Inside the Signal Hill Report
A new report from Signal Hill Insights shows that pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll podcast ads generate meaningful improvements in brand perception, consideration and purchase intent.
The 2026 Benchmark Report focuses on brand lift data from 24,922 consumers exposed to standard podcast ads, using studies conducted throughout 2024 and 2025 to establish benchmark data across key brand metrics.
As Paul Riismandel, President of Signal Hill Insights, wrote alongside the report, "these everyday podcast ads are quite effective in driving lifts across the funnel," helping reinforce positive brand perceptions and move audiences closer to making a purchase.
Brand Lift Across Key Metrics
Signal Hill found positive brand lift across every metric measured. Overall, brand rating increased by 11.4 points, purchase intent rose by 11.6 points, consideration improved by 8.8 points, and brand familiarity increased by 2.6 points.
The smaller lift in familiarity is worth context. Signal Hill notes that familiarity is a challenging metric to move because well-known national brands are already familiar to almost everyone surveyed. Newer and emerging brands tend to see bigger gains here, which makes podcast advertising especially valuable for brands still building awareness.
The report also compared audio and video podcast ads and found no notable difference in brand lift between the formats. In other words, brands do not need video to see full-funnel results from podcast advertising.
Categories That Stood Out
While podcast advertising delivered strong results across the study, some podcast categories stood out.
Advertisers running campaigns in education and self-improvement podcasts recorded a 17.9-point increase in brand rating, a 15-point lift in consideration, and a 27.4-point increase in purchase intent. That purchase intent lift was more than double the overall benchmark, making education and self-improvement one of the strongest-performing categories included in the report.
Also notable: consumer packaged goods (CPG) advertisers exceeded the overall benchmark for purchase intent, particularly among women, illustrating how campaign performance can vary by advertiser category and podcast content.
More Benchmark Data To Come
Signal Hill says this report is the first installment in a broader benchmarking initiative, with additional reports planned later this year examining more audience demographics, advertiser categories, content genres and ad formats.
Sherry Del Rizzo
Sherry leads editorial at ADOPTER Media, translating the agency's campaign experience and podcast advertising expertise into education for the industry. Her job, in short: take what ADOPTER learns from running real campaigns and turn it into something worth reading.
