In podcast land, some things are not how they app-hear

Some podcast businesses are buying millions of “downloads” through ads in popular mobile games, per a new report from Bloomberg. So you can tell your mom her cooking podcast is safe, people actually are listening – unless she’s dropping stacks on Subway Surfer or Candy Crush, that is.

📱🎙️ How it works… The ads are typically featured in free-to-play mobile games as a way to earn extra points or other virtual rewards.

Each time a player taps on one of the ads, a podcast episode begins downloading on their device – unbeknownst to them – and the podcast company adds another ‘new unique listener’ to one of their programs.

• The podcast clips are also specifically structured so the pre-roll ad from the show is played during the mobile-gaming ad.

📈 The impact: Since 2018, IHeartRadio’s podcast division – which produces shows from Will Ferrell, Charlamagne tha God, Shonda Rhimes, and more – has reportedly shelled out $10 million per month to advertise in mobile games. And this strategy produces big results: the company gains ~6 million ‘unique listeners’ per month, an internal source told Bloomberg.

Which may have a little something to do with why IHeart podcasts represented more than half of the top-10 trending shows for the last week of August on Chartable – despite one of the listed podcasts not publishing any new content in months. Another hadn’t in over a year.