Why are brands looking at podcasts more seriously in today's time and increasing their spends?

Multiple brands have been dabbling with new-age media vehicles like audio podcasts in recent times, albeit through subtle brand placements, product reviews or even branded content. 

Brand associations with the audio medium have increased in the past few months owing to the spurting audience interest and the metrics they drive, industry players say.

In recent times, brands such as Dettol and Ajio have experimented with audio content more because of various reasons such as incremental and deeper engagement, top-of-mind recall, relation building and trust, etc.

Moreover, as per the recently released EY-FICCI report for 2022 on the Indian M&E sector, the time spent on Podcasts is comparatively higher than that of broadcast radio in the APAC region.

According to Aditya Kuber, Co-Founder and CEO, Ideabrew Studios, Podcasts are a high-engagement medium which allows brands to connect in a more meaningful way with the audience.

In fact, some of the key metrics that brands track on podcasts are reach and engagement, of which engagement is the qualitative metric where most brands see high success, he emphasised.

Sharing an example to support his statement, he also said that a podcast episode of about 20 minutes duration will see an over 60% completion rate, which essentially means that most listeners will listen the podcast’s episode for about 12 minutes or more, which is way higher than videos which usually hook the audience for only a period of 3-4 minutes.

In his viewpoint, there are three primary reasons which have fuelled brands’ interest in Podcasts over the last couple of years- sponsorship, advertising and branded content. 

Moreover, he also stated that as Podcasting continues to grow with more listeners, brands will also continue to see the audio medium as a viable alternative to other digital channels.

According to Amit Doshi, Head- IVM Podcasts, Pratilipi, brands are picking podcasts more so even today, not from a reach perspective but because of the depth of engagement that they offer.

“Despite the amount of engagement brands receive through social media being at a far higher rate relative to the overall audience than other mediums, the average completion rates for podcasts is the highest amongst digital media,” he said.

As a result, the number of new brands across categories - such as BFSI, Tech, Automotive, Startups, etc. - are growing in the Podcasting space in the past couple of months owing to the growth of audio content consumption, in his opinion.

“It’s a highly engaged audience that chooses to spend a significant amount of time with the host in question. There are natural feelings of affinity which translate into high trust when a host is recommending a brand,” he said.

As per Sreeraman Thiagarajan, Co-founder and CEO, aawaz.com, because listeners of audio are passionate about the medium, they not only connect well and find it therapeutic but also tend to pay deep attention to the content, which is what every marketer eventually wants from the audience. 

He also went on to point out that audio mediums in India and around the world are older than TV, but with the introduction of more local language content, the listenership has been on a steady rise over the past five years.

“Audiophiles are quite passionate about the medium- they relate to hearing more than seeing, and hence they have higher recall and increase in intent. Think of the time when your Grandma told you stories, there was no graphic, animation or anything, just her voice and emotions and that's the power of audio- the theatre of the mind!” he stated.

According to Triton’s Advertising Effectiveness Study for India, 80% of listeners who have heard of a product are interested in learning more about it, with 29% claiming to have bought the product they heard being advertised.

The rationale behind this, in Kuber’s viewpoint, is simple- most podcasts have creators who build their audience and communities through the strength of their knowledge, skills and abilities, therefore, the trust they enjoy is very high and as a result, this passes on to a brand when the podcaster mentions it or a brand advertises in the show.

Commenting on the possible drawbacks of podcasting for brands, Thiagaraman emphasised that if one has a visually stunning brand in categories such as travel, fashion or food, audio as a medium can be limiting and therefore, to overcome this, brands have to image the narrative in an audio-first way and focus on storytelling, intonation, subject expertise, and evocative narrating.

Similarly, Kuber also pointed out that brands looking for immediate returns may not have the most success since there is a certain amount of time taken for a show to grow and reach a wide audience, however, language and creative freedom are no longer a challenge since podcast listening transcends these barriers.

In the views of Doshi, when it comes to branded podcasts, brands, first of all, should ensure that content is not only good but well thought out because doing shows without a clear rationale in terms of what it is supposed to achieve is like preparing a recipe for failure.

Therefore, in his opinion, brands must have realistic expectations in terms of who the podcasts will appeal to and how they plan to go about it.

“Spends, audience, engagement, general awareness of the medium - all of these are increasing because for brands who are looking to impart complex messages to a specific audience there can be no better way to engage them, than through a well-targeted, well-produced and a well-thought-out podcast,” he said.

Thiagarajan shared the opinion that when it comes to production, one can have a 30-minute-long podcast produced in a lakh or two, unlike video mediums where production quality has to match the brand's stature.

“Every podcast cultivates a loyal fan base, and if brands can keep up with the frequency of release in a disciplined way, then a community can be built around the brand's podcast,” he said.

Moreover, he also emphasised that even the ads interrupting podcasts are not the same as brands creating their own audio shows/podcasts, even though there is an increase in ad wallet among podcast mediums and therefore brands should consider native content over mere jingles and ad spots.

“Audio Podcasts definitely solve for engagement; in an age of short-form content that continues to get shorter, meaningful engagement and brand messaging is offered by podcasts. Different content formats through languages and creators are the way podcasts will continue to grow,” Kuber stated. 

With this he also went on to add that in today’s day and age, brand managers are also finding out that podcasts are highly measurable- just like other digital content- and this is helping them to make analytical decisions about the kind of content they want to make or associate with.

“As a result, over the coming years, brand spends in podcasts will continue to grow so long as creators are able to innovate in the kind of content they offer brands,” he added.