Driven to Action: Podcast Listeners are a $302 Billion Opportunity for the Auto Market

With July fast approaching, all 50 states in the U.S. are at least partially re-opened, and the auto industry is back to work to appeal to those potential buyers. Detroit's big three automakers re-started their assembly lines in the third week of May—right after auto marketers began ramping up their local TV ads in the last week of April. Importantly, ad units increased almost 6% during the week of April 27. So with production now resumed and new ads hitting the airwaves, who should marketers be engaging with?

Across consumer groups, podcast listeners should be high on any auto marketer's list. According to a recent analysis conducted through Nielsen's Podcast Listener Buying Power service, 35.8 million people were shopping online for vehicles at the height of shelter-in-place restrictions in the U.S., and 10.5 million of them were listening to podcasts. Those engaged podcast fans represent a $302 billion opportunity for marketers and advertisers.

While podcast popularity among consumers has been growing for the past few years, its appeal among brands is accelerating, largely because of the ad engagement that the medium commands. A Nielsen study last year, for example, found that top-of-mind brand awareness for many popular brands was nearly 70% among podcast listeners. Plus, podcast listeners tune in for more than 10 hours each week. This presents marketers with significant opportunities to reach engaged car buyers. Our study this year found that 50% of internet vehicle shoppers visited a website for more information about a product after hearing about it on a podcast, which is five percentage points higher than the average podcast listener.

As auto marketers continue to ease into the world's new normal, they'll need to be mindful of the proper sentiment to use when communicating with interested auto shoppers, and they'll need to know what shoppers are in the market for. Notably, a growing number of podcast listeners are green-minded, and therefore they're more likely to be in the market for a hybrid vehicle than the average American.

And when it comes to which podcast genres marketers should be most focused on for their advertising, comedy takes the cake, followed closely by news.

High income households also love listening to podcasts. More than 55% of the podcast audience has a household income above $75,000 a year. By comparison, only 41% of U.S. households earn more than $75,000 per year. Podcast consumers have the disposable income for big ticket purchases.

Podcast listeners also present opportunities for auto marketing beyond vehicle sales and leases. Even though many consumers are opting to stay close to home these days, podcast listeners are not do-it-yourselfers when it comes to car upkeep. Compared with the average U.S. consumer, they're 11% more likely to pay for an oil change, 16% more likely to buy new tires and 16% more likely to get a brake job.

There is no doubt that marketers are facing a wealth of new challenges as we approach the midway point of 2020 and we know the importance of advertising through a crisis as well as the need to reach the right audience on the right platforms. And as the future of auto consumption unfolds, more and more marketers are finding out that podcasts might just be the next great advertising frontier.

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet.