Apple Podcasts podcast-length ads

Between going to the vet and driving to and from LA yesterday, I spent a lot of time in traffic. Thankfully, I recently discovered Dateline so I had more than my fair share of time listening to podcasts.

One of my least favorite parts of super popular podcasts is how much they hammer you with ads. It feels almost nonstop. Every 5 minutes there’s a 3-second ad break.

While waiting for an ad to finish, I was struck with an idea that might be unhinged, but may also have utility. Peacock now has a feature where some movies play one giant group of ads before allowing you to stream a movie uninterrupted. It’s great. This got me wondering… what if before a podcast, or even before a month of listening to podcasts, you listened to one giant podcast-length ad?

People would most likely find a way to simply play the podcast while they aren’t paying attention and then enjoy ad-free podcasting. If however you could track and verify people listened to the whole “adcast”, it could be an interesting idea to prototype at the very least.

Have a friend who loves podcasts? Send them this newsletter.

https://sorens.beehiiv.com/