Do advertisers sponsor smaller podcasts?
I'm thinking of building a platform to connect advertisers with smaller podcasts.
Do advertisers have an interest in sponsoring smaller podcasts? I know in the IG world, 'micro-influencers' is a thing, just wondering if it's similar for podcasts.
Also if any of you are podcasters, would you be interested in a platform like this? It wouldn't cost anything for podcasters, you just submit the details of your podcast and you'll be notified when an advertiser is interested :)
Any feedback would be much appreciated!
Hey Jamie, I can give you some advice. This is a really great idea. I actually tried this and built the technology platform but didn't follow through on the whole model after a few months. If you're a software engineer the technology is easy you know. And I'll tell you there won't be a problem finding podcasters who are dying for advertising. They all are. That was easy too. The real difficulty is getting the advertisers to buy in and show interest and dish out real money. And especially show interest in smaller podcasts. I think if you can solve that problem you will be ok. I did this a while back so nowadays maybe advertisers will be more open. Maybe nowadays there will be more open interest across the board especially with the way Gary vee constantly promotes podcasts to marketers now.
Wow, thanks so much for such a detailed response!
Yes, the technology is pretty simple, just a basic CRUD app essentially.
Any tips on where I should find podcasters? Currently thinking of doing it via Reddit, but am I missing a trick elsewhere? Should I be doing direct outreach etc?
Yes, I'm thinking the key to getting advertisers interested is having the variety and volume of podcasts on the platform.
You can go down the list of podcast categories in itunes where you'll find the top 100 in each category and find the podcasts contact info and do direct outreach. Big podcasts will be skeptical and will most likely have advertising already but will still be open. Smaller podcasts will say yes right away but then you'll want to deliver for them.
That's a great strategy! I'll be sure to use it. I guess it makes sense that the podcasts closer to the bottom of the top 100 list would be easier!
Hey Jamie!
In my experience working on the agency side for Big advertisers, it all depends on the podcast's niche.
If it's very niche but the company has an interest on that specific audience, they will want to invest.
Maybe a good feature for the platform would be like "topic tags" or clarify somehow what the interests of the podcast's audience are.
That could make It easy for an advertiser to find their prefered audience.
Hope it helps!
Hi Alex!
Thanks for the feedback :) I'm envisaging that when you add your podcast to the platform, you allocate it to a category and give it a description. Then Advertisers will be able to search the platform by category or typing some keywords (or both if they like).
Do you think that would suffice? I could add another 'tags' field, which would work similarly to category but the podcaster could type whatever they like in, rather than selecting from a pre-determined list of categories.
Thanks for your response - great to hear from someone who has experience :)
Hey Jamie, no problem! Glad I could help.
I think if advertisers can search for category should be fine.
Maybe if podcasters can upload their statistics that could be a good idea too. Showing advertisers full transparency on numbers, etc can be a good way to attract them.
Looking forward on hearing updates on the platform!,
Yep, already thinking along the same lines :)
From what I've gathered the important statistics that advertisers would be interested in is Avg downloads per episode and number of 'listeners'. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong or missing anything.
Thanks, I'll be sure to keep you up to date!