Nielsen Launches Podcast Listener Buying Power Service

Nielsen has launched the Podcast Listener Buying Power Service, with iHeartMedia, Cadence13, Midroll-Stitcher's advertising arm, Westwood One, and cabana as charter clients. These companies will be able to profile shows using program titles collected from subscribers to connect specific types of listeners with particular advertisers and specific program-level insights.

Nielsen Podcast Listener Buying Power Service has a sample of close to 30,000 respondents and can capture results for specific programs. It also uses targeted questions on podcast listening with more than 12 podcast genres, more than 2,000 retail/plan-to-buy categories, and hundreds of advertisers. Reports are generated from web-based software and have a twice yearly data release.

"We are looking forward to the ways that data from Nielsen's Podcast Listener Buying Power service will allow us to communicate our podcasting value proposition to advertisers," said Conal Byrne, president of the iHeartPodcast Network for iHeartMedia, in a statement. "As our business continues to expand, and the abundance of ways that people are listening across multiple platforms continues to amplify, it's imperative that we have the tools necessary to accelerate our business and have a deep understanding of what motivates over a quarter of a billion of our monthly U.S. listeners."

"As a premium content creator, developer, and marketer, data plays a vital role in everything Cadence13 does," said Jay Green, senior vice president of digital strategy and analytics at Cadence13, in a statement. "With Nielsen's Podcast Listener Buying Power insights, we are looking forward to the opportunities this service will provide us and our clients through its vast array of categories and wide range of audience information. Podcasting as a platform is growing rapidly, and the industry as a whole will benefit from the intelligence and insight that can be utilized through this data."

"This unique service comes at a time when brand spend in podcasting advertising is growing five times faster than direct response," said Suzanne Grimes, executive vice president of marketing at Cumulus Media and president of Westwood One, in a statement. "We arm advertisers with as much data as possible to ensure their podcast campaigns deliver the best ROI. Understanding what podcast listeners buy and where they shop is an entirely new dimension of insights we can use to navigate the vast podcast space."

"We see this as a game-changer that will propel podcast advertising forward," said Cathy Csukas, co-founder and CEO of Cabana and its parent company, AdLarge Media, in a statement. "Nielsen's Podcast Listener Buying Power Service makes it easy for advertisers to go deep within a specific genre to target listeners with interests and buying habits that match those of the customers they want to reach. We're delighted to support Nielsen in this initiative that we believe will bring more advertisers to the space."

"We are pleased to welcome iHeartMedia, Cadence13, Midroll, Westwood One and cabana as the first charter clients to Nielsen's Podcast Listener Buying Power Service," said Brad Kelly, managing director of Nielsen Audio, in a statement. "As the audio landscape continues to evolve, podcasting is winning the attention of American consumers as another powerful tool in audio's arsenal. We are proud to empower these visionary clients with the insights that will propel them forward as they continue to lead the way in our industry. This groundbreaking service is growing podcasting beyond direct response by profiling specific brands, leading the way into the future of podcasting."