January 31, 2026
Skip, rage, repeat: the pod wars
Ads Are Killing Podcasting
Listeners rage-skip, creators chase cash, and YouTube grabs the mic
TLDR: Podcast ads climbed to around 11%, with a clear tipping point at 10% where ad performance drops and listeners flee. The community is torn between skipping, paying, and fearing YouTube’s takeover, while dynamic ads draw the most anger—making the future of podcasts a high-stakes trust test.
The community is melting down over podcasts stuffing in more ads while bragging about $2.43 billion in revenue. The hard truth: ad time jumped from 7.9% to 10.9% of episodes since 2020, and 30% of listeners have already bailed. Commenters are split between “pay up or shut up” and “I’m smashing skip like a game show buzzer.” One pragmatist summed it up: “You get to pick your own poison.”
The biggest freakout? Discovery shifting to YouTube. As one user warned, “Google has way too much power,” and RSS (the old-school open subscribe system) feels like it’s fading. Meanwhile, ad nerds cite Oxford Road and Podscribe: push past 10% ad load and conversions crash 25–40%. True crime getting up to 34% ad time triggered memes about “crimes against listeners.”
Skipping ads is now a confessional: one listener admits they auto-skip and feel a tiny bit guilty, but also pays for ad-free tiers. International fans vent that dynamic ads (the ones inserted by software) repeat the same promos for weeks—sometimes for other podcasts—which is “beyond infuriating.” And the meta-drama? Someone flagged “LLM shibboleths,” basically accusing the writeup of sounding AI-ish. The vibe: keep it to 2–3 ads and 6–10% runtime, or watch audiences walk. You can’t sell ads to people who left.
Key Points
- •Average podcast ad load rose from 7.9% (2020) to 10.9% (2024), a 39% increase.
- •30% of podcast listeners have stopped listening to shows due to ads.
- •Research by Oxford Road and Podscribe indicates ad loads above 10% reduce conversion rates by 25–40%.
- •YouTube is cited as the dominant channel for podcast discovery, while RSS usage declines (Edison Research).
- •A recommended ad load “sweet spot” is 6–10% (about 2–3 ads per episode); 48% accept reasonable ads, but too many prompt 26% to leave.