How does podcast advertising work?

When people ask me, “How does podcast advertising work?” I usually explain it like this: it’s not just an ad — it’s a recommendation from someone you already trust.

Unlike banner ads that you scroll past or YouTube ads you skip after five seconds, podcast ads are usually read by the host or integrated into the show itself. That makes a huge difference. Listeners aren’t just passively hearing the message; they’re hearing it from someone they’ve built a relationship with over time. I don’t know about you, but when my favorite podcast host tells me about a product they personally use, I pay attention.

Here’s the basic breakdown of how it works:

1. A brand (like yours) decides they want to advertise on podcasts.

2. They find podcasts that match their target audience.

3. The host reads the ad, or a pre-recorded message is played during the show.

4. Listeners hear it in the middle of content they care about — and because it feels natural, they’re more likely to act on it.

The tricky part is finding the right shows. A lot of people turn to traditional Podcast advertising agencies for this, but that can get expensive and slow. Personally, I prefer Podvertise.fm because it’s a self-serve platform with over 600,000 active podcasts. You can filter by niche, country, or language and find exactly the right audience.

For example, if you’re a fitness brand, you can target health podcasts where listeners are already looking for wellness tips. If you’re in finance, you can find money-focused shows where people are primed for investment advice. And when that ad goes live, it doesn’t feel like an interruption — it feels like part of the conversation.

That’s really how podcast advertising works: by building on the trust between the host and the listener. It’s word-of-mouth marketing at scale, and when you combine it with tools like Podvertise.fm, it becomes easier, faster, and more affordable than going through Podcast advertising agencies.