Podcast: Crime increases advertising investment: +26%

Spending on digital audio advertising increased compared to 2022, thanks in part to the boom in crime shows.

Podcasts are gaining more and more popularity. While they have already recorded strong growth in 2022, the We Are Social Digital 2023 report also confirms their position in the social audio landscape. The crime genre is taking over the stage, which generates the majority of advertising revenue in the sector, according to advertising firm MediaRadar. The study, which perfectly matches the success of the series “Only Murders in the Building”, focuses on three characters who are the authors of the true crime (including Selena Gomez).

Everyone’s Crazy About Crime Podcasts

According to MediaRadar research, Crime podcast ad spend up 26% for the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2022. In addition to the detective genre, the advertising intelligence company also includes business and comedy podcasts among its most successful shows. The presence of crime among the most engaging topics is of course no surprise: in fact, crime has always been among the topics that generate the most interest, both in the podcast format and beyond.

A step forward for digital audio advertising

Among the advertisers involved in the rise of crime podcasts, MediaRadar includes HelloFresh, Progressive and SimpliSafe, while shows The Last Podcast on the Left, Cold Case (from A&E) and Murder in a Small Town are primarily attracting advertising investment . So, another step forward for digital audio advertisingwhich already last year considered the podcast as a promising format from an advertising point of view.

Law of the strongest

But if, on the one hand, podcasts remain a format of particular interest to advertisers, as the Advertiser Perceptions study from Cumulus Media and Westwood One Audio Active Group found, it appears that big shows are attracting the bulk of investment. and the most important networks to the detriment of independent publishers.

The ups and downs of the industry

As was already revealed in early 2023 when podcasting established itself as Spotify’s top advertising revenue sector, more recent research also confirms an increase in listenership and ad spend despite the contraction affecting the sector. A decrease in growth, which, however, does not depend on a lack of advertising investment. as Horizon Media EVP and Managing Partner of Innovation and Quality Audio Lauren Russo explains, in the opposite and favorable direction that the format has taken during Covid.

See you soon!