Every podcaster wants a bigger audience –and we’ve written before about the importance of first nailing the (mostly free) basics of podcast growth– but if you’ve already done all that it might be time to consider paid podcast promotion. 

Below are three paid options for growing your podcast audience: advertising in podcast apps; sponsoring other podcasts; and promoted social media. 

But first a few words of caution…

Downloads, streams, or views are often seen as “vanity metrics” because (of course) a BIG audience looks good to our peers, bosses etc… and perhaps more importantly, it feels good too. But for most podcasters sheer audience size isn’t the ultimate goal. Consider your deeper podcasting goals and measure your paid promotion efforts against those instead.

Dan Misener writes eloquently about this on Bumper’s blog: “Shortcuts, shenanigans, and real audience growth”. (Bumper is a “podcast growth agency” - worth a look if you’re serious about growing your show).

And now Three Ways to Pay for Podcast Growth:

Advertising in Podcast Apps

Narrowly targeted ads are more effective (and cost effective). Basically, it’s a waste of time to promote a podcast to people who are unlikely to become fans. That’s why advertising your show in podcast apps is one of the most effective forms of podcast advertising.

Podcast app users already like podcasts and may be looking for their next favourite show - plus they can directly take action within the app to follow your show.

Apple and Spotify are the two biggest podcast apps/platforms, so it makes sense to start there. Apple won’t take your money for promotion or preferential placement in the app, but you can ask nicely and they might feature your show.

Similarly, Spotify doesn’t take payment for preferential placement in the app, but you can buy ads through Spotify Ad Studio (some of our clients have had success doing this).

Smaller podcast apps like Overcast, Podcast Addict and Pocket Casts also offer in-app ads. These less-mainstream apps attract some of the most diehard podcast fans, and allow you to target your ads to specific podcast categories within the app – so your comedy show is promoted to comedy podcast fans for instance.

Sponsoring Other Podcasts

Speaking of targeted ads - one of the best ways of targeting your podcast promotion is to piggyback on someone else’s audience. Sponsoring like-minded podcasts in your niche puts you in front of podcast-savvy people who might be looking for a show just like yours.

Two ways to buy podcast ads:

First, you can buy from an ad network that will let you choose the types of shows where your ad appears, and often you can even select which countries or geographic areas you want to target, along with other demographic information about your target audience. Ads are then programmatically inserted when the episodes are downloaded, so your ad only goes to people who match your criteria.

The aforementioned Spotify Ad Studio is one popular ad network, and you can also buy ads through certain podcast hosting platforms like Acast and Buzzsprout. Whichever you choose, you’ll have the chance to place ads on thousands of potential podcasts.

A second approach is to deal directly with a show you’d like to sponsor. You may not get as many options in terms of targeting, though increasingly even shows that handle their own ad sales use technology that does enable fancier targeting, much like the big networks. 

Promoted Social Media

If there’s one thing social media advertising does well, it’s targeting! This option for growing your audience isn’t podcast-specific, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be effective.

We admittedly aren’t experts in social media advertising, but one strategy that could work well for podcasters would be to pay to boost videos and image posts that have already performed well for you. That is, use your “organic” unpaid reach/engagement as a testing ground for what might perform well beyond your existing followers.

And if you’re not already producing video clips or audiograms to highlight the best bits of your podcast on social media - there’s no time like the present to start!

Paid promotion on “classic” social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn can work well, but don’t neglect YouTube and TikTok – they’re huge in video podcast consumption, and may be the perfect place to advertise yours.

How to Start

Choosing a path forward in paid podcast promotion can be daunting. There isn’t a one size fits all solution, so we recommend the following as you move forward:

• Consider your target audience: Who are they and where might you find them congregating online? Review your podcast analytics to learn more about your existing audience.

• Test, review results, and adjust your approach as you go. None of the options above require a lengthy commitment, so consider testing a few strategies to see what works best for your show.

• Go beyond “vanity metrics” and be sure to measure how paid podcast promotion impacts your deeper podcasting goals.

Have you tried paid podcast promotion?
Share your experience in the comments!