Podcasters are buying millions of listeners through mobile-game ads

A person plays the game ‘Call Of Duty’ on a mobile phone. To date, the podcast industry has said next to nothing about its embrace of this video-game strategy. In August, DeepSee, an ad fraud detection company, published a research paper revealing how the practice harnesses gamers’ attention. — AFP

Podcasters are always hunting for new, flashy places to promote their shows, ranging from billboards to floats in parades to airplane banners. Some networks, though, have uncovered a less-glamorous, yet highly effective way to gain millions of bankable listeners: loading up mobile games with a particular kind of ad.

Each time a player taps on one of these fleeting in-game ads – and wins some virtual loot for doing so – a podcast episode begins downloading on their device. The podcast company, in turn, can claim the gamer as a new listener to its programme and add another coveted download to its overall tally.