Podcast Partnerships That Drive CBD Sales

Key Takeaways

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Focus Allocation — Podcast Ads: Podcasts are growing more popular with 16% (19.8M) of Spotify’s users listening to podcast on their platform and ad revenue projected to surpass 1 billion in 2021. Podcast ads are effective due to trust in the hosts, high levels of listener attention, long term exposure, and many targeting options. Consider partnering with a podcast network such as Midroll or Advertisecast. to be linked with the right podcasts for your target audience.

cbdMD became the official partner of three major podcasts: The Joe Rogan Experience, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, and Your Mom’s House with Tom Segura & Christina Pazsitzky.

Podcast Tactic — Pre, Mid, Or Post Ads: Podcasts offer a host of different advertising options which generally fall in the category of pre-roll (before the episode), mid-roll (during the episode), and post-roll (after the episode). Typically pre-roll ads cost less as listeners have not gotten into the episode yet and may be more inclined to skip. Mid-roll ads can be more expensive as the audience is likely already engaged with the episode and may be less inclined to skip. Post show ads can be effective as a final call to action for listeners as the episode ends. Consider A/B testing pre, mid, and post ads with different promo codes or UTMs to see which spot drives the most results.

Podcast Tactic — Cross Promotion of Affiliate Links: Many podcasts repost episodes to owned websites or YouTube channels to further the reach of the episode. Advertising partners with these podcasts are able to gain further exposure by having their links included in YouTube video descriptions or show notes on the host website. Consider partnering with podcasts that have popular YouTube channels or websites where you can gain further reach for your promo links and codes.

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Since the beginning of the year, traffic to the Apple Podcast website has increased by +37% from 9M to 12M monthly visits.

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In a similar fashion, Spotify has stated that their podcast listening has increased by 200% YoY with over 700K podcasts on its platform. 16% (19.8M) of their users listen to podcasts. Both Monthly Active Users & Subscribers for Spotify are continuing to grow YoY as well. 

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Podcasts have also seen explosive growth in ad revenue, with a projection of surpassing one billion in ad spend in 2021.

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What are the benefits of podcast advertising?

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Companies like Midroll and Advertisecast sell ad inventory for podcasts where the hosts themselves read ads live and allows you to track the performance of your campaign.

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Looking at CBD-related podcast advertising, cbdMD is the official partner of three major podcasts: The Joe Rogan Experience, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, and Your Mom’s House with Tom Segura & Christina Pazsitzky.

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cbdMD partnered up with podcasts hosted by macro celebrity influencers to increase brand awareness, with “The Joe Rogan Experience” reaching almost 10M subscribers on YouTube. The Joe Rogan Experience & Your Mom’s House has a predominately male audience while the Armchair Expert is mainly female.

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cbdMD ran pre-roll ads on a monthly basis with the Joe Rogan Experience where he also shared an affiliate code (“ROGAN”) for 25% off.

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In addition to in-episode ads, Your Mom’s House also includes links and promo codes in the description of their YouTube episode videos. With cbdMD, YMH uses the code “YOURMOM” to give a 25% discount to viewers.

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cbdMD uses a mid-roll ad in the Emilia Clarke episode below where Dax talks about the benefits of their products (ad starts at 58:05). Armchair Expert also posts the affiliate codes mentioned in their episodes to their website instead of a YouTube channel.