A new industry white paper titled Re‑Thinking YouTube: Why Your Video Podcast Ads Are Converting 25% Worse Than Audio reveals a surprising performance gap between podcast ads on YouTube versus traditional audio channels.
The research, conducted by Oxford Road in partnership with Podscribe and shared via Podnews, shows that video podcast advertising on YouTube may convert 18–25% less effectively than audio‑only placements.
The study analysed over a thousand podcast campaigns where ad performance was tracked using promo code redemptions and detailed “How‑Did‑You‑Hear‑About‑Us?” survey responses at checkout.
Findings indicate that for every $1 million spent on YouTube podcast impressions, brands may be losing up to $250,000 in conversion value compared with equivalent audio buys.
According to Dan Granger, CEO of Oxford Road, the shift toward video has obviously opened new audience opportunities for creators and marketers, yet it also exposed significant ROI challenges for advertisers betting on YouTube as a primary medium.
He notes that YouTube’s limited transparency around performance data continues to “hold back” potential spending, hindering deeper investment in podcast video ads.
The white paper doesn’t just highlight performance gaps: it also offers a 10‑step action plan for advertisers to protect ROI. These recommendations aim to help brands balance video’s reach with audio’s stronger conversion power, ultimately guiding smarter decisions about where to allocate podcast advertising budgets.
The full Re‑Thinking YouTube study is available for download from Oxford Road’s website and could be a key resource for advertisers and podcast publishers navigating today’s complex media landscape.
