Oxford Road and Podscribe announce the surprising results of their latest white paper “Re-Thinking YouTube: Why Your Video Podcast Ads Are Converting 25% Worse Than Audio” – proving that YouTube’s podcasting dominance comes with a heavy cost for brand advertisers.
The study shows that YouTube views are 18-25% less effective than audio downloads at driving purchases. The result is that for every $1M spent on YouTube podcast impressions, brand advertisers may be losing up to $250k in conversion value.
“The shift to video in podcasting has unlocked new audiences for creators and an attractive-looking scale opportunity for marketers,” says Dan Granger, CEO of Oxford Road.”But, there are critical gaps that must be addressed, with podcasting’s biggest spenders suggesting in our “What Brands Want” report that YouTube’s lack of transparency on performance data is holding back $1B in additional spend. Now, with our latest study, we’re hoping to not only underscore audio’s unique staying power but how video can bring greater value.”
The white paper also includes:
- A breakdown of the various factors causing this performance gap
- A 10-step action plan for podcasting advertisers to protect their ROI
The data was sourced from over a thousand campaigns from Oxford Road and Podscribe, in which advertising performance had been tracked by promo code redemption and ‘How-Did-You-Hear-About-Us?’ (HDYHAU) survey responses at checkout. Using this response data, alongside the delivery of ad impressions across audio and YouTube, which varied extensively across the campaigns, to create an apples-to-apples estimate of the effectiveness of ads that appeared in both the audio and YouTube versions of a podcast.
To download the full white paper, “Re-Thinking YouTube: Why Your Video Podcast Ads Are Converting 25% Worse Than Audio”, visit https://oxfordroad.com/thought-leadership/rethinking-youtube/
About Oxford Road
Oxford Road is the world’s largest podcast advertising agency, specializing in advertising across podcasting, streaming audio, terrestrial radio, and creator-based video. Following its 2024 merger with Veritone One, the agency serves Fortune 500 companies, global publicly held enterprises, B2B brands, and direct-to-consumer businesses, having processed more podcast advertising performance data than any other firm. Recognized as thought leaders by The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Adweek, and Ad Age, Oxford Road continues to drive industry innovation. ORBIT is part of Oxford Road’s WOVN decision-support platform, which includes proprietary tools like Audiolytics® and advanced brand safety solutions.
About Podscribe
Podscribe is the leading independent omni-channel advertising measurement platform, helping brands, agencies, and publishers track, attribute, and improve audio, streaming and video ad performance. With best-in-class transcription, verification, attribution, and analytics, Podscribe turns data into clear, actionable insights that drive real results.
