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According to the 2020 Midas survey, over 10 million people are listening to podcasts in the UK. A powerful communication channel, the growth of the medium has opened a gateway for brands and advertising agencies to access new audiences, ultimately growing their business. Throughout this blog we will look at some of the pros of why investing in a branded podcast could be the boost your marketing needs.
It is an effective way to directly reach your target audience
With less opportunity for live events and face to face contact, podcasts have very quickly become the perfect customer engagement tool. Podcasts are a powerful communication channel that can offer 100% ownership of brain space, coupled with a compelling narrative and engaging content, you can make your audio more memorable than with traditional marketing.
Having your own podcast means that you can use it to appeal to your preferred market, listening to audio is very intentional and the listener has selected that specific podcast because it piques their interest. Branded podcasts allow you to speak directly to your brand’s market or a niche audience with a topic relevant to them, turning that listener into a potential consumer.
Listeners are increasing…fast
According to MIDAS data, 65.1 million hours of podcast listening took place each week in 2019 in the UK alone – a 50% increase on the year before. InPublishing states that there are more podcasts than ever before with over one million shows and 30 million episodes according to Apple Podcasts data, and the number of podcasts is growing exponentially; Apple says there were more than 63,000 new shows released in March this year compared with just over 25,000 additions in September 2019.
Podcasts are convenient
Podcasts are always available, allowing your brand to connect with listeners 24 hours a day. Just like radio, they can be listened to anywhere at any time of the day, meaning that you can catch all types of listeners, from the midnight shift worker to the early morning new mum, there will always be an audience awake. Although, 49% of podcast listening is done at home, many podcast audiences listen in the car, on the train, in the gym or even at work.
With the increasing consumption of on-demand media, podcasts have never been so widely accessible. Audio services such as Spotify now have over 299 million listeners across 92 markets worldwide, swiftly catching up to market leaders Apple. Having on-demand podcasts available next to music has allowed the company to almost double audiences since the start of 2019 and has opened up podcasts to a whole new audience.
Highly engaging media
With podcasts being in an audio format, listeners tend to be easily capitavated. 80% of podcast listeners listen to an entire podcast episode without skipping the adverts. This allows a brand to connect with it's audience and create brand awareness throughout.
A recent study by Nielsen, found that almost 70% of podcast listeners gained brand awareness through ads in a podcast, 62% successfully recalled a brands advert and a further 62% considered buying new products or services that had been advertised. A branded series allows you to build a relationship with your audience that is can establish brand recall and help accumulate sales through podcast advertising.
The branded podcast market is a far from saturated space, there are still many opportunities for SMEs of all shapes and sizes to step up and create podcasts thats could become hugely popular.
Voiceworks, is a voice first technology agency and independent audio production company, helping brands pioneer the voice activated world from strategy to execution. The Voiceworks team consists of voice, audio, tech and SEO specialists, many of whom have a commercial radio background, with an innate understanding of how brands can build relationships with consumers in the audio world. The content team are also experts in production for public service broadcasters.
The Voiceworks team have created branded podcasts across a wide range of sectors including sports, public sector and education. Click here to see some examples of work.
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