, let’s look at the data: at this moment, the podcast industry has 135 million monthly listeners just in America, and according to data from 2024, there are a total of 546 million worldwide. Advertisers spent $4.02 billion on podcasts last year, which are primarily consumed by millennials and members of Generation Z. This growth is accelerating because, as AdWeek explains, podcasters are more successful than a single media outlet in building a community and gaining the audience’s trust.

This was confirmed by the American election season. Candidates appeared on dozens of audio platforms: Donald Trump and J. D. Vance gave over twenty interviews for podcasts, talking to Logan Paul, Dan Bongino, Theo Von, and Lex Fridman. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz gave about ten interviews in just one month, speaking with Alexandra Cooper, Charlamagne tha God, Glennon Doyle, and Ezra Klein.

Not long after the elections, it was said that Joe Rogan secured Trump’s victory and that Harris made a big mistake by not visiting his studio (he reportedly invited her, but she set conditions that were unacceptable to him, such as the duration of the episode). According to political views, Rogan is close to Trump, but regardless, Harris would have had the opportunity to present her values to the ideologically opposing camp. In fact, this is the greatest value of podcasts: the content is tailored to the audience of each host, their style, and values, and the format, which is longer than, for example, television, allows for deeper, more concrete exploration of topics that the audience considers important. Therefore, the first thing brands should remember is that the media landscape has changed significantly and that podcast creators offer a fantastic platform and opportunities for positioning, engaging, reaching, and influencing their target audience.

Young Audiophiles

Furthermore, what separates podcasts and their creators from other types of influencers is, as AdWeek explains, a deeper level of engagement. Although many podcasters are celebrities today, the audience does not perceive them (only) as such; they are also trusted sources of information. They have partly transformed into this because the audience listens to them for hours (not minutes, as they do with, for example, influencers on TikTok), which strengthens the connection and increases trust in the host/creator. Additionally, content, especially from interviews, is often picked up by mass media, thus elevating it to a higher, national level; messages are heard by those who are not necessarily loyal podcast listeners. In this way, podcasts actually play a crucial role in shaping broader social discourse, and such influence is hard to achieve with a regular advertisement.

Brands must not underestimate the power of podcast–influencers in building brand image, loyalty, and influencing consumer decisions. Advertisers may also find it attractive that younger generations are increasingly avoiding traditional mass media, and besides, of course, content from social platforms, they consume podcasts in video format, as well as audio format. In fact, a recent IAB study showed that Generation Z and millennials spend 94% and 66% more time listening to content than watching streaming-channels. Younger generations reported that listening to audio content gives them a sense of being more connected to the community and that podcasts are the main source of information on topics that interest them.

Audio is becoming increasingly important to them as it is a refreshing alternative to conventional media – which was clearly seen during the American election season. Interviews are more spontaneous, unscripted, conversations flow smoothly, with rare interruptions from the host (although this interruption has recently been criticized in relation to Joe Rogan), allowing guests to present themselves in a true, authentic light, to be more relaxed in conversation. AdWeek advises advertisers to think long-term about their audio strategy and how to maximize all channels and touchpoints with potential customers. If the elections, AdWeek concludes, are an indicator of trends in mass media, then podcasts and audio creators are the clear winners of this season. Therefore, marketing professionals, what are you doing to keep up with the trend?