From their inception, radio and TV survived because of ads during their programming. For example, Texaco Star Theater was an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave Milton Berle the nickname “Mr. Television”, and helping propel the sales of TV sets in the 50s. In radio, cereal giant General Mills was well-known for sponsoring shows such as The Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air and The Lone Ranger.
When podcasting began in the early 2000s, ads were scarce, primarily because podcasting began as “citizen broadcasting,” with regular people developing shows with just a mic and a dream.
In the early days of podcasting, Audible was responsible for 80 percent of all the ads on podcasts. Even a decade later, in 2015, a snapshot of 100 popular podcasts revealed that Audible was among the top five advertisers, alongside brands like Squarespace and Stamps.com. These major players accounted for a significant proportion of the total ads heard at the time, indicating Audible’s large presence in a still-nascent market.
However, by 2022, advertisers had discovered podcasting as a viable marketing channel. By the end of 2025, podcast advertising revenue was projected to reach $4.02 billion by 2025. In fact, according to Podsqueeze, the podcast advertising market is expected to exhibit a 7.76% annual growth.
Moreover, unlike radio and TV, where listeners and viewers either fast-forward through ads or just change the station, podcast fans don’t seem to mind. Podsqueeze reports that 73 percent of podcast listeners in the US are receptive to sponsored messages. Additionally, 80% of podcast listeners did not believe advertisements negatively affected the overall quality of the podcast.
Even pocasting’s most loyal fans – called Super Fans (those who listen to 5+ hours a week) – report that 51% of them pay more attention to ads on podcasts than on other media.
Marketers have discovered through surveys that podcast listeners/ viewers can tolerate about four ads in a 60-minute-long podcast and about two ads in a 15-minute-long podcast. The type of podcast ad also affects listener/viewer perceptions and acceptance.
According to IAB’s U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Study, host-read ads drive higher brand recall, trust, and purchase intent because they leverage the host’s authentic connection and relationship with the listener, making ads feel like trusted recommendations rather than interruptions, although programmatic ads offer superior scalability, targeting, and efficiency for broader reach.
Listeners often develop strong, one-way emotional bonds with podcast hosts, a phenomenon known as a parasocial relationship. Over hours of listening, the host’s voice becomes a familiar and comforting presence, creating a sense of friendship and intimacy. This unique connection is built on a foundation of shared interests and perceived authenticity.
This deep-seated trust has a powerful effect on advertising. When a host recommends a product or service, it doesn’t feel like a standard advertisement. Instead, it comes across as a genuine endorsement from a trusted friend. This “halo effect” transfers the host’s credibility directly to the brand, making the listener more open to considering the offer and more likely to act on the recommendation.
Having said all that, however, there seems to a fine line between customer acceptance of ad saturation, and finding ways to avoid podcast ads.
Last week, Podnews, the industry’s popular daily newsletter, reported that PodcastAdBlock is using AI to copy podcasts and resell them without ads, in a service that could have cost the podcast industry almost a million dollars so far. According to Podnews, he company has been selling access to their own ad-free copies of shows from publishers like Spotify, NPR, the New York Times, Slate, iHeart, and New York Magazine without permission.
As large podcast networks have captured a growing segment of the podcasting audience, they have increased the number of ads, especially in their celebrity-driven shows. Increasing ad volume and repetition, especially disruptive mid-roll ads, are frustrating some listeners, leading to ad-skipping or seeking ad-free subscription options, highlighting a balance between creator income and listener experience
According to Sounds Profitable, lack of interest/relevance (37 percent) and familiarity with the advertised product/service (28 percent) are the primary motivators for skipping ads. Even though 46 percent of listeners say they “always or often” skip ads on podcasts, when asked about the last specific episode they consumed, that percentage dropped substantially.
Since shows from large podcast networks like Spotify only make up 10 percent of all podcast listens, views, and downloads, independent podcasts capture the vast majority of audience participation. These shows not only have fewer or no ads, but the intimate connection between host(s) and the audience breeds greater acceptance of ads, especially host-read ads. From Beneath The Hollywood Sign, an independent entertainment podcast that features splendid film analysis and criticism of classic Hollywood, riveting bios of movie stars, and carefully researched narratives, is sprinkled with limited pre-roll and mid-roll ads related to their listeners’ interests.
By contrast, The Grief and Light podcast, which explores grief, loss, and life in the “after” openly, authentically, doesn’t do any ads in its episodes. Creator/host Nina Rodriguez says: “Our mission is to foster a grief-informed world, give a voice to the nuanced human experience of grief, and light the way for other grievers to feel hope as they navigate this reality.”
Nina Rodriguez– like many entrepreneurial independent podcasters – relies on alternative revenue sources such as Patreon monthly donations, speaking engagements, and writing assignments.
Despite some dissatisfaction with podcast ads, most podcast users appear satisfied with the state of engagement with ads on their favorite podcasts. That user view is at odds with TV viewing, where viewers fled to streaming services, which initially offered ad-free viewing, but now only do so for a premium fee.
Despite the attention paid to celebrity-driven podcasts, the bulk of the industry is still powered by 40,000 independent podcasts that attract nearly 50 million people weekly. These “indies,” such as Getting Personal With Plant Medicine, either don’t run ads, do so with discretion, or create well-received host-read ads.
