I Listen to 11 Podcasts a Week. Why Do Advertisers Act Like I'm Not There?

By Joanna Stone, Founder of Bunny Ruffle Tail

Key finding: Only 2.6% of age-targeted podcast ad impressions go to listeners 55+, compared with 43.5% for ages 25 to 34, according to the Global Podcast Advertising Compass 2025. Source 4

I listen to 11 podcasts every week. Some are what I put on when I'm winding down or falling asleep. And somewhere in the middle of a conversation I've chosen to hear, an online casino ad comes crashing in, louder and more aggressive than the show itself.

I tune it out.

It's not just the volume. So much of the advertising sounds as though it was written for a man, or for someone decades younger than I am. Almost none of it gives me a reason to care. I'm listening. I'm available. But the advertiser seems to have decided I'm not the customer.

The numbers at the top of this page say it isn't my imagination.

The listener is there. The media plan isn't.

Here's the part I find especially difficult to understand after years working in publishing and advertising: the audience has changed, but the buyer's picture of the audience hasn't necessarily changed with it.

Monthly podcast listening among Americans 55+ grew from 21% in 2023 to 44% in 2026, according to Edison Research. Source 45 Yet the age-targeted ad delivery reported in the Compass tells a very different story.

Part of the problem starts with the brief. If the target is written as 25 to 44, the plan follows it, and listeners outside that range are never in the room. Nobody decided to ignore us. The brief did it for them.

Don't interrupt my podcast. Belong in it.

I'm not asking advertisers to talk to me about my age. I'm asking them to pay attention to why I'm listening.

An ad connected to the subject of a podcast has a natural opening. A thoughtful message that tells me what a product does and why I might benefit has a chance. A generic, blaring spot aimed at somebody else does not.

And that matters because podcast advertising has an advantage other formats envy: the listener has already chosen to spend time with a voice. A brand that understands the conversation can enter it intelligently.

Before buying another impression against a familiar younger demographic, I'd ask a simpler question: Who is actually listening, and what would make this message worth hearing?

Further reading: Women 50+ Advertiser Briefing · Sources and Methodology

Published October 31, 2026 · Last updated October 31, 2026