Just over 20 years ago, The Guardian noted that “online radio is booming thanks to iPods, cheap audio software and weblog,” and asked, “But what to call it? Audioblogging? Podcasting? GuerillaMedia?”
This new content format, which became known as “podcasting,” quickly took off. Now, as Chief Marketer reports, over a half a billion people globally are tuning in regularly and more than 50% of Americans listen to podcasts every month.
While podcasting is a relatively new medium, newspapers have “a long and storied history, dating back to the invention of the printing press in the 15th century,” and have long retained their trustworthiness with readers, with a recent report ranking newspapers #1 for both trust and relevance/usefulness by U.S. consumers.
Now, to reach highly valuable demographics, the smartest media strategists are combining the modern reach of podcasting with the time-tested power of newspaper advertising.
New research proves the power of podcasts + newspapers
The Media Audit recently reported that its new analysis “reveals a compelling relationship between newspaper readership and podcast consumption. The findings underscore the growing role of audio content while reinforcing the enduring influence of print and digital newspapers in reaching highly engaged, affluent and educated audiences.”
Key findings from the report include:
- Newspaper readers are highly engaged, and podcasts attract a similar audience demographic.
- There’s a high correlation between newspaper readers and podcast listeners, with newspaper readers likely to listen to podcasts daily.
- Both newspaper readers and podcast listeners skew toward higher-income households.
The conclusion was that these findings represent “a major opportunity for news publishers to explore cross-platform strategies…”
How Mediaspace can help
Chief Marketer notes that, “podcast advertising remains an underleveraged channel. The question is: why? So what’s holding brands back?,” indicating that one obstacle is the complex buying process for podcast advertising.
Enter Mediaspace, which has deep expertise in media buying for both podcasts and newspapers.
The Mediaspace team is uniquely prepared to help marketers execute a powerhouse podcast/newspaper buy.
Mediaspace can even help marketers to produce their own podcasts, and distribute them through local news publications.
Reach out to Mediaspace to find out how to leverage both mediums and reach decision makers, C-suite executives and other highly educated, high-income demographics.
