A Cautionary Tale For Dynamic Ad Insertion

As an avid podcast listener, it’s easy to develop antipathy to the ads in the same way TV watchers, spoiled by DVRs and streaming video, became unwilling to tolerate the advertising that supports the content. But let’s not forget that the ads often are what makes it possible for the podcast programming to exist.

The most popular podcasts have dedicated sponsors connected by distributors such as Midroll, Panoply and others. The medium is democratized, however, by the practice of dynamic ad insertion, which allows less popular shows to insert points where short audio ads can be swapped in and out based on the length of time an advertiser has paid for.

There are both big and small players offering dynamic ad insertion. Panoply’s Megaphone service provides this. Aside from Art 19 and Performance Bridge, mentioned in an August 2016 blog that touched on this subject, AdLarge Media, Podbean and others are now on the radar.

Of course, there are technical challenges to making dynamic ad insertion seamless. The practice can accommodate host-read ads, which are preferable to ads that sound like typical terrestrial radio commercials. Podcasters also have to pay attention to how music transitions in and out of ads.

Dynamic ad insertion is making its impact by greatly increasing the ad inventory offered through the medium. In turn, this makes it possible for more podcasts to exist. However, a larger supply of advertising brings down the prices podcasters can charge for these ads. Also, with a lower bar to become a podcaster with advertising support, there will be more programming competing for meaningful ads from dynamic ad insertion. At the same time that this trend democratizes the medium, it also creates an exponential explosion of programming that itself becomes common and commoditized.

It may be possible that a podcast that wouldn’t have otherwise found significant ad support could get help through dynamic ad insertion – both by delivering listeners to a sponsor who would not otherwise have reached those listeners and by raising the profile of those podcasts themselves. The danger, however, is that the commoditization of podcast advertising (and podcasts themselves) could erode the credibility of the business, if it becomes just an audio version of the worst and cheapest online display advertising.