28% of Buyers, 62% of Spending
Podcast advertising has kept growing through years of economic uncertainty. So who’s doing the buying?
A new Sounds Profitable report has an answer: 28% of podcast ad buyers account for roughly 62% of tracked podcast-driven spending. That’s less concentrated than the broader economy, where the top 10% of households drive about half of all spending. This story focuses on those top spenders, but the other 72% of buyers still account for a meaningful share.
ADOPTER Media Founder & CEO Glenn Rubenstein had a theory that a lot of those top-spending households are listening to podcasts. He took the question to Sounds Profitable’s Tom Webster in January at the IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting in Palm Springs. It became The Super Spenders, a new Podcast Atlas special report sponsored by ADOPTER Media, with research by Signal Hill Insights.
In the three months before the survey, 990 monthly podcast consumers bought something because of a podcast ad. 281 of them spent $300 or more. Sounds Profitable calls this group Super Spenders, and the rest moderate spenders. Because both groups bought after hearing a podcast ad, the differences show what separates big spenders from other buyers, not buyers from non-buyers.
What the data shows:
- They pay about the same attention as other buyers. They just consume more, on more platforms.
- Tech and gaming podcasts are where they stand out most.
- They follow favorite hosts into newsletters, clips, and social media.
- More of them are in the market for financial services, vehicles, and online health services.
From The Super Spenders, a Sounds Profitable Podcast Atlas special report
Younger, More Male, and Higher-Income
Compared with moderate spenders, this group is younger, more likely to be men, and higher-income.
Source: The Super Spenders, a Sounds Profitable Podcast Atlas special report.
Keep in mind these are averages. 40% of this group are women and 64% have household incomes under $100,000, so a campaign built only around the average would miss most of them.
It’s How Much They Listen, Not How Closely
Attention and completion barely differ between Super Spenders and other buyers. The difference is volume: they use more platforms each month (6.9 vs. 6.1), listen to more podcast genres, and tune in more often.
72%watch video podcasts daily or almost daily, vs. 58% of moderate spenders
Beyond News and Comedy: Tech and Gaming
Among genres, the widest gaps are in tech and gaming, followed by TV and film, business, self-improvement, and kids and family. News and comedy, the two biggest genres in the Atlas, reach this group at about the same rate as other buyers.
Super SpendersModerate spenders
Technology podcasts
Video gaming podcasts
As Rubenstein put it during the webinar, “Nine times out of ten, the top-performing genre for a brand is not the one anyone predicted.”
A Closer Look at Tech and Gaming
Rubenstein says tech listeners tend to be early adopters who want to know what’s next, and established tech hosts carry real credibility when they recommend a product. Gaming carries a different assumption: that the audience is mostly kids. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) reports the average American gamer is 37.
They Follow Their Favorite Hosts
On podcasts themselves, the two groups look similar. The difference is everything around the episode: newsletters, clips, and the host’s social channels.
Where they meet their hosts (vs. moderate spenders)
Newsletters
75%subscribe to at least one podcast newsletter
vs. 52% of moderate spenders
Clips
58%say a clip often or always turns them into a regular
vs. 43% of moderate spenders
Social
2xas likely to be on Twitch
42% vs. 21% of moderate spenders
often or always buy after ads on creator platforms
vs. 20% of moderate spenders
Super Spenders say their purchases were influenced by ads in audio episodes, video episodes, and clips alike. The data points to a relationship with the host that carries beyond the episode, whether that’s a clip, a newsletter mention, or a post about a brand the host likes. Many video podcasters now offer advertisers clip reuse rights, which extends that reach.
They’re in the Market for Bigger Purchases
For everyday purchases like groceries, the two groups look the same. The difference shows up in bigger, more considered purchases.
Plan to buy or switch in the next three months
Super SpendersModerate spenders
Financial services
A vehicle
Online mental health services
A Better Result Than Expected
Rubenstein’s read: this is a better result for advertisers than his original theory, which assumed a small group was doing most of the buying. Instead, the data shows a heavy-buyer group that’s broader than he expected and skews toward the top half of a K-shaped economy. 36% are in $100K-plus households, 46% are in the market for a car, and 60% plan to buy or switch financial services in the next three months. In other words, podcast ads are reaching the people who still have money to spend.
Explore The Super Spenders
Read the full Sounds Profitable report, or watch the webinar replay.
The Super Spenders is a special report from Sounds Profitable’s The Podcast Atlas, sponsored by ADOPTER Media. Signal Hill Insights surveyed 5,061 U.S. adults who used at least one ad-supported creator or media platform in the past 30 days. 281 of the 990 podcast ad purchasers qualified as Super Spenders. Data is unweighted, and purchases are self-reported. The 62% figure is conservative: spending of $1,000 or more was counted as $1,000, and it includes only purchases people credited to a podcast ad, so podcasting’s true footprint is likely bigger.
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.
