Buying adverts is hard, because of the fragmented nature of podcast production targeting audiences is hard, because of the lack of meaningful analytics available through the decentralised ecosystem and tracking purchases is hard, because of the difficulty of linking a particular call to action to any individual response.Įnter Spotify. That means the “customer acquisition cost” of podcast advertising is extraordinarily high, and so it has typically only paid off for those industries where it’s worth paying a lot of money for each new customer: ones with recurring revenue or big-ticket items.įrom an advertiser’s point of view, there are inefficiencies throughout the system. Instead, it’s because buying and running adverts on podcasts has historically been an expensive, analogue affair, that involves one-to-one relationships with a plethora of small publishers and creators, all to publish adverts with little-to-no ability to track anything beyond the absolute broadest metrics possible. That’s not (just) because those companies are huge fans of supporting independent media, though. Podcast adverts are something of a cliche at this point: meal delivery kits, direct-to-consumer mattresses, and web hosting services abound. In other words, both companies make tools that turn podcast advertising into something a bit more like web advertising.

“These tools will make it easier for publishers to turn audience insights into action and expand their listenership while ultimately growing their businesses,” Spotify writes.

Spotify says it plans to use Podsights’ technology outside podcasting and will bring it to the “full scope of the Spotify platform, including audio ads within music, video ads, and display ads.” The Chartable acquisition appears to be more directed toward podcasters themselves rather than advertisers, particularly because of its technology like SmartLinks. Both Podsights and Chartable allow podcasters and networks to include tags in their shows that are used to track who listened, if they heard an ad, and whether they took action upon hearing it.

Spotify podcasts analytics