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Programmatic advertising. Everyone’s talking about it, and almost everyone is doing it. For an indie creator podcasting out of their bedroom, it can sound a bit daunting, something to save for the big money celebrity podcasters among us. But it’s not, and it shouldn’t be. It’s easy, it’s optional, and it’s available to every podcaster who wants to get involved.

What is programmatic advertising?

When podcasters talk about programmatic advertising, they’re generally referring to listing their podcast on an ad marketplace, like DAX or Captivate Marketplace. Generally, once your podcast is listed, you’re allowing yourself to be approached by advertisers looking to buy ad slots in your podcast (these being your pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll), for either a fixed number of impressions or a fixed duration of time. There’ll be some back and forth on price and script, and then money will change hands and the ad will go live.

Then, there’ll likely be some ad slots left in your catalogue that have gone unfilled by advertisers like this – that’s totally normal, and all podcasts have it. You then, through your marketplace settings, can enable what’s known as “runoff” advertising. This is truly “programmatic” in the sense that it’s entirely automated, with no contact between yourself and the advertisers. You’ll have set a CPM (cost per mille – a fixed rate that you’ll be paid for every thousand impressions) and said “I agree that any free advertising slot on my podcast can be filled with a runoff ad”, and then those slots will be served with ads from the database.

This means both new episodes and your back catalogue earn you money in unison. An episode you released two years ago can still generate ad revenue today if people continue to listen.

How does programmatic advertising work?

Programmatic podcast ads rely on something called Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI).

Instead of permanently “baking” an ad into your audio file, you mark ad positions inside your episode — usually:

• Pre-roll (beginning of episode)
• Mid-roll (middle of episode)
• Post-roll (end of episode)

When a listener downloads or streams your podcast, the platform inserts an ad into that slot in real time.

Here’s what happens behind the scenes:

1. A listener presses play.
2. The hosting platform identifies their region, device, and listening behavior.
3. The ad marketplace selects a relevant advertiser.
4. The ad is automatically inserted into your episode.
5. You get paid.

How you earn money:

Programmatic ads are usually paid via CPM (Cost Per Mille) — meaning you earn a set amount per 1,000 downloads or listens.

For example: if a mid-roll CPM is $18 and your episode gets 5,000 downloads, that ad slot generates around $90 for a single episode. Multiply that across multiple episodes and multiple ad slots and it starts to stack up quickly. If you’ve got a large back catalogue, you can start generating some steady monthly income.

Do I have to have ads in my podcast?

Nope! Ads are optional to include. We’d never make you include ads if you didn’t want to, and nor should anyone else. Your podcast lives and dies on your ability to relate to your audience, and you need to be the person in control of that relationship.

When handled well, ads don’t have any effect on that relationship. Listeners already expect ads in media they enjoy and most would rather hear a short advertisement than pay a subscription fee.

Generally programmatic ads are short, running around 15 to 30 seconds, and you control how many you run.

How can I control what is advertised on my podcast?

Many podcasters worry about programmatic ads clashing with their brand. The logical endpoint of this is people worrying about gambling, alcohol or adult content being advertised on their podcast.

The good news, though, is you have total control over what is advertised on your podcast. Hosting platforms allow you to set brand safety and category filters. This means you can block certain types of advertisers from ever appearing in your podcast.

Common blocks include:

• Gambling
• Alcohol
• Political campaigns
• Cryptocurrency
• Dating apps
• Competitors

You can also control:

Frequency capping – prevents the same ad playing repeatedly

Ad positions – choose only pre-roll or mid-roll

Episode selection – ads only in certain shows

Geographic targeting – ads only in specific regions

So your listeners in the UK might hear one advertiser, while your US listeners hear another, all from the same episode. This means the ads are always relevant to the listener.

Next steps

Read about Captivate’s other huge features, like our in-house monetization tools and our unmatched dynamic ad insertion technology!