Host-Read Ads (Audio)

Having been in podcasting business for several years, brands would benefit more if they worked directly with podcast networks because networks know what it takes to be successful and agencies who buy across thousands of podcasts do not implement the tools you need for a successful campaign - hence they waste brand money, while networks know how to position brands properly on their network & th...

Having been in podcasting for 15 years, some agencies and brands do not understand that podcasting requires patience and you must be in for the long game to succeed. Here are three reasons why you need patience: Podcasts are on demand, and hardly anyone simulcasts. TWiT.tv has been simulcasting for years as we do all of our shows "live to tape," which means you can watch our shows while we are rec...

Last week I covered the importance of audience testimonials. Now I want to share what our fans say about our network. "I have purchased several items advertised on the TWiT network. I buy them because I trust Leo Laporte and his team's knowledge of the latest in technology. If Leo supports it, I know I can trust it." "I have bought and/or subscribed to a number of products and services over the ye...

Last week I covered the importance of building trust with your audience, and previously I have dived into sponsor testimonials. Today I want to focus on audience testimonials. Here are 3 reasons why they matter on our network. Being a tech podcast network, our number one focus is catering to our audience and delivering the best content and expertise that we possibly can to super-serve them. Becaus...

When Leo Laporte, the founder of TWiT.tv established our podcast network in 2005 - he did so with his tech audience in mind. He chose to treat them with respect and full transparency and to deliver them the best tech news and analysis he could with other trusted expert hosts. When he decided to pivot and become ad-supported, he remained true to his original mission & applied the same attitude...

Having worked in the podcast industry for fifteen years at TWiT.tv, we provide brands with expectations when purchasing podcast advertising on our network. Brands need expertise if they are going to succeed in this space, and sales leaders need to communicate these four points to brands before signing IOs. Podcast ads are on demand, meaning they are recorded and then released to the public to down...

Having worked in the podcast industry for fifteen years at TWiT.tv and overseeing sales for most of it, I want to provide brands with an outline of best practices when advertising on podcasts because I have learned that all traditional ad agencies ignore them entirely - which is where brands lose. Brands need expertise if they are going to succeed in podcast advertising. I recommend taking it in-h...

Having overseen podcast ad sales for over a decade, here at TWiT, we know how to properly implement podcast campaigns on our network. Here are the top four tools you should use to properly gauge your podcast campaigns. Use ad-tech, such as Podsights, Claritas, or Podscribe, to properly gauge attribution. These providers will include a tracking pixel in the podcast feed and a tracking pixel on your...

I have worked in all aspects of C-level positions over my 35+ year career with an emphasis in accounting, finance, growth, partnerships, biz dev, media, and sales - I prefer to work with partners who bring their marketing and sales leaders to the first strategy meeting. And here are my top 3 reasons why this will maximize campaign results. I find it common at several companies for their sales and...

Brand marketing is an easy target that CMOs face pressure to minimize in times of uncertainty. Since the explosion of inflation last year, major cuts in the tech sector, the Russian/Ukrainian war, and the escalating political issues in the US and frankly everywhere. Brands are struggling to make decisions, and marketing is the first place they cut. CMOs resist cutting their budgets because how els...

The entire job of a salesperson, or here at TWiT, we refer to our clients as partners, so the entire job of a partnership person is to be the guide and help partners achieve their growth goals. Therefore understanding your partners needs is critical before you start working with them. Here is the list of 10 questions you need to ask before signing a new partner to a campaign: Understand what the p...

After attending the Podcast Movement in Las Vegas, I discovered that partners and agencies are finally into simulcasting. And lucky for us, TWiT.tv has been simulcasting all of its pods starting in 2009, well before YouTube became a household name and TikTok wasn't even a thought. And when I say TWIT.tv simulcasts - I mean, it's way more than YouTube, as most of our video downloads are outside of...

Today I want to talk about the IT job explosion. LinkedIn's Opportunity Project recently produced 2023's Most In-Demand Hard Skills List. Here are the top 10: Software Development, SQL, Finance, Python, Java, Data Analysis, JavaScript, Cloud Computing, Operations, and CRM (Customer Relationship Management). In the current economic climate, every business is either a tech firm or a tech-enabled com...

In previous episodes, I have mentioned our qualified audience, which is highly technical and full of lifelong learners. From our 2023 survey reaching over 10K fans, 99% of the TWiT audience listens to most or all of our podcast episodes, while 85% listen to ALL of our podcast episodes. The reason why our fans stick around is that the content is king, and the content of our shows is the #1 reason o...

TWiT's audience is highly qualified. 72% are age 25 - 54, 85% made a purchase based on a TWiT ad, and 99% listen to most or all of the podcasts. We are: 95% male, 70% earn over $100K, 80% are college graduates, and 88% are involved in the company's tech/IT decisions at their company. 65% are married. If you are interested in advertising with us, please email advertise@twit.tv , and we will get bac...

I want to talk about another sponsor who originally signed to our network in 2007 and only left at the end of 2022 because Audible fired their agency again. It takes time to connect with the new one, especially because Amazon owns Audible now. I anticipate we will get them back because we cater to life-long learners - 78% of our audience are college graduates or hold advanced degrees. Plus, why wo...

I want to speak to the impact we make when we sign brands to our network, especially expensive B2C products like a car. 70% of our audience makes over $100K a year, and 26% make over $200K yearly. We cater to an affluent audience, and our host-read ads work. When Ford came to our network to promote their car technology, they signed up for a one-year campaign because they were one of the first to p...

Unlike radio and TV ads, the full impact of every podcast ad dropped on our network takes 8 weeks to reach its fullest impact. Here are the 3 reasons why - #1 You have to give the audience time to download the episode, #2 You have to give them time to listen to the episode, and #3 You need to provide them with time to act on the ad read. We place our partners on our sponsor page, show episode page...

I want to continue from last week's episode and do a deeper dive into why host-read ads in a podcast are more impactful than dynamically inserted ads. This is my 2nd podcast covering this topic, and I plan to do more because the difference is substantial. First, who truly listens to 30 or 60-second dynamically inserted ads when listening to a podcast? I don't, all podcast players have skip feature...

I've been reading about podcast advertising and its decline since its boom in the pandemic. A record number of podcasts launched and monetized during the pandemic, and several are closing now that it's over. Actors, athletes, and anyone stuck at home, the entire world, launched a podcast during COVID, and now there is a downturn as people are realizing that podcasting takes time, commitment, an au...

Let's talk about advertising copy. TWiT.tv provides a full-service continuity team that includes ad copywriting. However, many of our partners choose to supply us with their internal ad copy. Often, these copies are mass-produced and not tailored to our highly qualified audience, which causes them to fall flat in conversions. Our audience is curious and willing to try. We know something needs to b...

We understand that sales teams want to work with ad partners that deliver the most value for every impression. When a potential sponsor approaches us, it's almost always with a prior understanding of how we position ourselves alongside them. Our sponsors know our network, listen to our shows, and want to connect with our audience. You've heard it before; we frequently use the term "partners" becau...

Here at TWiT.tv, we do not invade our audiences' privacy like Google, Facebook, Apple, Spotify, and the rest of the tech world. We rely on an annual survey to allow our audience to contribute information to us instead of tracking them to find out who they are because we want to respect our fans. It's not rocket science why podcasts have begun to dominate the media landscape. Podcasts are readily a...

When we think of keeping people happy, we have a tendency to overthink it. The same thing applies to your clients. It's not as complicated as you might think, but there are some important things to consider. Here are six steps to keeping your clients happy. Present Clear Terms and Expectations. When starting out the relationship between yourself/your company and your client, it's important to be c...

TWiT.tv has been an ad-supported network for over 17 years, and when we first took on advertising in 2007, we adopted a two-ad-read model versus a one-ad-read model for all of our shows. Our ad format is as follows: each show episode has two ad positions for each sponsor - first is the host-read billboard (typically 10 - 15 seconds) and second is a host-read interstitial ad (typically 1-2 minutes...