You ran the campaign. You picked shows that looked right on paper. Two months later, the data came back flat. No traffic spike. No measurable sales lift. Not a single clean signal that your money went anywhere useful. Here is what actually happened. The channel was not the problem. The selection process was.
More than 55% of Americans age 12 and older are now monthly podcast listeners. 78% of brands report higher engagement from podcast ads than from any other digital channel. That result does not come from buying any show that accepts a sponsorship. It comes from a specific sequence of decisions made before, during, and after the buy. This guide walks through that sequence from start to finish.
What This Guide Covers:
1. Why CPM alone hides whether your ad reached a real buyer
2. How to write your buyer profile before you search for a single show
3. Which show categories match your buyer's mindset and intent level
4. Where to find shows that are actively open to brand partnerships
5. How to vet a show before you commit any budget to it
6. Six deal structures that go beyond a standard flat CPM
7. A three-step budget system with a starter rate card
8. Ten things to have ready before your first outreach email goes out
9. The outreach email format that gets hosts and producers to reply
10. How to write a creative brief a host will actually follow
11. What to measure, when to measure it, and when to cut
12. How to lock in renewal before the last episode of your campaign even drops
1. CPM Hides Whether Your Ad Reached a Buyer
A show with 200,000 monthly downloads is a large room. But a large room filled with people who will never buy what you sell is expensive noise.
CPM stands for cost per thousand impressions. It tells you how much you paid to reach a thousand listeners. It says nothing about whether a single one of them matches your buyer, stayed through the episode, or cared about your category at all. Those are the questions that determine whether the campaign produces revenue.
Average podcast CPMs in 2025 range from $18 to $50 depending on show size, topic, and engagement level. That range is meaningless in isolation. A $35 CPM on a perfectly matched niche show will almost always outperform a $20 CPM on a broad, mixed audience. The metric that matters is cost per qualified listener, not cost per thousand anonymous impressions.
➤ What the data says about niche versus scale
Mid-tier shows in the 5,000 to 50,000 download range now attract the majority of podcast ad spend. That shift did not happen because brands suddenly preferred smaller shows. It happened because brands started measuring and discovered that precise audiences in focused shows consistently outperform large, mixed audiences in flagship shows for direct response goals.
According to Podscribe’s Q4 2025 Performance Benchmark Report, episodic, show-specific buys consistently outperform programmatic or run-of-network placements per impression. Audience alignment is almost always the reason.
➤ What strong fit looks like before you buy
A show has genuine audience fit when the host already discusses the problem your product solves without being paid to. When listener reviews mention the exact pain point your offer addresses. When the show’s content and your buyer’s daily work overlap so naturally that your ad feels like a continuation of the episode rather than an interruption of it. That kind of alignment does not show up in a media kit. It shows up when you do your research first.
2. Know Your Exact Buyer Before You Search
Before you open a database, a discovery tool, or a spreadsheet, spend thirty minutes getting specific about who you are actually trying to reach. Not “marketing professionals.” Not “small business owners.” Specific. What industry? What size company? What problem do they wake up thinking about on a Tuesday? What have they already tried that did not work?
➤ Answer three questions in writing before anything else
- Who is this buyer exactly? Job title, company type, company stage, and decision-making authority.
- What problem are they actively trying to solve right now? Not the problem your product solves on a product page. The problem they would search for at 11pm on their phone.
- Where are they in the decision process? Early research, comparing options, or ready to act? Each stage needs a different kind of show and a different kind of message.
➤ Write your buyer as two sentences
Two sentences describing a real person. “She runs a 12-person e-commerce brand doing $2M annually. She is actively looking for ways to reduce her Meta ad dependency and find channels with a better cost-per-lead.” That description becomes the filter through which every show you consider gets evaluated. If the audience does not match those two sentences with specificity, move on.
➤ Why this step changes everything that follows
Without a written buyer profile, every show looks potentially relevant. Every download number feels like enough. Every topic seems like close enough alignment. The profile is what gives your search a filter. Once you have it, discovery moves faster, vetting becomes faster, and your final shortlist becomes far easier to defend.
3. Which Show Categories Match Your Buyer Type
Not every podcast category converts equally for every product. This is the map brands should be working from before they run a single search.
➤ Business and entrepreneurship
Works well for B2B software, professional services, productivity tools, and financial platforms. The listener base skews toward decision-makers or people actively working toward decision-making authority. Intent to act runs high. Business, finance, and technology shows command CPMs 10 to 30% higher than average due to the higher lifetime value of their audiences.
➤ Personal finance
Carries some of the strongest buyer intent in the entire medium. Listeners in this category are actively trying to change their financial situation. That motivation to act converts at higher rates than passive interest categories. Best for investment platforms, credit tools, insurance, tax software, and banking products.
➤ Health and wellness
Performs well for supplements, fitness technology, mental health apps, and consumer health products. Episode completion rates run high because the content is personal and the listener is emotionally invested in the outcome being discussed. That engagement transfers directly to ad attention.
➤ Technology
Growing fast and commanding premium CPMs because the audience skews toward technical buyers with purchase authority. Best for developer tools, SaaS platforms, cybersecurity products, and hardware. The listener is evaluating, not casually browsing.
➤ Industry-specific niche shows
Consistently produce the highest conversion rates for any product with tight audience fit. A show serving 7,000 independent financial advisors will outperform a broad finance show with 400,000 general listeners if you are selling a tool built for advisors. Every time. The audience is exact. The host has earned specific trust within that community. And your ad competes with far fewer competing messages for their attention.
➤ True crime and narrative
Serve broad, demographically mixed audiences. Better suited for brand awareness than direct response. CPMs often run high relative to conversion potential for specific offers. Reserve these for upper-funnel campaigns where reach and brand lift are the primary goals.
➤ How to apply this without overthinking
Go back to the two-sentence buyer profile you wrote in Section 2. Ask one question: what would this person listen to on a Tuesday morning commute? That gets you closer to the right category than any database filter will. Use the tools in the next section to find shows within that category that match your buyer’s specific industry and problem.
4. Where to Find Shows Open to Brand Deals
The most effective shows for direct response are rarely trending on Apple Podcasts. Here is where to actually look.
➤ The databases worth opening first
Listen Notes indexes over three million podcasts. Search by keyword, category, country, and publishing frequency. Start with your buyer’s industry keywords, not genre labels. A search for “supply chain operations” will surface more relevant shows than a search for “business.”
Podchaser gives you verified listener demographics, episode-level data, and sponsor history on many shows. The sponsor history feature is the most underused. It tells you which brands have already paid to be in a show and whether they came back for more.
➤ Platforms built for advertiser discovery
Platforms like MillionPodcasts are designed specifically to help brands filter by niche, audience profile, and sponsorship openness without building that list manually from scratch. The filtering capability matters because with over four million podcasts globally and fewer than 500,000 actively publishing, raw volume without filters wastes more time than it saves.
➤ Your best customers already know the answer
This step gets skipped more consistently than any other on this list. Ask five of your best customers what podcasts they listen to regularly. Ask your sales team which shows come up in prospect conversations.
Ask your customer success team what content buyers mention. The shows your best buyers already subscribe to are the most pre-validated inventory you will ever access. No database surfaces that answer for you.
➤ Use competitor placements as a free research shortcut
Your competitors have already done part of your vetting. And they paid for it. Brands that advertise on podcasts tend to concentrate their spend on shows where their buyers actually listen. If a competitor has run ads on the same show across four or more months, that is a meaningful signal. Sponsors who see no results do not stay.
Magellan AI tracks podcast sponsorships across thousands of shows. Search a competitor’s brand name and you will see which shows they have sponsored, how often, and for how long. Manual research also works. Search your competitor’s name plus “podcast sponsor” in Google. Listen to two or three recent episodes in your category. The ad reads will tell you exactly where they are placing budget.
5. How to Vet a Show Before You Spend a Dollar
Every shortlisted show will send you a media kit. Knowing what to look at and what to look past is what separates brands that get results from brands that buy impressions.
➤ Numbers that often mislead
- Total downloads since launch. A show with 8 million total downloads sounds impressive. But if those downloads span seven years and current per-episode figures sit at 4,000, that number is irrelevant to your campaign. Always ask for monthly or per-episode averages from the most recent 90 days specifically.
- Social media follower counts. Social following and podcast listenership do not correlate the way most brands assume. A show with 180,000 Instagram followers might produce 10,000 episode downloads. These are separate audiences with separate behaviours and separate relationships with the host.
- Self-reported demographic surveys. Many listener surveys are opt-in and skew toward the most engaged subscribers. The real audience is typically broader and messier than any chart in a media kit presents.
➤ Numbers that actually tell you something
- Episode completion rate. This is how long listeners stay in an episode. Above 70% means your mid-roll ad reaches an attentive audience. 72% of listeners complete episodes with host-read ads, leading to 2.5x higher purchase intent compared to scripted ads. If the show cannot provide this number, ask why before proceeding.
- Publishing frequency and consistency. A show that publishes reliably every week gives you predictable campaign continuity. Gaps in the publishing history are a real risk to your schedule and your results.
- Sponsor retention in your category. Did any past sponsors in your space return for a second or third placement? Brands do not renew out of goodwill. They renew because something moved. Even one repeat sponsor in your category is meaningful validation.
➤ Score every show before your shortlist
Gut feeling is not a media plan. Rate each candidate show from 1 to 5 across five criteria and use the total to rank your list. Shows scoring 20 to 25 are your priority buys. Shows between 13 and 19 are test candidates if budget allows. Below 13, pass and move on.
- Audience fit. Does the listener profile match your two-sentence buyer description with real specificity? Score 1 for vague overlap, 5 for near-exact match.
- Engagement signals. Episode completion above 70%, active listener reviews, community participation, social mentions. These prove the audience is paying sustained attention.
- Host credibility in your category. Has the host discussed your topic area organically without being paid to? A host who lives the problem your product addresses delivers a fundamentally different ad than one reading from a brief they received 48 hours ago.
- Sponsor track record. Have brands in your category advertised here and returned for multiple placements? One repeat sponsor in your space is meaningful validation. Two or more is a strong green light.
- Attribution readiness. Can you set up a unique promo code or vanity URL for this show specifically? Without show-level tracking from day one, you cannot measure what the show actually drove.
Pro Tip: Build your scorecard in a shared spreadsheet with one row per show and one column per criterion. Add a notes column for anything that came up in research that the score alone does not capture. The transparency removes most of the disagreement from your final selection conversation.
➤ Green flags and red flags before you commit
- Green flags to look for: the host asks about your product unprompted before the call ends, they can describe a specific listener type who would benefit from your offer without you explaining your buyer profile first, their data is recent and episode-level, and past sponsors in your category came back for more than one placement.
- Red flags that should give you pause: downloads spiked sharply in one month and flatlined since, they cannot tell you episode completion rates, every past sponsor was a one-time placement with none returning, and the media kit leads with total lifetime downloads while current per-episode performance looks very different. One red flag warrants a question. Three together is a reason to move to the next show on your list.
6. Six Deal Structures Worth Knowing Before You Pitch
Most brands default to the standard CPM model because it is familiar. But there are six structures worth understanding before you contact anyone. Some protect your budget. Others unlock shows that would otherwise be out of reach.
| Flat-rate per episode |
| You pay a fixed fee regardless of download count. This works well for niche shows where audience precision matters more than reach volume. Flat rates eliminate volatility. No surprises if downloads shift mid-campaign. |
| Flat-rate monthly package |
| You secure a set number of episodes per month for a fixed monthly fee. Good for brands that need campaign continuity and want simple billing. Many independent hosts prefer this because it reduces negotiation and admin on both sides. |
| Affiliate or revenue-share |
| You pay the host a commission on every sale or sign-up they drive. No upfront cost, but hosts only accept this for offers they genuinely believe will convert. If a host turns down an affiliate arrangement, that is worth noting. If they accept enthusiastically, that is a strong signal about their confidence in their audience. |
| Performance-based with a base guarantee |
| You pay a small guaranteed fee plus a bonus tied to a conversion threshold. This gives the host skin in the game and signals that you are confident in your product. Hosts respond well to it because it acknowledges their contribution to the outcome. |
| Bundled multi-placement deal |
| You buy ad spots across the podcast, the host’s newsletter, and one or two social posts as a single package. The host’s recommendation touches the audience in multiple formats. Total cost per conversion typically drops compared to audio-only buys. |
| Category exclusivity |
| You pay a premium in exchange for being the only brand in your category advertising on that show during the campaign period. For high-consideration categories like SaaS, financial products, and healthcare tools, exclusivity has measurable impact on brand recall and listener trust. Competitors cannot buy space while you are running. |
7. Set Your Budget Before You Contact Anyone
Most brands approach podcast budgeting backward. They get a media kit, see a rate, and decide yes or no. Here is a better sequence that gives you a defensible number before any conversation begins.
➤ Step 1: Set your acceptable cost per acquisition first
Before you look at any rate card, calculate the maximum you can pay to acquire a customer profitably. If your product sells for $300 and your margin is 50%, you net $150 per sale. A cost per acquisition of $75 gives you a 2x return. Every show evaluation runs through that filter before anything else.
➤ Step 2: Back into your episode budget from your CPA target
Direct response podcast campaigns typically see response rates between 0.1% and 2%, with strong host fit offers reaching 2% to 5% when a clear incentive is included. Use a conservative estimate of 0.5 to 1% for new shows. If a show has 5,000 listeners per episode and you estimate a 1% response rate, you expect roughly 50 actions. At a $75 CPA ceiling, your maximum episode budget is $3,750. If the show asks for $1,200, you have headroom. If they ask for $4,500, the math does not work.
➤ Step 3: Allocate across tiers
Split your total campaign budget roughly 60/30/10. Sixty percent goes to two or three high-confidence shows where audience fit is strong and attribution is ready. Thirty percent goes to two test shows with strong category fit but less certainty on conversion. Ten percent sits in reserve for shows you want to monitor before committing.
➤ Starter rate card: 2025–2026 U.S. benchmarks
| Show Size (downloads/ep) | Pre-Roll 30 sec | Mid-Roll 60 sec | Monthly Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5,000 | $50–$150 | $100–$300 | $200–$600 |
| 5,000–15,000 | $150–$400 | $300–$750 | $600–$1,500 |
| 15,000–50,000 | $400–$900 | $750–$1,800 | $1,500–$4,000 |
| 50,000+ | $900–$2,500 | $1,800–$5,000 | $4,000–$12,000+ |
These are starting reference points, not ceilings. Niche shows with tight audiences and strong engagement regularly command rates above these ranges and justify them with conversion data.
8. 10 Things Ready Before Your First Email Goes Out
Most brands start outreach before they are ready, then scramble to set up tracking after the deal is signed. By then, the first episode has already aired and you have lost measurable data from it permanently. Get these ten things in place first.
| 1. Your attribution method decided. Choose between a promo code, a vanity URL, a pixel, or a combination. Each has trade-offs. Promo codes are easy but undercount. Pixels require the listener to visit a page. Vanity URLs track clicks but not always purchases. Know your method before any call. |
| 2. A dedicated landing page built. One page per podcast placement. Use the show’s name in the URL if possible. Cleaner attribution. More personal listener experience. |
| 3. A 30 to 60-day attribution window set in your analytics. Podcast listeners do not convert immediately. Custom promo codes and pixel-based attribution are now the standard methods brands use to track podcast ROI accurately. Set your window before you report results, not after. |
| 4. A clear campaign goal written down. Awareness and direct response require different show criteria. Nail this before you evaluate anything. If your goal is leads, you need engagement metrics and a tight audience match. If your goal is reach, you need download volume and category fit. |
| 5. Defined success metrics per show. Pick two or three numbers that will tell you within 30 days whether a show is working. Cost per click, cost per lead, or cost per acquisition. Define them before launch. |
| 6. Your offer confirmed live. The URL works. The promo code is active. The landing page loads on mobile in under three seconds. This sounds basic. It gets missed constantly. |
| 7. A written creative brief drafted. One page maximum. Product name, key benefit, offer details, promo code or URL, any phrases to avoid, and a sample script labelled as a starting point. More on this in Section 10. |
| 8. A budget cap per show for testing. Decide your maximum test budget per show before you start negotiating. This removes pressure during the pitch conversation and stops you from overcommitting to an unproven show. |
| 9. A production lead time buffer in your timeline. Most shows need two to four weeks between your creative brief and air date. Some need more. Know this before you set a campaign start date. |
| 10. A renewal decision threshold written in advance. Write down the CPA threshold that would make you renew before the campaign launches. If a show produces results at or below your target CPA, you renew. If it misses by more than 40% after a full 60-day window, you move on. Having this in writing removes emotion from the renewal conversation later. |
9. The Outreach Email That Gets Hosts to Reply
Most outreach emails from brands get ignored. Not because the host is uninterested in sponsorships. Because the email reads like a form letter written by someone who never listened to a single episode. Here is what actually works.
➤ Subject line
Short and specific under 50 characters. Using the show’s actual name signals this was written for them, not for a list.
➤ The email
| Hi [Host Name], I have been listening to [Show Name] for a few months. The episode on [specific topic] stuck with me, particularly the way you framed [specific point]. That framing is almost exactly how our customers describe their problem before they find us. We build [short product description] for [specific audience type]. I think your listeners are a strong match. Would you be open to a 15-minute call to see if a partnership makes sense? I can share what we have seen work in similar shows before asking for anything. If you have a rate card or media kit, I would love to see it beforehand. Thanks, [Your name] [Title, Company] [Website] |
➤ What to attach
Attach nothing to the first email. Let the conversation open before you send materials. Once they reply, share a one-page brief covering your product, your audience, your offer, and the outcome you are looking for. One page. Not a five-page deck.
➤ Follow-up sequence
- Day 1: Send the original email.
- Day 5: One short follow-up. “Just making sure this didn’t get buried. Happy to follow up at a better time if now is not right.”
- Day 12: Final touch. “Closing the loop on this. If timing is off, no problem. I will check back next quarter.”
Three touchpoints maximum. A host who has not replied after three well-spaced emails is either not interested or not the right fit for your timeline.
10. Write a Brief the Host Will Actually Follow
According to Nielsen’s 2025 Podcast Ad Effectiveness Report, host-read ads deliver a 68% higher brand recall rate than pre-recorded spots. But a host-read ad is only as good as the brief behind it.
A weak brief produces a generic, forgettable ad read. A strong brief gives the host the structure to be specific, personal, and persuasive without putting words in their mouth.
➤ Your brief needs exactly six things.
| 1. The one-sentence version of your product |
| Not a feature list. One sentence that tells a stranger what you do and who it is for. “We help e-commerce brands reduce Meta ad dependency by finding high-converting email segments faster.” That is a brief. “We are an AI-powered marketing optimization platform” is not. |
| 2. The core problem in the listener’s language |
| Describe the problem your buyer has using the words they use, not your marketing copy. The host will use this as the emotional anchor for the ad read. Get this right and the ad will sound like the host is describing their own experience. |
| 3. The specific offer |
| Promo code, URL, discount percentage, free trial, or bonus content. Be specific. “Use code SHOWNAME for 20% off your first three months” is more actionable than “visit our website for a special offer.” |
| 4. Two or three talking points |
| Not a script. Talking points. Specific data, outcomes, or real customer results the host can reference naturally. “Our customers see their first conversion in their first seven days on average” is a talking point. “We are the leading platform in our category” is not. |
| 5. What to avoid |
| Any claims you cannot substantiate. Competitor names. Industry jargon your audience does not use. Keep this list short. One or two items. Hosts get defensive if they feel over-managed and it comes through in the read. |
| 6. A sample script labelled as a starting point |
| Some hosts love sample scripts. Others ignore them entirely but appreciate seeing your intended tone. Provide it either way and label it clearly as a reference, not a requirement. |
11. What to Measure and When to Call It a Win
The most common measurement mistake brands make is checking results too early. Then they pull budget from shows that were working and never knew it.
Podcast listeners often hear an ad on a Monday commute and act on it three weeks later. Your attribution window needs to reflect that. A 30-day window misses a meaningful slice of conversions that arrive in weeks four through eight.
➤ What to track and when
- During the campaign, weekly: Promo code or vanity URL activity. Any branded search volume increase in the show’s geographic market on or after air dates.
- 30 days after air: Total conversions attributed to the show’s code or URL. Cost per conversion compared to your pre-set CPA ceiling from Section 7. Whether conversions clustered near the air date or spread over several weeks.
- 60 days after air: Customer quality check. Do the conversions from this show look like your best customers or your worst? Compare average order value and early lifetime value from podcast-attributed customers against your baseline.
➤ When to declare a winner and when to cut
If a show’s CPA is within 20% of your target threshold after 60 days, renew. If it is within 40%, run one more cycle before deciding. If it is more than 40% above your CPA ceiling with no trend toward improvement after a full 60-day window, move on.
Key Takeaway: Attribution imperfection is not a reason to give up on a show. It is a reason to improve your measurement setup before the next cycle. Most brands who declare podcast advertising “doesn’t work” are measuring with a window that is too short or attribution that is too narrow.
➤ Track each show separately, never blended
Track cost per acquisition per show, not for the campaign as a whole. Blended numbers hide which shows are pulling the weight and which are diluting your returns. The goal at the end of every campaign cycle is a clearer picture of exactly where to concentrate the next one.
12. Lock In Renewal Before the Last Episode Drops
Renewal is the strongest signal that a campaign worked. It is also the moment most brands leave money on the table by waiting too long to act.
By the time your final episode airs, a show that performed well has already started receiving inquiries from other brands. If you wait two weeks after the campaign ends to revisit renewal, the calendar may already be filled for the window you wanted.
➤ Contact three weeks before your final episode
Pull your conversion data three weeks before the campaign ends. If the show is trending toward your CPA threshold, reach out before the campaign closes.
| Hi [Host Name], We are wrapping up in about three weeks and the early data looks strong. Before we close out, I wanted to check your availability for another run starting [date range]. Would love to hold a spot before your calendar fills up. That email keeps you first in line without pressure. It also signals to the host that you valued the partnership, which translates directly into how carefully they treat your next campaign. |
➤ What to negotiate at renewal
If the campaign performed well, do not ask for a lower rate at renewal. Instead, negotiate added value. A newsletter mention. A dedicated social post. Category exclusivity for the new period. These additions increase your return without disrupting the rate structure the host depends on.
If the campaign underperformed, have a specific conversation about the variable before you renew. Was it the audience match? The offer? The timing? If you can identify the cause, test the fix. If you cannot, redirect that budget to a stronger performer from your shortlist and revisit this show in the next quarter.
Your Path Forward
The process in this guide is sequential by design. Write the buyer profile before you search. Identify the right category before you open a database. Vet the show before you discuss budget. Know your deal structure options before you negotiate. Have everything ready before your outreach goes out. Write the brief before the ad reads. Measure with patience. Lock in renewal before the campaign ends.
Six out of every ten podcast listeners have purchased from an advertiser they heard on a podcast. That conversion does not happen because a brand picked a show with large downloads. It happens because the right product reached the right listener through a host they already trust.
Each step in this sequence depends on the one before it. Skip the buyer profile and your search has no filter. Skip the scoring and your shortlist has no logic. Skip the attribution setup and your results have no story. None of it is complicated. But the order matters.
References
Edison Research — The Infinite Dial 2025 — U.S. monthly podcast listenership at 55% of Americans 12+ — edisonresearch.com, 2025 — https://www.edisonresearch.com
AD Results Media — 2026 Podcast Advertising Guide: Effectiveness, Statistics and More — Attribution methods, audience behavior benchmarks — adresultsmedia.com, January 2026 — https://www.adresultsmedia.com/news-insights/is-podcast-advertising-effective/
Command Your Brand — 2025 Podcast Advertising Data: Reach, ROI, and Listener Behavior — Claritas recall and conversion rate data, Nielsen host-read ad benchmarks — commandyourbrand.com, October 2025 — https://commandyourbrand.com/2025-podcast-advertising-data-reach-roi-and-listener-behavior/
ADOPTER Media — How Podcast Advertising Works: Costs, Formats and Where to Start — Podscribe Q4 2025 benchmark data, host-read vs producer-read conversion rates — adopter.media, January 2026 — https://adopter.media/podcast-advertising-guide/
ADOPTER Media — Podcast Advertising Trends: How High-Performance Campaigns Are Built — Net-new reach outcomes, CPA improvement data — adopter.media, January 2026 — https://adopter.media/podcast-advertising-in-2025/
Learning Revolution — 99 Future-Shaping Podcast Industry Stats and Trends 2026 — Brand engagement cross-channel data — learningrevolution.net, December 2025 — https://www.learningrevolution.net/podcast-stats/
Gitnux — Marketing in the Podcast Industry Statistics 2026 — Episode completion rates and purchase intent for host-read ads — gitnux.org, February 2026 — https://gitnux.org/marketing-in-the-podcast-industry-statistics/
NEWMEDIA.COM — 150+ Podcast Statistics for 2026 — CPM benchmarks, response rates, category performance data — newmedia.com, February 2026 — https://newmedia.com/blog/podcast-statistics