The other day, I heard an ad for fast food on a mindfulness podcast. Let me understand this. Listeners are supposed to gorge themselves on burgers and fries as they practice mindfulness? What's their mantra? Da-da-da-da-da!
There are tens of thousands of independent podcasts out there in the audio verse without sponsors for their show. I find it inconceivable that network-supported podcasts have ads with no connection to the podcast topic. Two-minute-long auto insurance ads on a show about design. Ads for exotic supplements like elephant toenail for cognitive health or zebra stripes for wrinkle protection.
Pushkin podcasts are essentially ads with a little podcasting spliced between them.
Today, I'd like to be a matchmaker and connect sponsors with superb independent podcasters. The goals are twofold. First, help the sponsor find the most receptive audience for their product and service. Capitalism is all its glory.
Second, to assist worthy independent podcasts on the quest to monetization and financial independence. It's a win-win.
Here we go.
The first one is a no-brainer. If Chewy, Petco or PetSmart are not advertising on two of the best cat podcasts such as Tails and Tassels (cat-themed dancing and live entertainment) and 6 Degrees Of Cats (cats in history and culture), then they are missing an engaged and loyal fanbase. These are listeners primed to buy your product. What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?
For the Surfing Corporate podcast, which aims to entertain as well as provide
practical advice to employees who are currently navigating turbulent
corporate waters, exec recruiting firms such as The Ladders, Hired.Com, headhunter.com, and LinkedIn should be regular sponsors of the podcast. The audience for this excellent show is predominantly corporate people. Who better to pitch corporate jobs to? What are you waiting for? A job offer?
A superb health, wellness, diet, nutrition, and lifestyle podcast like Salad With A Side Of Fries should be swimming in sponsors. My Fitness Pal, Lulelemon, Nike, Weight Watchers, Headspace, and Athletic Greens would be ideal sponsors for a show like Salad With A Side Of Fries. Please stop sponsoring celebrity podcasts. They don't know much about health and wellness. They look thin due to Ozempic, not burpees.
The Life Shift podcast highlights life-altering moments and humanizes the struggles and triumphs through them all, and Multispective 
believes "Each person has a unique story to tell. Experiences, both good
and bad, shape our everyday lives. Many of us go through similar things,
yet our stories are never the same."
Why aren't Betterment, Stellar Sleep, Talk Space, and Brightside sponsoring these two terrific shows? These loyal listeners want to hear your pitch.
The duo explores how building and recognizing strong connections in life can help you achieve your goals, find personal fulfillment, and how you can create opportunities to build a purposeful and fulfilling future.
Why wouldn't large H.R. consulting firms such as Mercer, Accenture, and Ernst & Young want to sponsor this superb podcast? This podcast is in their business wheelhouse.
Why Wars Happened is a history podcast with host Emily Ross, and each season, the show will focus on a different historical war. Season one focuses on the American Revolution, which is out now. The show should attract sponsors with a unique history to their brand such as Stetson, Ivory Soap, Rolex, Kellogg's, and UPS.
Someone's in There explores our cultural relationship to the bathroom; a topic that everyone can relate to, but one that is almost never treated with the dignity that it deserves.
This show is a natural for Charmin, Vaseline, Kohler, Cottonelle, and even Pottery Barn to class up the powder room.
Brands that should be demanding to buy ad time here include Wales Bonner, The Lip Bar, Blavod Vodka, and Christopher John Rogers.
Podcasting Tech may be one of the best shows about podcasting technology, trends, and optimizing your podcast. Riverside, Shure, Blue Yeti, Adobe, and Samsung should be banging on host Mathew Passy's door to sell their podcast products to such a podcast-savvy audience.
Here's what we know from empirical research on podcast advertising. First, host-read ads are the most effective ad format for brand legitimacy and purchasing decisions. Second, podcasts are more effective than internet, radio, and TV at transforming ads into selling propositions.
In fact, according to WARC Research, Audio will account for 25% of all ad-supported media usage. Yet, it only receives 8.4% of ad budgets. WARC Research concludes: "Many brands wrongly typecast Audio as an awareness-only medium. But the evidence tells a different story. Audio drives impressive results throughout the entire marketing funnel, from awareness to conversion, outperforming some current channel favorites like TV, social media, and video ads."
Third, ads that are related to the expertise of the show are the most effective at creating actual boosts to sales.
These indie podcasts listed above and thousands more possess a fiercely loyal and committed fanbase. Why is that important to potential sponsors? First, because listeners will respond to the host or co-hosts of their favorite indie podcast with a potential purchase. Second, the indie podcasts may not possess strength in numbers like the ultrarich podcast networks, but they do have listeners who will respond to ads that match the topic of the show.
This year, 2025, will be the year that advertisers, sponsors, and the IAB step up and focus their marketing efforts on independent podcasters. Yes, I'm looking at you, Libsyn.
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