Which Is Best: Podcast Ads Read by Hosts or Announcers? NPR Has Answers

Because of that, audio companies are out to prove exactly what marketing opportunities are most effective. Among those leading the charge with new research insights is NPR. Recently, it conducted research to discover the relative effectiveness of two types of brand messaging: those that are read by podcast hosts, and those read by announcers (trusted voice talent that appear across NPR podcasts but are not program hosts). And the results were somewhat surprising.

NPR conducted its study with Veritonic, an audio research and analytics firm. Veritonic compared the NPR survey data to its benchmarks, aggregated data for audio podcast ads that it collected over seven years.

Logically one would assume that a spot read by the host would have higher recall than one read by an NPR announcer, but that is not what the study revealed. When asked, 68% of respondents expressed a preference for host-read spots. However, in terms of recall, purchase intent and engagement, both host and announcer messaging scored within less than one point of each other.

Regular listeners of Wait, Wait … Don't Tell Me!, the podcast that was used for the study,had an 18.5% higher average recall than the Veritonic recall benchmark. That was true whether the spot was read by the host or the announcer.

Susan Leland, NPR's Director of Audience Insights, thinks that may have to do with the uniqueness of the company's audio messages. They are all recorded and produced in-house, whether host-read or announcer-read. While an announcer isn't associated with one particular podcast or show, their voices are part of the NPR brand and recognizable to the audience. That suggests that the trust in these voices may influence the effectiveness of the spots.

That said, there were notable differences in results, depending on a given sponsor's industry sector. For example, there was a more distinctive gap between host vs. announcer messages with finance, a category that ranks third in podcast ad spend, according to MediaRadar. NPR announcer-read finance messages outperformed host reads for recall by 6%. Leland thinks that difference may have to do with the environment in which the spots run.

"The announcer-read ads had an advantage in being described as more calm and relaxed, better in alignment with the financial brand messages than the more comedic association with Peter Sagal's voice," she said, referring to the host of Wait, Wait … Don't Tell Me! "If the study had been run in something like TED Radio, we may have seen more equal performances."

Of course, who is reading the spot and how it matches the environment of the podcast is not the only factor in determining ad effectiveness. From Leland's viewpoint, when it comes to NPR, "the cultivation of these unique, trusted voices puts our announcer reads in a unique position in the industry, which allows for the same benefits brands expect from host reads. That, along with NPR's commitment to a low-clutter environment and short messages, maximizes attention and memory."

The personal connection listeners feel toward hosts are probably reasons why podcast audiences are growing more generally. "Podcasts engage your brain in a different way than video or music," Leland concluded. "You have to focus on the content but at the same time you can be doing other things."

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