Boosting brand behavioral intentions via integrated explicit product placements in podcasts

Abstract

Podcasting has become a globally popular media platform, drawing advertisers’ interest due to its highly engaged and loyal audience. To address the limited research on consumer attitudes toward podcast advertisements, we investigate how explicit product placements read by hosts in podcasts influence brand behavioral intentions. Our study involved an online survey among 512 podcast consumers exposed to brand-related content during podcast listening sessions. For data analysis, we employed partial least squares structural equation modeling. Our findings reveal that consumer attitudes toward the podcaster and toward the brand-related content, as well as the listeners’ parasocial relationship with the host, directly impact brand attitude and recall, subsequently influencing brand behavioral intentions.