In 2025, the video podcast ad industry took some big steps forward. Major platforms like YouTube unveiled new ad products that let brands target podcast consumers in dynamic and efficient ways. Notable podcasters like Alex Cooper got in on the fun by shifting resources to cater to advertisers alongside listeners. Meanwhile, podcast consumption on TVs continued to surge, validating brand decisions to target video podcast watchers.
Video podcast ads are an exciting new option for buyers, but Oxford Road and Podscribe are reminding advertisers that there’s a lot more to podcasting than just long-form videos. The OG form of podcast consumption — audio — is as relevant as ever, and a whitepaper published by the two companies suggests that audio podcast ads offer far stronger returns than their video-based brethren.
Oxford Road and Podscribe tracked over 1,000 campaigns across more than 100 brands to uncover what they describe as “the hidden performance gap costing brands billions.” The firms’ findings back up that sensational claim: On average, campaigns that only targeted audio listeners outperformed “simulcast” campaigns that incorporated video viewership.
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On the whole, YouTube views were found to be about 20% less effective than audio downloads as a vehicle for driving purchases. “A YouTube exposure does not work as hard per ‘impression’ as an (audio-only) podcast exposure at driving advertiser
outcomes,” reads the report.
The whitepaper offers a few potential explanations for this performance gap. Oxford Road and Podscribe surmised that audio listeners are more “leaned in” than video viewers, and that YouTube’s more diverse and international audience makes it more likely for ads to be mistargeted. The firms also claim that audio-based consumers are more used to promo codes and therefore more likely to engage with them.
That last point speaks to the central argument here: For all of the gains that have come to the video podcast industry over the past year, it still has some growing up to do. As Oxford Road claimed in an earlier report, brands are holding back potential ad dollars due to growing pains in the world of video podcast ad measurement.
The latest findings show that video podcast purveyors don’t just need to develop sophisticated tracking tools. They need to find a way to tip the scales back in their favor, so that their impressions can be valued as highly as their audio-only cousins.
