According to a new report from Oxford Road and Podscribe, despite YouTube podcasting dominance, ads on the shows are surprisingly less effective than on audio podcasts.
The industry-first white paper, Re-Thinking YouTube: Why Your Video Podcast Ads Are Converting 25% Worse Than Audio, says that podcast ads viewed on YouTube are between eighteen and twenty-five per cent less effective at driving purchases than ads heard in audio feeds.
The study suggests that for every $1 million spent on YouTube podcast impressions, brand advertisers could be losing up to $250,000 in potential conversion value compared with audio-only placements.
The findings are based on analysis of more than a thousand podcast advertising campaigns run by Oxford Road and Podscribe. It used a combination of promo code redemption data and how-did-you-hear-about-us survey responses collected at checkout.
By matching this response data with impression delivery across both audio platforms and YouTube, the researchers were able to create what they describe as an apples-to-apples comparison of ads that appeared in both versions of the same podcasts.
Dan Granger, CEO of Oxford Road, said the shift towards video podcasting has helped creators reach new audiences and has appeared to offer attractive scale for advertisers, but warned that critical gaps remain.
He said YouTube’s lack of transparency around performance data has already been flagged by major podcast advertisers as a barrier to growth, holding back what Oxford Road previously estimated could be one billion dollars in additional spend.
The new research, he added, is intended to highlight the continued strength of audio podcast advertising, while also outlining how video could deliver greater value if those gaps are addressed.
The white paper includes a detailed breakdown of the factors contributing to the performance gap, alongside a ten-step action plan designed to help podcast advertisers protect their return on investment.
Oxford Road says the findings raise important questions for brands increasingly shifting budgets towards video-first podcast strategies.
You can download the full report here (name, email and company required).
