Video is making podcasts a premium buy for advertisers

Other podcast production companies, such as Audacy, Wondery and Pave Studios, also confirmed to Digiday that their ad revenue had increased year over year between the first quarters of 2024 and 2025, though they declined to share specific figures.

In the past year, Vox Media’s podcast ad revenues have experienced double-digit growth, according to a company representative, though they added that this growth was not purely the result of video. 

“The majority of our shows publish both audio and video episodes, and we have a talent and IP-centric advertising strategy where brands partner with our shows holistically across platforms — audio, video, social, live,” said Vox Media svp and general manager of audio and digital video Ray Chao. “The market opportunity here is much broader than television, which is just one of the distribution channels.”

In addition to pre-existing advertisers growing their podcasting ad spend, executives from both Wondery and Audacy said that they’d had an influx of interest in 2025 from brands that had never advertised alongside podcasts before.

“When people think ‘podcast advertising,’ they often think of brands like Casper Mattresses, HelloFresh and BetterHelp — and we love all of those advertisers,” said Audacy head of podcasts Leah Reis-Dennis. “What we are seeing a steady increase in, on top of that, is the big legacy brands; a lot of automotive, a lot of CPG, a lot of pharma.”

When advertisers call inventory premium, they are typically referring to high viewability, strong engagement, brand safety and audience quality. As podcast consumption shifts toward TV screens, the medium is gaining ground in all of these areas — and unlocking higher CPMs as a result. Baseline CPMs for CTV content range between $15 and $25, much higher than the average CPMs for podcasts on YouTube, which range between $4 and $10. Media companies such as Audacy and Pave Media said that their CPMs have risen as their podcasts embrace video and grow their TV audiences.

“We’re seeing brands who are really excited about the custom integrations or more bespoke advertising that podcasters are willing to engage with, and that command much higher CPMs,” Reis-Dennis said. “We’re talking of the kind of 360, multi-channel buys across social and video and audio, but also things like branded segments, or bonus episodes that are tied to some sort of zeitgeist-y moment.”

Media buyers agreed that video was a key driver of brands’ growing confidence in the value of podcast advertising. Agency executives such as Jesse Echeverría, Ogilvy’s director of connections and performance strategy, and Jeremy Whitt, executive media director of Hanson Dodge, said that their clients are spending more on podcast advertising in 2025, with the growing role of video in the medium cited as a factor. However, Echeverría noted that his clients’ increased podcast spending typically came from incremental budgets, rather than shifting dollars from other marketing channels.

“Our clients often run brand lift studies to better understand the impact of their media buys,” Echeverría said. “For podcasts in particular, we typically see a measurable lift in consideration and aided awareness — reinforcing that podcasts are a high-performing channel for brand building.”

Whitt added that the rise of YouTube as the world’s most popular podcast consumption platform has made video podcast inventory more appealing to advertisers, thanks to its ability to target specific demographic groups.

“YouTube, specifically, I might treat somewhat differently than the rest of the podcast world that’s also trying to get into video,” Whitt said. “On YouTube, there’s more video inventory and content that people are seeking out, and it’s very targeted; you can use Google’s data. All those things are definitely pluses.”

Podcasts’ rise on YouTube has made them a natural fit for connected TV, as they offer engaging, brand-safe content that appeals to both audiences and advertisers. 

In 2025, podcasts will be more accessible through smart TVs than ever before. In March, YouTube launched a dedicated podcast tab for its Android TV app; just last week, Samsung TV Plus announced a partnership with Spotify to launch a video podcast channel, as well as content partnerships with digital creators such as Michelle Khare and The Try Guys. For advertisers looking to reach audiences through the household’s primary screen, podcasts represent a growing opportunity.

“As we’re seeing more of this content being created, we’re seeing a higher-production-value investment from these creators to make it a more visual and more visually interesting experience, and feel more premium,” said Samsung TV Plus head of business development and strategic partnerships Sarah Nelson.

YouTube is well aware of advertisers’ growing interest in its podcast offerings — and is introducing new products to help marketers spend more confidently on YouTube podcasts. On May 15, the company launched a dedicated weekly leaderboard showcasing YouTube’s most-watched podcasts, with the first iteration of the leaderboard topped by podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience, Kill Tony and Rotten Mango. YouTube director of news, civics and podcast partnerships Brandon Feldman confirmed to Digiday that helping brands better understand the YouTube podcast landscape — and identify opportunities to advertise alongside its top creators — was one of the intended purposes of the new product.

“From an overall external ecosystem perspective, advertisers want that,” Feldman said.