Ads on podcasts

[daniel1948]

For me it shoots the host's credibility.

For me, this is it in a nutshell. I understand the need for ads to support the broadcast, and most of them don't bother me because I don't listen to the kinds of shows that would advertise fake medicine, and my podcast software lets me jump ahead or back 30 seconds at a time, so I mostly skip over the ads.

But in the realm of questionable personal endorsements, one of my favorite podcasts is one of the worst offenders: Sawbones. I love the show. But the way they pander to their advertisers is unsettling.

At the opposite extreme, as mentioned already, one of the best is Oh No, Ross and Carrie, whose tone makes the ads fun to listen to.

There's a big difference between going on and on for minutes about how this is the best (mattress, underwear, brokerage, etc.) in the world, and just saying These folks sponsor us, please support them. As Devout says, it's a matter of credibility. In a podcast that purports to provide information, credibility is important. In one that's purely entertainment, credibility is less of an issue.

[Ah.hell]

I've never really understood why folks react so strongly to ads.     Sure, if its a skeptical podcast advertising goop type stuff, but a brand of watches or particular mattress, meh. 

[arthwollipot]

For some reason, audio ads really annoy me. Like, disproportionately. I originally stopped listening to commercial radio because of ads, and I haven't voluntarily listened to commercial radio for at least thirty years.

In podcasts, I always skip ads. There are a very few that I pay for an ad-free version of, but generally I skip because until recently I haven't had a lot of spare money.

[John Albert]

Some podcasts are now doing both. They do the spoken "personal endorsement" type ads inline with their content, and then (I'm assuming it's the content distributor) tacks random, pre-produced audio ads onto the start and endings of all their download media.

Nothing more jarring than opening an purportedly intellectual skeptic podcast with some commercial chorus chanting "NAPA KNOW-HOW!" 

[Desert Fox]

Some podcasts are now doing both. They do the spoken "personal endorsement" type ads inline with their content, and then (I'm assuming it's the content distributor) tacks random, pre-produced audio ads onto the start and endings of all their download media.

Nothing more jarring than opening an purportedly intellectual skeptic podcast with some commercial chorus chanting "NAPA KNOW-HOW!"

Skeptoid!

[arthwollipot]

Some podcasts are now doing both. They do the spoken "personal endorsement" type ads inline with their content, and then (I'm assuming it's the content distributor) tacks random, pre-produced audio ads onto the start and endings of all their download media.

Nothing more jarring than opening an purportedly intellectual skeptic podcast with some commercial chorus chanting "NAPA KNOW-HOW!"

Skeptoid!

Skeptoid does all of the above, including offering a premium subscription ad-free.

[The Latinist]

Some podcasts are now doing both. They do the spoken "personal endorsement" type ads inline with their content, and then (I'm assuming it's the content distributor) tacks random, pre-produced audio ads onto the start and endings of all their download media.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure those ads are tacked on by the content distributor, because they seem to be targeted by geographic region.  I have repeatedly had ads for local businesses in my home state that I doubt are being attached to everyone's downloads.

[Jaloopa]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure those ads are tacked on by the content distributor, because they seem to be targeted by geographic region.  I have repeatedly had ads for local businesses in my home state that I doubt are being attached to everyone's downloads.

I was getting UK based ads at the start of Skeptoid for a while, but they seem to have stopped in favour of Brian reading a letter from someone who pays for premium.

I actually quire like the way TWiT does it. It's the standard "now here's an advert where I'm going to talk about the product" ad, but it's not a prerecorded one inserted into the stream, the host actually talks about the product and his personal experiences with it. He's pretty selective on what he advertises and it actually comes across as genuine.

I still skip them though, as long as I can get to the skip buttons.

[DevoutCatalyst]

"the host actually talks about the product and his personal experiences with it"

Jesus saves!

[arthwollipot]

I was getting UK based ads at the start of Skeptoid for a while, but they seem to have stopped in favour of Brian reading a letter from someone who pays for premium.

I get both. The professional, localised ad (though recently I happened to get one from Canada which was interesting because it was in every way identical to the Australian version except that it referenced Canada instead of Australia and had an accent), followed by the personal message from Brian. The difference is that the first is an advertisement for a commercial product, and the second is an ad for the ad-free version of the podcast.

[daniel1948]

I see no reason to pay to get rid of ads, because I can skip through them. I pay for the ad-free version, or just plain donate, when I like a podcast enough to want to support it. If you give me something that I feel has value to me, I will pay you for that value. Some podcasts, though, have a longer version, or additional content for subscribers. That's a reason to subscribe, if the additional content is worth it to you. I only occasionally find the premium content on the SGU interesting, but I would still subscribe without that, and if there was no ad-free version, because the podcast is worth it to me.

[arthwollipot]

Sure, that's reasonable enough. Personally, as I said, audio ads annoy the fuck out of me so I like to be able to pay to not have them.

[John Albert]

I like how the Skepticrat/Scathing Atheist/God Awful Movies guys opt for performing silly comedy skits instead of half-assing some testimonials that usually come off as insincere anyway.

[stands2reason]

PocketCasts has (customizable) skip forward & back buttons.

[daniel1948]

PocketCasts has (customizable) skip forward & back buttons.

iCatcher just has 30 seconds forward and back buttons. That works for me.