• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, March 30, 2025

Podcast advertising has taken a hit—at least in the UK. The BBC has backed off a plan to put ads in some of the podcasts in its BBC Sounds channel, according to the BBC.  

Why this pullback? Pressure from competitive outlets. 

Some of Britain’s largest media companies sent a joint letter to the government, stating that this move would be “disastrous” for the country’s podcast market, BBC reports. These included ITV, Sky, radio giants Bauer and Global, and Goalhanger, a production company, it adds.  

The result: “We have listened to feedback and having considered the options carefully, we have decided to rule out placing adverts around BBC license-fee funded programs on third party podcast platforms in the UK," the BBC stated, it reports.  

The third-party platforms included Apply and Spotify.  

American media executives might be bemused at this successful attempt to drive out a government competitor. But this was taken very seriously in the UK. 

"Forcing users to migrate to BBC Sounds if they want to hear content ad-free also has the impact of putting BBC Sounds at a distinct advantage as a platform, having an unfair competitive advantage when it comes to competition between listening platforms," says the letter sent by the media companies to the government last May. 

The BBC apparently decided it could do without the revenue. Podcast advertising totaled £76 million in 2022, compared with BBC income of £5.7 billion, BBC adds.  

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., several major podcast advertisers—including the top two—spent less on advertising in February 2025. 

BetterHelp, the top brand in ad spend, still was down. It spent $4.9 million.  

DraftKings spent $4 million, but it, too was down.  

FanDuel rose to $3.56 million, but Shopify invested less, although it still was No. 4, with $3.5 million. 

Some brands were aggressive, judging by Magellan AI’s Top movers & shakers listing.  

BMW spent $1.3 million in February, a 18465% increase over the prior month’s total. McDonald’s increased its spending by 323% to $867,000. And Samsun leaped by 9927% to $852,300.