Trump vs Harris: The Untold Story of Podcast Campaign Effectiveness

---

✍️ Sign up for Mencari free newsletter and get Australia's top business, tech, and finance stories distilled into an enjoyable, time-saving read crafted by humans, for humans.

---

---

Did someone forward this to you?
Become one of the more than 1000 valued email subscribers. Find Out More 👈

---

👋 Hi, Podsky!

It's Friday, January 24, here in Australia, and we're trying out a new layout for our newsletter. We'd love to hear from you about what you think! Your feedback will help us improve our newsletter in 2025. We'll still be posting one to two new pieces a week, but we're trying something new to give you the best content possible.

I'd also like to thank the Podwires marketplace community for continuing to support the marketplace, giving podcast producers a platform to showcase their skills.

Today’s issue takes 5 minutes to read.

Let’s dive in - Miguel/Miko

---

In today’s podwires:

• 🔥 Trump vs Harris: The Untold Story of Podcast Campaign Effectiveness

• 🚨 Podcast Insight: Podcast Advertising in 2025: Why Brands Are Missing 75% of Their Potential Audience

• 🏆 Podcast News : Podtrac Adds Smartlinks and Apple & Spotify Rankings for Podcasters

---

🔥 Trump vs Harris: The Untold Story of Podcast Campaign Effectiveness

Image: Oxford Road and Veritone One

Oxford Road and Veritone One's analysis of the 2024 presidential election reveals that podcast strategy significantly influenced campaign outcomes.

Trump's podcasts reached an audience of 23.5 million Americans weekly, while Harris's selections reached an audience of 6.4 million. Trump's podcasts showed engagement rates 2-3 times stronger for advertisers, underscoring that audience size alone doesn't guarantee campaign effectiveness. The study uses data from Edison Podcast Metrics, Dentsu's Attention Economy Study, and extensive advertising performance data to analyze podcast selection in the race.

The Key Points:

• Audio commands 25% of total media time but receives only 5% of marketing budgets

• Trump's podcast appearances achieved nearly 4x the weekly reach of Harris's (23.5M vs 6.4M listeners)

• Shows selected by Trump performed 20% above median effectiveness, while Harris's performed 50% below

• Podcast dollars demonstrate superior efficiency compared to TV, social, and digital platforms

• 73% of podcast listeners trust the ads they hear, with 33% reporting opinion changes after podcast discussions

Why It Matters:

This election marked a pivotal shift in political media strategy, demonstrating that podcasting isn't just about reach—it's about selecting shows with proven engagement and response rates. The data challenges conventional wisdom about audience targeting, showing that demographic fit alone doesn't guarantee campaign success.

The Big Picture:

For the podcast industry, this case study validates podcasting's power as a serious advertising medium while highlighting the importance of sophisticated media planning. Beyond basic metrics like downloads and demographics, success requires understanding show-specific engagement patterns, host effectiveness, and audience responsiveness. This insight could reshape how advertisers approach podcast campaign planning and potentially drive increased investment in podcast advertising.

---

PRESENTED BY PODWIRES MARKETPLACE Hire Top Independent Podcast Producers for Your Business

Podcasting is a powerful way to grow business, and Marketplace Podwires is here to assist you in the easy hiring of top-rated independent podcast producers. Be it branded podcasts that share your products with the entire world or internal series aimed at engaging and energizing your teams, our expert producers can craft stories that meet any brief and bring more personality to your brand's voice. Begin with Marketplace Podwires, and find a dream producer for your project today!

This section is a paid advertisement. If you are interested in advertising, let's talk.

---

🎙️Podcast Advertising in 2025: Why Brands Are Missing 75% of Their Potential Audience.

Image: Cumulus Media

Cumulus Media's research reveals that podcast advertising is underutilized, with even major brands barely utilizing its potential reach.

Even if a brand advertised across all top 500 podcasts, they would still miss reaching approximately 25% of the weekly listeners. This finding comes as podcast audiences are becoming more diverse, with the median age rising to 36.

The analysis draws from sources like Edison Research's Podcast Metrics and "Share of Ear" Report, MRI-Simmons, Screen Engine/ASI, Podscribe, and Magellan AI. The report provides detailed insights into podcast advertising effectiveness and audience trends.

The Key Points:

• Most podcast advertisers are reaching less than 25% of monthly podcast audiences, with current campaigns running below 500M monthly impressions

• New podcast advertisers spend an average of only $25,900 per quarter, resulting in insufficient reach to target niche demographics effectively.

• Podcast audiences are showing significant age diversification, with the median age of listeners rising to 36 years old compared to the industry average of 32 years.

• Among podcast listeners, 35% of their audio time is now spent on podcasts, up from 26% in 2016, driven by the rise of engaging podcast content and the convenience of on-the-go listening.

• Podcast advertising can significantly boost CTV campaign reach, potentially tripling the audience for some streaming services

Why It Matters:

The findings reveal a massive untapped opportunity in podcast advertising. While digital advertising budgets continue to grow, most brands are significantly underinvesting in podcasting, which now represents just 1% of total national ad spend. This gap between audience engagement and advertising investment highlights the significant opportunities for brands that embrace a more assertive and proactive approach to podcast advertising.

The Big Picture:

For the podcast industry, these findings signal a crucial turning point. The maturing audience demographics, exemplified by a broader age range and increased time spent listening, indicate that podcasting has evolved beyond its early-adopter phase into a mainstream medium.

For podcast producers, this means potential for higher ad revenue as brands are encouraged to increase their spending, leading to more lucrative advertising opportunities for content creators. For advertisers, the data suggests that implementing Arnie Semsky's "5% solution" - allocating 5% of digital budgets to podcasting - could yield significant returns, especially when considering the targeted reach and engagement levels in the podcasting space.

---

🗞️CLASSIFIED ADS

• Trailer Mixtape - is your destination to find the best of the many exciting new podcasts out there. Each episode brings you a playlist mix of fresh, vital, and thrilling podcast trailers—new and trending—on comedy, true crime, news, and more.

• Podwires Newsroom - A comprehensive summary of the latest developments in podcasting, based on insights from the Podwires newsletter.

• That Podcast Exchange - This podcast interviews top performers and deconstructs them to find tools, tactics, and tricks to help you become a successful podcast producer.

• Mencari - a free newsletter and get Australia's top business, tech, and finance stories distilled into an enjoyable, time-saving read crafted by humans, for humans.

• Positively Filipino - A newsletter for the global Filipino community that focuses on travel, lifestyle, news, and immigration — what a great way to stay connected!

This section is a paid advertisement. If you are interested in advertising, let's talk.

---

🎙️ PODCAST NEWS

---

📢 PODBUSINESS & MARKETING

---

⏭️ Study: Audio Consumption Patterns Finally Normalize After 2020 Pandemic Shift. Americans' audio listening habits have finally returned to normal patterns in 2024 after the pandemic caused a big spike in at-home listening that lasted much longer than expected, peaking in late 2022.

⏭️ BBC Warns Parliament of 'Urgent Challenges' in UK Scripted Content Production. The BBC is struggling to make new TV shows because they don't have enough money due to rising costs, less funding from partners, and budget cuts, which could mean fewer British shows for viewers.

⏭️ Podcast Industry Leader Urges More Self-Promotion Through Pod Advertising .The article, written by podcast industry veteran Tom Webster, discusses how podcast networks should advertise their ad spaces on their own podcasts since many advertising decision-makers are themselves podcast listeners, similar to how other media platforms successfully advertise to potential buyers.

---

---

👉 Would like to be featured in our newsletter?. Come along with the growing number of podcast professionals who rely on PODWIRES Marketplace to make their journey easier. Register right away.

---

👀 Hiring? Or looking for a new job

Grow your business through podcasting. Marketplace Podwires connects you with skilled producers who can craft compelling stories that align with your brand. Start your podcast journey today! 👈

---

Browse more Tools ➡️

---

DISCLAIMER This podcast toolbox includes affiliate links If you decide to make a purchase using them, we may receive a small kickback which helps to support the newsletter which allows us to operate it. Thanks in advance!

Podwires is here because of our incredible partners' unwavering support.

---

SPONSOR US

Reach over 1000 podcast producers with your product.

Thousands of podcast producers, audio/video editors, podcasters, executives, and business owners worldwide read our newsletter. Contact us now.

---

FROM THE TEAM

Photo by Junseong Lee on Unsplash

📖 I appreciate you taking the time to read! See you in the next issue. Got a question or criticism? Just click on Reply. We can talk while we are here.

🎧 Check out our podcast, the one and only "That Podcast Exchange” - This podcast is an insightful conversation with people at the top of their game and deconstructs them to find the tools, tactics, and tricks to help you achieve your dream goal as Podcast Manager.

✍️ Give us a press release and a good-sized landscape photo. Make sure it's newsworthy. Send press releases to editor@podwires.com or click here. Editorially, we may rewrite headlines and descriptions.

📬 Sponsor us and get your brand in front of thousands of Independent Podcast Producers and podcasters. Email us at sales@podwires.com for more information or as personal supporters via Patreon, as your contributions help us enhance the experiences of all our users.

🖊️We are delighted to hear from our subscribers! We would be happy to publish your testimonial if you have found our newsletter to be helpful or if you have a success story to share. 👉 Post a Testimonial: https://testimonial.to/podwires

🚀 We are here to help you succeed! Fill out a 5 minute survey and tell us more about your business and yourself. These questions will help us better understand you and promote your business as part of our mission. It’s a win-win!

The Podwires readers receive journalism free of financial and political influence.

We set our own news agenda, which is always based on facts rather than billionaire ownership or political pressure.

Despite the financial challenges that our industry faces, we have decided to keep our reporting open to the public because we believe that everyone has the right to know the truth about the events that shape their world.

Thanks to the support of our readers, we can continue to provide free reporting. If you can, please choose to support The Podwires

---