How to advertise on The Diary Of A CEO: what it costs, who buys, and how to book

The Diary Of A CEO sells its host-read inventory on a quoted basis, direct rather than through a big podcast ad network, priced per campaign instead of off a public rate card. Spotsnow attributes nearly all of the show's tracked host-read activity to direct response, with a direct-response share sitting in the high 90s. Its top advertiser, NetSuite, has run roughly 18 to 21 ads on the feed. For a buyer, that mix reads as a show built to move product with coded offers, not to park a logo. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys. This guide covers The Diary Of A CEO.

Why The Diary Of A CEO is built for host-read direct response

Steven Bartlett hosts. He founded the social media agency Social Chain, took it to a public listing, and later launched Flight Story and Flight Fund, with a stint as an investor on the BBC's Dragons' Den. That business track record is what a founder-host lends to every read.

The show lands in the retail advertiser world on the DTC side, though its core content sits in business and personal development. Spotsnow puts the direct-response share in the high 90s, which is why the format works here: codes, vanity URLs, and clean attribution let a brand see exactly what a spot returned. Spotsnow estimates reach at roughly 1,000,000 listeners per episode, an estimate rather than an audited count.

The interview format is what holds attention through an ad break. Bartlett tends to read the sponsor into the same measured voice he uses to open a guest, so the endorsement rides the trust the conversation already built. That sustained attention is exactly what a host-read borrows.

Engagement backs it up. Spotsnow shows an Apple Podcasts average of about 4.6 stars across roughly 5,900 to 6,600 ratings, and Bartlett's Instagram following is estimated near 5,000,000. The influence is concentrated in the feed and on Instagram rather than spread thinly across every platform, which is where a coded offer travels best anyway. The audience skews slightly female, leans affluent, and concentrates in the US and UK.

Who is advertising on The Diary Of A CEO

The roster leans heavy on B2B software and finance, with a run of premium DTC health and sleep brands alongside. Recognizable names include LinkedIn, Shopify, Progressive, American Express, and Mint Mobile.

The anchor advertisers, broken down

NetSuite

NetSuite (the Oracle business management suite that connects financials, inventory, HR, and CRM) is the top spender on the show. Spotsnow estimates total spend at over $500K, across roughly 18 to 21 ads on its primary listing and well over 30 across its NetSuite domains combined. It's direct-response dominant. A software buyer built for scaling companies matches an audience of founders and operators listening for exactly that.

Helix

Helix sells personalized mattresses and home goods, made to order off a sleep questionnaire, plus its Birch and Allform sub-brands. Spotsnow estimates total spend at over $500K, across about 13 to 15 ads, and classifies the reads as direct-response. Sleep and recovery are recurring themes on the show, so an affluent, health-minded listener is already primed to buy.

T. Rowe Price, the awareness outlier

Not everyone here chases a code. T. Rowe Price runs produced spots rather than host-reads, an awareness play from a large investment manager banking on association with a business audience. It shows a different objective can work on this feed even when the house style is coded direct response.

All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.

Why education and business brands cluster here

The pattern isn't an accident. Bartlett interviews founders, investors, and operators about how businesses actually run, and the people who listen are the same people signing up for payroll software, a CRM, or a wealth product. When the host who built and sold an agency tells you a tool connects your books to your inventory, the endorsement carries weight a produced spot can't. That's why B2B SaaS and finance dollars stack up next to premium DTC: the audience arrives in a buying mindset, and the host has standing to nudge them. NetSuite and Helix both coming back for double-digit ad counts is the proof the return holds.

How your ad could sound

Here's a recent NetSuite host-read from the show, the top spender's own copy in Bartlett's voice.

What works: the read opens on a problem, not a product. "AI doesn't fix a messy business. It exposes one" is the kind of line that stops a skip because it sounds like Bartlett thinking out loud, not a script. The offer is clean and the vanity URL, "netsuite.ai slash Bartlett," is spoken twice so it sticks, then it hands straight back into the episode with no dead air.

What to sharpen: the qualifier "if your business is generating seven figures or more" lands late and quietly narrows who the offer is for, so smaller listeners may tune out after already leaning in. And the free trial has no deadline. A line of urgency, or a first-week incentive, would give listeners a reason to act during the episode rather than later.

View what a great sample ad looks like here.

What makes a show like this convert

1. The host-read format does the persuading. Spotsnow puts the show's direct-response share in the high 90s, so the endorsement carries the offer instead of interrupting it.
2. The host has standing. Bartlett built and exited an agency and runs an investment fund, so a business tool recommendation reads as experience, not ad copy.
3. The audience is the buyer. Reach is estimated near 1,000,000 listeners who skew affluent and business-minded, the exact profile SaaS and finance brands pay to reach.
4. Advertisers come back. NetSuite has run roughly 18 to 21 ads on the feed; repeat buying at that volume is the clearest sign the math works.

The Diary Of A CEO in a nutshell

An estimated 1,000,000 listeners, skewing slightly female, affluent, and concentrated in the US and UK, tune in for founder and expert interviews. NetSuite and Helix anchor the roster, both on repeat host-reads, alongside LinkedIn, Shopify, and other B2B and DTC names. The show sells direct and quotes per campaign rather than off a rate card. With a direct-response share in the high 90s, it suits brands with a coded offer far more than a pure awareness buy.