By: Adam Sockel, Marketing & Communications Specialist

Podcasts are wildly popular. I am not breaking news with that statement. The number of people who enjoy listening to podcasts on a weekly basis has continued to grow year over year. In fact, according to Podcasting Insights, 40% of all Americans listened to podcasts in 2017, with the average listener enjoying five shows per week. That’s 112 million people listening to hours of spoken word content each week.

Professional Book NerdsRegardless of what type of content you enjoy, there’s a podcast for it. Whether you love true crime, comedy, politics or conversations about terrible movies, you can find a podcast to fit your interests. We even have one where we provide weekly book recommendations and interview authors across all genres. Subscribe and take a listen. It’s really good.

Podcasts continue to surge in popularity each year as they become more and more accessible. The wide variety of genres and the on-demand aspect of spoken word entertainment has led to a sustained surge in listeners. Does this sound like anything you happen to have in your digital library? Something like, oh I don’t know, thousands of digital audiobooks that are just a tap away?

podcasts and audiobooksA perfect way to take advantage of the popularity of podcasts is to promote your audiobook collection to those listeners. Curate collections of audiobooks that align with popular podcasts. Mystery and true crime titles for Serial fans, humorous memoirs for fans of comedy podcasts, and so on. Simply peruse the iTunes charts to see what people are listening to and then curate accordingly.

In addition to the fact that podcasts and audiobooks can both be enjoyed right on the devices in a users’ pocket, podcast listeners are also substantially more likely to use social media frequently. This is great information to know from a marketing standpoint. Facebook ads allow you to target specific demographics which means you can promote a list of your latest biography audiobooks to people on Facebook in your service area who say they listen to podcasts and enjoy NPR interviews, for example. Running these ads for a week for as little as $50 can not only raise awareness of your digital library, but also generate hundreds of clicks directly to your curated collections.

Looking for other promotional ideas and materials to promote your audiobooks? Visit our Resource Center.

Podcast listeners spend hours of time every week with their headphones in enjoying free content. Why not capitalize on these potential audiobook listeners by providing them similar bookish content? Have questions? Email me directly at asockel@overdrive.com and I’ll be happy to walk you through setting up targeted Facebook ads and your OverDrive rep will be happy to help you curate lists. Oh and seriously, subscribe to our podcast. It’s fantastic.