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Ten Brands That Should Be Advertising on Podcasts

Ten Brands That Should Be Advertising on Podcasts

by | Apr 22, 2020

Proceeding in our mission to pair audiences with the ideal advertisers (and vice versa), for this entry we’ve employed the StatSocial Insights engine to calculate the 10 brands whose customer purchase data reveals the largest proportions of podcast enthusiasts among their consumer-bases.

This is some real tip-of-the-iceberg, top-line stuff here. Do you have a podcast for which you could use guidance in finding advertisers? Are you a marketer trying to sniff out which podcasts’ audiences will be most receptive to your brand? When queried, StatSocial provides mountains of detailed, actionable insights (about which we’ll elaborate a bit below) ultimately facilitating the most fruitful of partnerships.

For now, however, we’re going big.

A retro pod and contemporary podcasts.

As a creative medium, it’s been clear for a while now that podcasting is here to stay. But over the past couple of years it has entered its financial boom time. The industry raked in around $400 million last year, and is predicted to reach $600 million in 2020. A drop in the bucket when compared to the billions being invested in radio and TV ads, but staggering growth when compared to the low stakes of only a few short years back in podcasting’s history.

Some podcasters have become household names, and more than a few have become wealthy. Some brands have been broken largely, or even entirely, through their sponsorship of podcasts (we took a look at a few of the more prominent among them — and the podcasts their customers love most — a few months ago). And this ride has only just begun, let’s face it.

What We Know, and What We Do

As background, or a refresher: StatSocial pulls in and compiles all available data relating to any consumer audience about which you’d care to learn.

StatSocial’s affinity datasets are culled from the individual profiles of over 500 million social media users. Our analysis considers over 80,000 unique attributes. As a result, we provide an in-depth breakdown of an audience’s passions, media preferences, influencers, personality traits, and Digital Tribes.

Our reporting reveals things that could not feasibly be learned through hundreds or, truthfully, thousands of surveys and focus groups. StatSocial peers beyond the cultivated and curated identities of social media, and digs into what really makes the various segments of any given audience tick.

We do more than just provide numbers, though, we take what is learned through the statistics and translate that into strategy; such as social media campaigns, influencer partnerships, and, as is our focus here, sponsorship opportunities and brand partnerships.

Our reporting provides an understanding of a given base of customers that is unrivaled in terms of depth and nuance. StatSocial eliminates guesswork and assumptions from mapping out a marketing plan, or pursuing the most fruitful partnerships and avenues of exposure.

Of Specific Relevance to this Entry

Our taxonomies for all varieties of affinities are vast. For example — and of especial relevance here — there are over 3,000 podcasts cataloged and tracked in our taxonomy of the medium’s most prominent titles (in all genres, from politics to sports to knitting). Right out of the box, on the first query, and leaving no podcasting stone unturned, a brand and/or marketer can know with confidence which podcasts most resonate with both the audience they’re already reaching, as well as the as-yet untapped audience with which they hope to connect.

Regarding this matter from the opposite side, StatSocial provides podcast ad-sellers a clear view of their listeners’ varying affinities for every brand imaginable; the insights factoring in our massive taxonomies for virtually every conceivable variety of good and/or service available under the sun. The insights also reveal not only to what other podcasts the audience is listening, but the varying degrees to which they love each.

All of this is invaluable data when seeking to foster mutually beneficial and lasting partnerships, and to dedicate resources most effectively.

Let Us Begin

For this entry, we have used the findings of a well-known and respected retail marketing data platform (an industry standard, and a name we’ll happily provide, along with far more robust statistics, if you reach out to us privately).

The index score measures the degree to which our findings (in this case regarding the brand affinities of podcast listeners) either exceed, are in line with, or fall short of the findings of this unnamed platform’s data.

The portion of Aribnb’s customer-base who are also avid podcast listeners exceeds the baseline by 1.64 times. The portion of StubHub’s users who are also podcast fans exceeds the baseline by 1.45 times.

What the Above Tells Us

These summaries are based on our familiarity with the brands in question, and our general understanding of the relatively self-selecting population who are (currently most) drawn to podcasts. Ultimately, the insights available in a StatSocial report will answer nearly any question to which these top-line insights, or any other insights for that matter, might give birth. We peer beyond the superficial, and dig right into the heart and soul of what makes an audience tick.

Here, however, we’ll look at these statistics as presented. They surely tell us something on their own.

Airbnb

The top result makes perfect sense here. Right off the bat, an online-based business is a natural to find affinity with fans of an internet-born medium. Worth also noting, Airbnb is a platform for the traveler. What better opportunity does life provide for catching up with one’s favorite podcasts than long airplane rides?

While accommodations through Airbnb can be downright palatial, it’s generally considered an affordable alternative to traditional hotel accommodations. Still, jetting off to far flung locales is a bit rich for the blood of many.

We’ll return to this thought in a moment, as it seems to be an overarching theme here. This is no knock on podcasting, nor the brands most beloved by its fans. This is a highly desirable concentration of consumers, all within this one audience.

Our data reveals that users of Airbnb are chilling among this crowd to a degree that exceeds the baseline (again, as clarified above, the findings of a major retail marketing data platform) by over one-and-two-thirds times.

Banana Republic

Of the numerous retail chains owned by Gap, Inc., Banana Republic has in recent times been one of its best performing. After a pronounced slump, an updating of the brand’s mission — moving away from a creative-director-driven singular vision, and instead accommodating the demands of “fast fashion” — has turned things around.

While there are some popular fashion podcasts, the brand’s position on this list is likely attributable to audience overlap with podcasting as a whole. BR was, from its inception, conceived as a store for younger adults of higher incomes. Their customer-base, according to various sources, has pretty consistently hovered between ages 25 to 44, with well over half of their customers earning in excess of $75k annually.

Similarly, recent polling has said that about 45% of podcast listeners earn over $75k a year, with about 79% of the medium’s most dedicated fans falling between ages 18 and 54.

Finally, a theme that recurs throughout this list arises here. Like many once brick and mortar stalwarts, survival has meant finding a place in the e-retail sphere. Banana Republic has done a terrific job of establishing a presence online where podcast listeners, almost by definition, will be gathered.

Banana Republic customers, according to our data, can be found within this audience to a degree exceeding the baseline by 1.58 times.

Ikea

There’s a certain American that comes to mind when picturing the average Ikea consumer. The biggest thing to come out of Sweden after ABBA, Volvo, Ingmar Bergman, and PewDiePie (pity that Army of Lovers never really broke in the states), the home furnishings behemoth brings to mind a collection of our country-persons with whom it is quite easy to imagine bonding over a shared love of ‘Radiolab.’

Or… Since Ikea’s minimalist design appeals to the pragmatic, as well as the ordered and tidy, you could be dealing with one who would hardly blanch when admonished to “clean up your room, bucko.” As such, perhaps instead of ‘Radiolab’ it might be the ‘Jordan B. Peterson Podcast’ that they pipe through their earbuds.

A quick glance at StatSocial‘s insights for Ikea’s audience actually suggests that discussing Rachel Maddow’s podcast, or the ‘NPR Politics Podcast,’ might prove most fruitful the next time you find yourself in conversation with a sworn Ikea devotee at a cocktail party. Our point, however, remains true. Not to stereotype, but the stats bear it out. The Venn diagram of Ikea consumers — largely upwardly mobile young adults — and podcast listeners does show significant overlap.

When contrasted with the retail purchase data set we’re using here for our overlay, StatSocial finds Ikea shoppers among the podcast loving throngs to a degree exceeding the baseline by 1.55 times.

Adobe

Acrobat, Photoshop, Flash, InDesign, Illustrator, and on and on. Adobe’s softwares have been as fundamental as any in shaping our contemporary world. They are also some of the most foundational tools of the trades of those working in marketing, advertising, design, and really any line of work where visual presentation and non-verbal communication are essential.

Podcasts appeal to young, upwardly mobile professionals more so than to any other single group, and those of such a description are increasingly working in creative fields. Why this brand would rate so highly with this audience is rather evident after even passing consideration.

If you are a designer, or working in a related field, then you already know there are few jobs that better lend themselves to indulging in an ostensibly audio-based medium, providing countless hours of content weekly. Coders, designers, proofreaders, writers, and others who have spent more than their share of hours immersed in Adobe’s products have often done so with a pair of headphones affixed to their ears. They may be listening to Tangerine Dream, but these days it’s just as possible that they’re cranking out ‘Your Mom’s House.’

Our insights find avid Adobe users are present among the podcast listening population to a degree exceeding the baseline by 1.54 times.

1-800-FLOWERS

Few businesses adjusted to the dawn of a brave new world so elegantly as did 1-800-FLOWERS. A pioneer in direct sales, the New York based, flowers-by-phone retailer was one of the first businesses to offer a 24–7, toll-free number, always open for business. Other companies followed suit (notably, 1–800-MATTRES: “Leave off the last ‘s’ for ‘savings’”). The phone number itself had changed hands a number of times before, in 1986, it finally wound up the property of those who would turn it into a literal pile of cash.

1-800-FLOWERS.com probably was greeted with a wince or two when first suggested as the company’s URL. Now, boldly owning this mixed communications media identity, the company’s official name is 1–800-Flowers.com, Inc.

They are an e-commerce business, which similar to the above entries, makes the reasons for their presence here immediately evident. More crucially, though, they’ve been a regular podcast sponsor since December of 2017. As of February of this year, they were one of the top 10 most prevalent sponsors across the entire medium.

1–800-FLOWERS customers are rubbing elbows with the others of the podcast fanatic set to an extent surpassing the baseline by 1.53 times.

Zappos

Ever more e-commerce graces our list.

We don’t know for certain, but deriving what we’d guess was inspiration from the Frank Zappos* song, “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It,” the British born, California raised entrepreneur, Nick Swinmurn, set about launching an online shoe store, originally called ShoeSite.com.

That name lacking pizzaz, in July of 1999 it was decided they should come up with something less limiting and more snappy. Swinmurn looked no further than the youngest Marx Brother, Zappos*, for his company’s name.

Okay, okay… The name is actually derived from zapatos, Spanish for “shoes.” That said, the site’s inventory has included a wide variety of goods — apparel, accessories, athletic wear, jewelry, etc. — since 2007. In July of 2009, 10 years after the company’s official founding as Zappos.com, they were acquired by Amazon for $1.5 billion (the company’s former CEO, Tony Hsieh, can be heard on a 2016 episode of the ‘We Study Billionaires’ podcast here).

If you were to dig into the StatSocial reports for ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ you’d detect a pronounced contrast of interests, demographics, and personalities when compared to the audience of, say, ‘Serial.’ But when looking at podcast listeners as a whole, it’s only right and natural that internet oriented businesses are conspicuous. Long walks and runs make for terrific podcast time. Maybe that connection is a bit of a reach, but the fact remains that Zappos is the internet’s biggest shoe retailer. We’ve all got to wear shoes, and it adds up that those creatures sufficiently knee deep in the internet to be turning to it for entertainment would also use it in their quests for footwear.

StatSocial’s data finds this well-heeled group to be among podcasting’s greatest boosters to a degree that exceeds the baseline by 1.45 times.

(*These are very, very silly jokes.)

StubHub

While podcast listeners may seek their entertainment via non-traditional media, they must not be mistaken for shut-ins. If they were, they’d have no need for Zappos, after all. They have places to go and people to see.

The places they go, at times, include sports, concert, and theater venues, and the people could include Kendrick Lamar, the cast of ‘Beetlejuice the Musical,’ or the Philadelphia Eagles.

There was a time when, if an event was sold out, you’d have to show up at the venue a couple of hours beforehand and haggle with less-than-reputable businessmen to procure a ticket for a dollar amount well exceeding the face value.

While street scalpers, at least here in New York City, are a thing of the past, StubHub has made readily available to any and all willing to shell out the extra scratch, entrée into nearly any public event which you can imagine.

People attend events (be they concerts, sporting events, lectures, operas, what-have-you, but happenings of sorts to which numerous podcasts are dedicated) and it makes terrible sense that the crowd being grouped together here — meaning, those sourcing their entertainment and information (or, when combined, edutainment) from cyberspace — would also procure tickets to said events from same.

Our findings suggest that the StubHub faithful overlap with the podcast grateful to a degree exceeding the baseline by 1.45 times.

REI

Just because you felt duty-bound to take a selfie from the summit of Kilimanjaro, to post on Instagram, it doesn’t change the fact that you dragged your butt up there in the first place. Good luck connecting to 4G, however. Maybe 5G will fix that.

In the meantime, this audience of podcast Stans have revealed themselves as well-employed travelers, quick to give the gift of flowers, and appreciative of a sweet new pair of kicks to wear when they go see Ariana Grande. This brand’s inclusion on the list goes one better than merely saying these people leave the house. They REALLY leave the house.

Our young, upwardly mobile, podcast listening crew is, if nothing else, appropriately outfitted for some rugged, rough and tumble, outdoorsy activities

Given what we know of this audience, it adds up that it would contain a strong proportion of skiers, snowboarders, rock climbers, and the like.

Our calculations have revealed that REI’s customers are also podcast listeners to a degree that exceeds the baseline by 1.44 times.

Whole Foods Market

Again, we are genuinely trying to avoid stereotypes about who the podcast generation may be. There would be those, however, who might not be entirely surprised to find Whole Foods ranked highly among the brands for which podcast listeners show the strongest affinities.

The same intersection of age and income cited above applies here. It bears repeating that further digging into the metric ton of insights StatSocial has on offer will determine beyond doubt the degree to which this demographic overlap informs this affinity (along with a much more nuanced and detailed analysis).

StatSocial’s data shows that Whole Foods finds affinity among the podcast listening segment of the population to a degree 1.41 times greater than the baseline.

Pottery Barn

While we recognize that it’s a chain store iteration of the aesthetic, this is still pretty handily the most folksy entry on this list. Even while REI celebrates outdoorsiness, it does so in a rather cosmopolitan way.

Pottery Barn takes two inherently folksy words, joins them together, and winds up bringing to your cold, harsh day something akin to a kind hug. The merchandise they sell does the same.

While Ikea sells home furnishings, one pictures their items in the homes of young adults — kids just out of college, newlyweds just having their first kid, that sort of thing — which makes this the first brand on this list that truly smacks of a wholesome and genuine domesticity.

That would be until very recently, where a slight tweaking of the brand has occurred. During these days when fewer and fewer young people — even those with children — are opting to live in the suburbs (or in places even more remote), Pottery Barn has taken to stocking an inventory and cultivating an aesthetic better suited to smaller abodes. If they’re looking to maximize the space within New York dwellings, some manner of vase / bunk bed hybrid could be both practical and bring to the cold, unforgiving surrounds of we New Yorkers a much needed return to simpler times. Back to the times when we used to make, bake, and keep all of our pottery in a barn.

Inquire Within for Genuine Revelations

Looking at the top 10 podcasts the week this entry is being written, things hardly seem overly monolithic. There is diversity in content. In the grand scheme, though, things could surely be a bit less homogeneous.

You have Dr. Phil, Joe Rogan, teenage YouTuber Emma Chamberlain, a true crime podcast, a Rami Malek starring dramatic podcast, a couple of exposé type programs, and not one, but two ‘Game of Thrones’ podcasts.

People from a rich and varied array of economic and ethnic backgrounds have come to embrace the realization of digital media’s democratizing promise. While there does still seem to be a point of delineation where one is, say, no longer a “SoundCloud rapper” and is simply a mainstream rapper, many of these performers’ biggest fans hardly noticed when that line was crossed.

There are podcasts of all conceivable stripes, many of which are quite profitable, but whose audiences may seem under-represented in a broad-stroke list like this. StatSocial, we assure you, is capable of nothing if not granularity. It is not, however, some big whopping data dump. Everything is organized, comprehensible, and easily navigated, and the team of experts here is all too equipped to clarify and aid you in quickly putting to use all of the many insights provided.

As stated above, this is but a glimpse of the data we have on offer. StatSocial can, and does, get far more specific (Curious about the audience of a specific podcast, or a genre of podcast, or a podcasting network, etc.? We have answers on top of answers).

Take a Sniff Around

Insights on top of insights can be found by the curious reader who chooses to poke around the StatSocial blog here. Peruse the many entries, offering all kinds of insights, studies, and deep dives to better acquaint you with the capabilities of StatSocial.

Throughout the blog are many examples of the sorts of insights that can only be gained with StatSocial.

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To learn more or request a demo, click here.

ZipRecruiter Case Study — What Podcast Audiences are Most Aligned With the Brand?

ZipRecruiter Case Study — What Podcast Audiences are Most Aligned With the Brand?

by | Aug 8, 2018

In this series we’re putting StatSocial, our social media audience insights engine, to work.

We’re checking in on the audiences of some of those companies whose names will be familiar to any regular podcast listener, as they are among the most prominent sponsors of many of the most popular podcasts.

What are we trying to determine? Above all else, for which brands do the most passionate members of these podcasts’ audiences show the strongest affinities? StatSocial scores audience affinities for 1,000 top podcasts in every audience report. In this series, we’ll show you the top-five podcasts audiences that are best aligned to the brand in question.

For marketers and agencies looking to optimize podcast ad spend, StatSocial is an indispensable tool. StatSocial also works for podcast ad sellers and networks looking to best position their podcast properties to the right advertisers. This article is a window into what StatSocial can uncover for ad buyers and sellers of all sorts.

Head to the greater StatSocial Insights blog by clicking here, and check out our exploration of more podcast sponsors, as well as a number of other topics into which we’re the best qualified to take the deep dive.

To learn more or request a demo, click here.

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The ZipRecruiter platform is designed to aid both talent and employers in finding one another in a more efficient, and less time-consuming way than many other platforms for those seeking employment and/or staff.

They are the number one rated job search app on Android and iOS, and boast over seven million active users month in and month out.

Over 77% of their social media audience — who, of course, we must remember includes employers and recruiters as well as job-seekers — are ages 35 and up. 43% are over 45-years of age.

1) Entrepreneurs On Fire

John Lee Dumas — an Iraq vet, having served in the Army as an Armor Platoon Leader, before being honorably discharged in 2010 — produces the EOFire podcast seven days a week. His daily interviews — conducted, on his part at least, from Puerto Rico where he currently resides — have included such entrepreneurs as Seth Godin, Barbara Corcoran, and those mentioned in previous entries from this series, such as Tim Ferriss and Gary Vaynerchuk.

While seeking to work for someone else in the moment, or find someone to work for them, it seems the ZipRecruiter crowd is motivated to learn more about those who have made things happen for themselves. They are 42 times more likely to be members of the EOFire audience than those you’d normally find lurking around cyberspace.

In the interest of full disclosure we must mention that John and StatSocial’s CEO Michael Hussey grew up together in Maine, and are close friends to this day. That being said, we stress that the StatSocial platform is, as the name suggests, solely statistically based and this list is 100% impartial.

2.18% of ZipRecruiter’s audience have recently discussed or shared content related to Entrepreneurs On Fire podcast compared to .052% of Americans.

2) The Investors Podcast — We Study Billionaires

It’s an ambitious lot ZipRecruiter finds in their social media sphere.

Preston Pysh and Stig Brodersen, the fellows studying the billionaires so we don’t have to, describe their podcast thusly, “First, we like to have fun. Second, we read and talk about the books that have influenced billionaires the most. We typically talk about Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Ray Dalio, Stanley Druckenmiller, George Soros, and other financial billionaires.”

The likelihood of finding one of their listeners among ZipRecruiter’s employers/hopeful-employees is over 30 ½ times greater than finding them just wandering among the general social media throngs.

2.38% of ZipRecruiter’s audience have recently discussed or shared content related to the We Study Billionaires podcast compared to .078% of Americans.

3) The School Of Greatness

Lewis Howes and his School Of Greatness podcast have appeared in a previous entry from this series.

Those in search of meaningful employment while expending minimal fuss find among their fellowship those who also seek to study at the feet of greatness. Those fitting the latter description occur within this audience nearly 29 times more frequently than you’d find their ilk among the general social media crowd.

2.61% of ZipRecruiter’s audience have recently discussed or shared content related to The School of Greatness podcast compared to .09% of Americans.

4) APM: Marketplace

After NPR, the second biggest producer and syndicator of public radio in America is American Public Media. Their Kai Ryssdal hosted Marketplace “focuses on business, the economy, and events that influence them.”

The ZipRecruiter bunch are 19 ½ times more likely to be among the Marketplace audience than the average.

1.92% of ZipRecruiter’s audience have recently discussed or shared content related to the Marketplace podcast compared to .098% of Americans.

5) Side Hustle School

So we meet again, Mr. Guillebeau.

The Side Hustle School podcast has managed to find its way into a number of the entries from this series.

This audience is 18 times more likely to seek Chris’ counsel for picking up a bit of, you know, “walking around money” than those you’d find mingling among the general social media folks.

1.79% of ZipRecruiter’s audience have recently discussed or shared content related to the Side Hustle School podcast compared to .099% of Americans.

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To learn more or request a demo, click here.

Audible Case Study — What Podcast Audiences are Most Aligned With the Brand?

Audible Case Study — What Podcast Audiences are Most Aligned With the Brand?

by | Aug 6, 2018

In this series we’re putting StatSocial, our social media audience insights engine, to work.

We’re checking in on the audiences of some of those companies whose names will be familiar to any regular podcast listener, as they are among the most prominent sponsors of many of the most popular podcasts.

What are we trying to determine? Above all else, for which brands do the most passionate members of these podcasts’ audiences show the strongest affinities? StatSocial scores audience affinities for 1,000 top podcasts in every audience report. In this series, we’ll show you the top-five podcasts audiences that are best aligned to the brand in question.

For marketers and agencies looking to optimize podcast ad spend, StatSocial is an indispensable tool. StatSocial also works for podcast ad sellers and networks looking to best position their podcast properties to the right advertisers. This article is a window into what StatSocial can uncover for ad buyers and sellers of all sorts.

(You can check out parts 1 and 2 in this series here and here.)

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Founded in 1995 and acquired by Amazon in 2008 for $300 million, the Newark, N.J. headquartered Audible is one of the world’s largest vendors of audiobooks, downloadable radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers.

Through their Audible Studios they are also the world’s largest producer of audiobooks.

The male to female split among this audience is virtually straight down the middle (leaning toward 51% male to 49% female).

1) Grammar Girl: Quick & Dirty Tips For Better Writing

Former science writer, and current professor of journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, Mignon Fogarty’s grammar tips are likely something most of us have encountered at one time or another.

Were you trying to steer clear of a homonym mishap and Google’d the matter to keep things straight? The Grammar Girl site is very possibly the first link upon which you clicked.

Podcasting Hall of Fame inductee, Fogarty has founded an entire Quick and Dirty Tips network, dedicated to helping us all be more productive, efficient, and knowledgeable. The network features experts on a vast variety of topics including parenting, health and fitness, pet care, and real estate.

Ms. Fogarty’s self-help empire, however, was built on the back of her terrifically handy writing site and podcast. Audible’s crowd would no doubt tend toward the literate, as those without such inclinations would no sooner listen to a book than read one. It is therefore not all that surprising that the degree to which Grammar Girl fans reside among the Audible audience exceeds the average by just shy of 36 times.

6.01% of the dedicated Audible users we analyzed have recently discussed or shared content related to Grammar Girl compared to .167% of Americans.

2) Happier With Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin is a best-selling author and self-help guru. Her Happier podcast builds upon the themes of all her books, but most especially her ‘The Happiness Project,’ detailing a year-long, concerted quest for happiness and what she learned along the way. The book spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list.

Trained as an attorney, she was working as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor when she realized she wanted to be a writer.

The Happier podcast finds favor among a proportion of this gang 16 times greater than the norm.

1.54% of the dedicated Audible users we analyzed have recently discussed or shared content related to the Happier podcast compared to .094% of Americans.

3) Side Hustle School

Professor Guillebeau’s school of side hustlin’ finds love here to an extent exceeding the average by 16 ¼ times.

This is not the first time we’ve seen this podcast grace a list in this series of entries. You’ll find it referenced here as well.

1.62% of the dedicated Audible users we analyzed have recently discussed or shared content related to the Side Hustle School podcast compared to .167% of Americans.

4) Planet Money

Planet Money first came to life via NPR in the wake of the 2008 banking crisis, intent on explaining the economy to those confused. You’re over 14 ½ times more likely to find members of its audience among the Audible zealots than you are the greater social media masses.

2.95% of the dedicated Audible users we analyzed have recently discussed or shared content related to Planet Money podcast compared to .202% of Americans.

5) Freakonomics Radio

Steven Levitt is a University of Chicago economist, who wrote, along with New York Times journalist Stephen Dubner, the book upon which this podcast is based, ‘Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.’ The pair now co-host the Freakonomics Radio podcast, continuing the exploration of Levitt’s holistic application of economic theories.

The book has sold over 4-million copies worldwide, and the podcast had found purchase in the hearts and minds of these audiobook devotees to a degree exceeding the average social media Joe and Jane by 13 ¾ times.

4.04% of the dedicated Audible users we analyzed have recently discussed or shared content related to Freakonomics podcast compared to .293% of Americans.

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Head to the greater StatSocial Insights blog by clicking here, and check out our exploration of more podcast sponsors, as well as a number of other topics into which we’re the best qualified to take the deep dive.

To learn more or request a demo, click here.

Squarespace Case Study — What Podcast Audiences are Most Aligned With the Brand?

Squarespace Case Study — What Podcast Audiences are Most Aligned With the Brand?

by | Aug 2, 2018

In this series we’re putting StatSocial, our social media audience insights engine, to work.

We’re checking in on the audiences of some of those companies whose names will be familiar to any regular podcast listener, as they are among the most prominent sponsors of many of the most popular podcasts.

What are we trying to determine? Above all else, for which brands do the most passionate members of these podcasts’ audiences show the strongest affinities? StatSocial scores audience affinities for 1,000 top podcasts in every audience report. In this series, we’ll show you the top-five podcasts audiences that are best aligned to the brand in question.

For marketers and agencies looking to optimize podcast ad spend, StatSocialis an indispensable tool. StatSocial also works for podcast ad sellers and networks looking to best position their podcast properties to the right advertisers. This article is a window into what StatSocial can uncover for ad buyers and sellers of all sorts.

(You can check out parts 1 and 3 in this here and here)

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Squarespace

Anthony Casalena, founder and CEO of Squarespace, built the service’s earliest incarnation in 2003, while still a student at the University of Maryland. The initial inspiration was simple personal need. Casalena desired a more design-conscious, attractive, and user-friendly alternative to the clunky, website building assistance tools and blogging platforms available at the time, such as GeoCities.

Squarespace was developed, at first, solely for the purposes of Casalena cultivating his own online brand. As time passed he began to give friends and family members access to his tools, as these people in his life were encountering the same frustrations that had given birth to his invention. As ever more people began to use the Squarespace service, Casalena found himself with a bona fide business on his hands. While the company continued to grow he remained the only employee for the first few years.

By 2007, when Casalena graduated college, the business was pulling in $1 million a year in revenues. He moved to New York City and began hiring. Fast forward to now and the website building assistance tool and web hosting service has published over one million websites.

Squarespace is a frequent sponsor of some of the biggest podcasts out there. They’ve also shouted their name for all to hear from the peak of the highest mountain top, with spots that have aired during the past couple of Super Bowls.

The below, which aired during Super Bowl LI in 2017, even won an Emmy.

StatSocial’s insights tell us that 42% of Squarespace’s audience are female and that 58% of their social media audience makes $50,000 a year, or more. The city most strongly represented among Squarespace’s fans is New York, with its residents accounting for a little over 9% of their social media audience.

As is the case with Dollar Shave Club, the podcast topping the list here pairs with the brand in question perfectly.

1) Design Matters

Debbie Millman is, according to her own bio, a “writer, designer, educator, artist, brand consultant and host of the podcast Design Matters.” Design Matters, of which over 300 episodes have been recorded since its launch in 2005, is described on its home page as “The world’s first podcast about design and an inquiry into the broader world of creative culture through wide-ranging conversations with designers, writers, artists, curators, musicians, and other luminaries of contemporary thought.”

These above-mentioned luminaries have included Massimo Vignelli, Steven Heller, Marian Bantjes, Tina Roth Eisenberg, and Stefan Sagmeister, Milton Glaser, Malcolm Gladwell, Dan Pink, Barbara Kruger, and Seth Godin.

Worth noting, Millman is a professor at New York City’s School of Visual Arts, where she co-founded the first ever graduate degree in branding.

Her podcast finds favor among Squarespace’s audience to a degree exceeding the average by a whopping 46 times.

2.01% of people interested in Squarespace are also fans of the Design Matters podcast, compared to .043% of the US-online population, according to StatSocial. The index is calculated by the audience score divided by the baseline, multiplied by a base 100.

2) Side Hustle School

Chris Guillebeau is best known for his The Art of Non-Conformity blog and best-selling book. The Side Hustle School podcast is for those seeking to “Make Money without Quitting” their jobs, and expounds on the principles laid out in Guillebeau’s book ‘Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days.’

There’s little question that Squarespace is a service employed by many trying to give their own “side hustles” a more professional and sightly online presence than they might otherwise have the resources to create on their own. Guillebeau’s podcast finds favor among those in Squarespace’s audience to a degree exceeding the average by 17 times.

1.7% of people interested in Squarespace are also fans of the Side Hustle School podcast, compared to .0099% of the US-online population, according to StatSocial. The index is calculated by the audience score divided by the baseline, multiplied by a base 100.

3) The Tim Ferriss Show

We summarize the 4-Hour Ferris phenomenon in our previous entry.

Here, Ferriss is on the list of influencers who resonate most strongly with Squarespace’s social media crowd, finding favor among them to a degree notably four times the norm. The proportion of fans of his podcast among this group, however, exceeds that of the average social media audience by over 11 ½ times.

6.07% of people interested in Squarespace are also fans of the Tim Ferris podcast, compared to .522% of the US-online population, according to StatSocial. The index is calculated by the audience score divided by the baseline, multiplied by a base 100.

4) Radiolab

Once nationally distributed by NPR, Radiolab — now in its 15th season since officially starting in 2005 — is produced and distributed solely by New York public radio station WNYC.

While it is a radio show, the majority of its 1.8 million listeners access it via podcast means.

The show/podcast is the product of the unlikely pairing of NPR science correspondent (a role he’s held in the past for ABC and CBS) Robert Krulwich and experimental composer and sound designer Jad Abumrad. The two met while the latter was working for NPR and was assigned to interview Krulwich, who was working at that time as a science correspondent for ABC. While 25 years apart in age, the two discovered they had a lot in common which led to their collaboration on this experimental, hour long show. Each episode explores a theme — — sometimes scientific in nature, sometimes philosophical — through intricate sound collage, interviews, anecdotes, and thought experiments.

Squarespace’s audience contains 10 times the quantity of Radiolab admirers as you’d find on average around the social-media-sphere.

2.2% of people interested in Squarespace are also fans of the Radiolab podcast, compared to .212% of the US-online population, according to StatSocial. The index is calculated by the audience score divided by the baseline, multiplied by a base 100.

5) The GaryVee Audio Experience

Gary’s podcast, as well as Gary himself, was summarized in our last entry in this series.

Just as a social media influencer Vaynerchuk finds a proportion of this audience in his corner to a degree four-times greater than the average. His podcast, however, finds fans among this audience to a degree just a bit shy of 10 times the average.

7.41% of people interested in Squarespace are also fans of the GaryVee Audio Experience podcast, compared to .749% of the US-online population, according to StatSocial. The index is calculated by the audience score divided by the baseline, multiplied by a base 100.

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Check back later, as there are more podcast sponsors to come.

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