Does podcast advertising actually work? Here's what we learned at Sounds Smart Manchester 2026.

Podcast advertising drives 31% incremental reach on top of existing audio channels, and 21% on top of TV and streaming. Podcast hosts are seen as twice as genuine as social media influencers - even among 18–34s. And podcasts now reach more 18–24s in the UK than traditional TV. That's the short answer. Here's the longer one.

On a June afternoon in Manchester, Acast brought together agencies, brands, and some of the UK's most exciting podcast talent for our third Sounds Smart Manchester. Over 90 minutes, we covered new signings, award-winning campaigns, live talent sessions, and the big ideas shaping podcasting in 2026. Below is everything you need to know.

Is podcast advertising growing outside London?

Yes - significantly. Lorna Byrne, Acast's UK Sales Director, opened the event by sharing that investment from brands and agencies outside London has grown 104% year-on-year, with 96 campaigns delivered in the last 12 months alone. The North isn't catching up with London - it's carving its own path.

Why are podcast hosts more trusted than social media influencers?

According to Acast's research, podcast hosts are seen as twice as genuine as social media influencers - including among 18–34s, the demographic usually assumed to belong to TikTok and Instagram.

Tom Roach, Acast's Commercial Strategy Director, explained why: "Podcasting is a chosen media. Nobody doom-scrolls into a 45-minute episode. Listeners show up on purpose, they stay, and they give the host their full attention - sometimes for years." That depth of relationship is what makes a host recommendation feel different from a sponsored Instagram post.

A related data point: 56% of UK podcast listeners say they've considered a brand they'd never heard of before after hearing it on a podcast. Among 18–35s, that rises to three-quarters.

What does incremental reach actually mean for my media plan?

Acast's Incremental Impact Study - one of the largest of its kind conducted in the UK - looked at how podcast advertising performs alongside other channels in the media mix. The headline findings, presented by Tom:

• 31% incremental reach added to existing audio campaigns (radio, streaming)
• 21% incremental reach added on top of TV and video-on-demand

Beyond reach, podcast advertising consistently ranked #1 across three brand metrics: listeners regularly watch/listen to ads from this medium; they develop a more positive opinion of brands advertised here; and they give their full attention to ads. These are outcomes that most other media channels are actively fighting for.

Is podcasting still just audio, or has video changed things?

Audio remains the preferred consumption channel across all age groups - millennials, Gen Z, boomers alike. "Video isn't replacing audio," said Lex Darker, Acast's Senior Key Account Director. "It's extended it."

That said, 52% of UK adults have now watched a podcast, and Acast is the largest distributor of video podcast content across Apple and YouTube. The practical implication for brands: think in touchpoints, not formats. A single campaign can now span a host read on audio, a branded video on YouTube, short-form clips on social, and a live event - all anchored in the same creator relationship.

New research from Sounds Profitable and Sound Insights also confirmed that podcasts now reach more 18–24s in the UK than traditional TV.

What do successful podcast campaigns actually look like? Two examples from the room.

At Sounds Smart Manchester, Lex and Lee Husson, Acast’s Key Account Director, walked through campaigns that showed what happens when brands hand over creative trust. Here are two:

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St. Pierre × Off Menu: Can an audio-only campaign make people feel a visual brand?

St. Pierre wanted to extend their ‘Eat Avec Respect’ campaign, a very visual campaign about French contempt for the British barbecue, into audio. The challenge: how do you make someone feel a brioche bun through their earphones?

The answer was Off Menu, one of the most trusted food podcast voices in the UK, now in its eighth year. Rather than scripting the read, the brief was handed over with creative trust. James Acaster delivered an unscripted host read that was warm, funny, and crucially,  genuine. He really does eat St. Pierre buns.

Results: significant increase in brand awareness and uplift in consideration, particularly among the target audience..

‍Lex's takeaway from the stage: "Trust the creator. Give them the brief, give them the brand truth, then let them be themselves. The performance follows." 

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Jet2 × Help I Sexted My Boss: What does a fully integrated podcast campaign look like?

Lee walked through what happened when Jet2 wanted to showcase Malta as a year-round destination, and trusted Acast to build something beyond a standard ad buy.

The campaign was built around Help's co-host, William Hanson, and its producer, Ben Cartwright, flying to Malta. It spanned:

• Organic branded segments teasing the trip
• 30-second sponsorship reads deployed across the Acast network
• 60-second host reads running across new and archive episodes
• An eight-minute TikTok-style travel vlog
• A 90-second highlight reel
• A 30-minute branded audio episode recorded after the trip
• A competition giving listeners the chance to win the same trip
• Paid social amplification

Results: Millions of audio and social impressions, significant uplift in brand preference, and winner of "Best Use of Social Media" at the Campaign Advertising Audio Awards.

Lee's takeaway: "The brands that will win in podcasting are the ones that lean into multiple touchpoints. And the ones that let creators be genuinely themselves - not a mouthpiece for a brief."

Do podcast listeners actually engage with ads, or do they skip them?

This was answered more compellingly from our stage than any data point could manage.

Sounds Smart Manchester's first talent session brought Elis James and John Robins - hosts of the Elis & John podcast - to the stage alongside their producer, Dave Masterman. After 12 years together across commercial radio, Radio X, BBC Radio 5 Live, and now full commercialisation, they talked candidly about what it means to bring a fiercely loyal, ad-free audience into the commercial world.

Their first commercial partner is Premier Inn. Not because they were briefed to love it, but because they actually stayed in Premier Inns while on tour, and said so on the BBC for years before any money changed hands. The result? Fans are going back to the RSS feed specifically to listen to the ads. People are buying the Premier Inn mattress. The Facebook fan group has screenshots of the purchase confirmation.

As John said from the stage: "The moment one of us says something inauthentic, the other two call it out. That dynamic means the ads only work if they're true." The lesson for brands: authenticity in podcasting isn't a mood board word. It's a mechanical requirement.

What did Candice Brathwaite say on stage that every brand planner needs to hear?

The afternoon's second talent session brought Candice Brathwaite - Sunday Times bestselling author and host of the new Conversations with Candice podcast - to the stage in conversation with Mike Thomas, Acast's Sales Director. Candice's new show is produced entirely through her own company, Undeniable Productions. She owns the IP, controls the creative, and records at 2 am if she feels like it.

On working with brands, she was direct: "Think about how what you're selling fits into this person's world, not how this person fits into what you're selling. Do a proper deep dive on their content, their books, their material. Is authenticity used as a word just to tick a box? You can always feel that."

What commercial opportunities are available from Acast right now?

Lorna closed the commercial section with four aspects to consider:

Podcast in Colour - A dedicated ad vertical championing underrepresented voices. The most direct route to reaching global majority audiences, women, and LGBTQ+ communities in an authentic context.

Video Ads - Targeted placements across Acast's podcast YouTube inventory and Little Dot Studios’ premium catalogue (the second-largest streaming platform in the UK).

Talent-Voiced Ads - The targeting precision of a programmatic buy with the warmth and credibility of a host read. Particularly effective for regional campaigns that don't need UK-wide reach.

Acast Ads Academy - The podcast industry's first certification programme. Modules covering formats, best practices, and video. The LinkedIn badge is real. 

The bottom line

Podcasting in 2026 is impact media. It shapes culture, drives genuine influence, and delivers measurable results across brand awareness, consideration, and preference. The hosts your audiences trust are the most powerful voices in media right now, and that trust is built over years, not campaigns.

The brands getting the best results aren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones who do the work to find the right fit, trust the creator to deliver it, and think in ecosystems rather than individual formats.

Want to know how Acast can help your brand find its audience in podcasting?  Get in touch with sales.uk@acast.com

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