The value of branded podcasts for businesses
Branded podcasts — shows created and distributed by businesses — are a great content marketing tool for brands to meaningfully share their stories, values, and expertise. The best branded podcasts connect to audiences in a more personal, consistent, and substantive way, which attracts audiences, boosts brand identity, and grows conversions. To better understand the impact of branded podcasts, Adobe surveyed 903 business owners across the U.S. about podcasting as a marketing and branding tool.
Key takeaways
- 16% of business owners have launched a podcast, with 11% planning to by year-end.
- 31% launched their podcast within one year of starting their business.
- Businesses report an average 38% revenue increase after launching a podcast.
- 78% say their podcast has met or exceeded ROI expectations.
- 25% of business owners say podcasts are their number one content priority, second only to YouTube videos.
Summary/Overview
Podcasting builds trust and brand authority
Branded podcasts are gaining traction as powerful ways to build credibility, humanize businesses, and strengthen audience connections.
About one in six business owners (16%) said they already launched a podcast, and another 11% have plans to do so by the end of the year. Their top motivations include building trust with their audience (71%), increasing brand awareness (64%), and connecting with clients or partners (54%).
The finance industry leads the way in podcast adoption, with business owners in this sector being the most likely to have a current podcast. Across industries, those who have taken the leap reported strong outcomes: 71% said they've built deeper audience trust, 61% strengthened brand authority, and 59% credit their podcast with helping build a community around their business.
Launching early can deliver strong returns
Many businesses are seeing rewards for starting their podcasts sooner rather than later.
Among surveyed business owners, 31% launched their podcasts within the first year of starting their company. Most began within their first four years of operation. In fact, 39% believed the best time to launch a podcast is as soon as possible. As for publishing schedules, business owners consider Monday to be the best day to release new episodes, followed by Friday and Sunday.
Financially, podcasts are a profitable channel, with 78% of businesses saying their show either met or far exceeded their ROI expectations. Businesses that saw a revenue increase due to their podcast alone reported an average boost of 38%.
Content creators see both challenges and potential
While podcasts are climbing the content priority list, launching and maintaining a successful podcast show has some challenges, especially for businesses just getting started.
A quarter of business owners ranked podcasting as their top content priority, and 33% said podcasts are a high priority for their brand. Only YouTube videos ranked higher on their list of top priorities, at 32%. Many business owners (69%) also believed every brand with a clear message should have a podcast.
But not everyone is ready to press record. The biggest barriers business owners had with starting a podcast included uncertainty about whether podcasting fits their brand (51%), lack of time (43%), and limited in-house expertise (29%).
Even for those who've launched a show, common challenges emerged. About half (49%) said audience growth has been slower than expected, and 43% had trouble maintaining a consistent publishing schedule. Another 42% struggled with podcast oversaturation, the sense that the landscape is so crowded that it's hard to break through and gain visibility.
Time is also a challenge behind the scenes. Over two in five business owners said editing and production take too long. Leveraging new AI tools, like Adobe's AI voiceover, text-to-music, and music generator, can help creators simplify workflows and speed up production.
Why boost your brand awareness with podcasting?
Podcasting gives your brand a unique opportunity to connect directly and more deeply with your audience. Unlike short-form social content, podcasts invite listeners into longer, more engaging conversations, making it easier to build emotional resonance and trust. Podcast episodes can also be repurposed into things like blog posts and social snippets, giving your content a longer shelf life across channels.
Despite a few common challenges, the data shows that podcasts offer a compelling return on investment and serve as powerful platforms for brand storytelling and community engagement. Whether you're looking to build authority, strengthen relationships, or reach new audiences, now is the time to start turning conversations into connections.
Methodology
Adobe surveyed 903 business owners to explore the impact of running a branded podcast for businesses. The goal of the study was to understand how podcasting supports brand awareness, marketing goals, and business growth. The survey was conducted using Survey Monkey on April 10, 2025. Due to rounding or not all answers being shown, some percentages may not total 100.
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