I just got back from SXSW and Podcast Movement Evolutions in Austin, and pretty quickly, it hit me: everyone has their own take on where podcasting is going.
But between panels, random hallway chats, and waiting in line for coffee, a few themes kept surfacing. Podcasting doesn’t really feel like this niche, performance-only channel anymore. More brands are starting to treat it as part of their core mix, especially when it comes to building awareness and trust over time.
And across those conversations, you start to see where podcast advertising might be heading next.
1. Podcast advertising is becoming a brand strategy
For years, podcast ads were often associated with performance marketing. That perception is starting to change.
In “The Growth Loop: How Brands Use Podcasting to Drive Awareness, Trust, and Demand,” Grant Durando, Director, Offline Marketing Practice at Right Side Up, joined Jeanine Wright, Board Advisor at Quill Inc., Jonas Woost, Co-Founder at Bumper, and Giancarlo Bizzarro, Vice President of Sales at Crooked Media to discuss how brands are leaning into podcasts to build long-term awareness and trust.
Podcast listening is built around sustained attention. People come back to the same hosts week after week, and that creates a pretty powerful dynamic for advertisers. When listeners trust a host, that trust often carries over to the brands they talk about.
This is where the growth loop really starts to show. It’s not about a single exposure driving immediate action. Podcasting works more like a compounding cycle. The more people hear something, the more familiar it becomes, and that familiarity turns into trust. From there, people are just more likely to engage.
For marketers, this shifts how podcast campaigns get evaluated. Instead of focusing only on direct response, there’s more attention on things like brand lift, audience recall, listener sentiment, and long-term brand affinity. Those signals give a better sense of how podcast advertising is shaping perception, especially in a channel where attention and repeat listening matter just as much as reach.
2. More brands are entering the podcast market
Another theme that came up repeatedly was how the mix of podcast advertisers is changing.
That shift was a central topic in “Monetization in Motion: The Growth and Evolution of Podcast Ads.” Billy Hartman, Head of Revenue at ART19, joined Maria Tullin, SVP, Managing Director, Performance Audio at Horizon Media, and Michaela Phillips, Co-Founder and CEO at Pursuit Network, with Mark Stenberg, Senior Media Reporter at Adweek, moderating the discussion.
One of the clearest takeaways was how much more flexible podcast buying has become. What was once dominated by baked-in, host-read ads has expanded to include dynamic ad insertion, programmatic buying, and more advanced targeting, giving advertisers more ways to scale.
At the same time, podcasts are no longer just an audio channel. The move into video is opening up new opportunities for discoverability and brand integration, but it also adds complexity. Each platform behaves differently, and campaigns need to reflect that.
Even with these changes, the core hasn’t really changed. Podcast advertising still works because of the relationship between host and listener, and maintaining that authenticity will matter as the space continues to evolve.
3. Connected audio is reshaping media planning
A third theme was how podcasting is starting to fit into a broader, connected audio strategy. People now listen across podcasts, streaming, and radio throughout the day, which gives advertisers a reason to think about audio more holistically instead of treating each channel separately.
That idea came through clearly in “Building a Connected Audio Strategy Across Podcasts, Streaming, and Broadcast.” Christine Hess, Director of Account Strategy at Mynt Agency, joined Hetal Patel, President of Ad Intelligence at iHeartMedia, and Jim Ballas, GM of Measurement at Magellan AI, to talk through how brands are beginning to plan more cohesively.
In practice, that means coordinating messaging, targeting, and measurement, aligning creative to each platform, and getting a clearer view of overall performance.
For media buyers, podcasts are increasingly sitting alongside streaming audio and broadcast as part of a unified strategy rather than a standalone channel. As tools improve, there’s more opportunity to understand how these channels work together. Podcasting isn’t its own lane anymore. It’s part of a larger audio ecosystem where brands can show up more consistently.
What this movement means for brands
Stepping back from the individual sessions, a clearer direction starts to come into focus. Podcasting is maturing, more brands are getting involved, and the tools for planning and measuring campaigns are improving pretty quickly.
For marketers trying to navigate a pretty fragmented media landscape, podcasting offers something you don’t see as often anymore: real attention, trusted voices, and audiences that actually choose to listen.
If you’re thinking about where podcasting fits into a broader audio strategy, connect with the AdsWizz team.
by Aimi Knowling, Senior Manager, Sales Marketing
