Case study
Research
Press release
Product update

Podcast advertising benchmarks: Q1 2024

The Q1 2024 edition explores the latest trends in spending, ad load, and ad placements, growth by industry and genre, and more.
April 2024

Magellan AI analyzes podcast advertising data from thousands of podcasts in the U.S. To prepare the latest Quarterly Benchmark Report, we analyzed 109,000 episodes of popular podcasts to uncover the behaviors, trends, and insights from Q1 2024. Our benchmark report covers the fastest growing industries in podcast advertising, where and how dollars were spent, how genres measure up by ad load and new brands, and common ad lengths & positions.

Some of our key findings this quarter include:

  • +39% Y/Y spend
    Podcast ad spending continued to climb in Q1, increasing 39% year-over-year
  • 60% repeat top-10 spenders
    Six of the top 10 spenders in Q1 were also on our Q4 '23 top spenders list, with two appearing for the first time this quarter
  • 1,488 new brands
    We picked up 1,488 new brands advertising on podcasting for the first time
  • 6.42% average ad load
    Not including ads promoting other podcasts, average ad load increased a tick from 6.21% in Q4 to 6.42% this quarter.
  • 2x ad spend in Hair Care
    Spend in the Hair Care industry saw significant gains, doubling quarter-over-quarter. Brands like Nutrafol, Hims, and Prose lead the way.
  • 42% share of :30 ads
    The share of 30-second ad units grew to 42% in Q1, two percentage points more than Q4 '23.

For a deeper dive on these numbers and much more, head over to our download page to get a free copy of the full benchmark report!

More from Magellan AI

A thumbnail of Magellan AI's top advertisers chart

See the latest monthly charts of the top podcast advertisers by spend and change in spend.

A thumbnail of Magellan AI's Podscape infographic

Download The Podscape to better understand how some of the biggest podcast companies and services fit together on one page.

A thumbnail of Magellan AI's dashboard demo

Take control of your podcast advertising – let Magellan AI custom-tailor a demo for you and your team.