How to advertise on The Weekly Planet: what it costs, who buys, and how to book

The Weekly Planet sells its host-read inventory direct, quoted per campaign rather than off a public rate card. Spotsnow classifies almost all of its tracked ad mix as direct response, a share that rounds to the mid-90s percent, so this is a coded-offer feed, not a branding play. Shopify, the top spender, has run roughly 8 to 10 host-read reads on the show. For a buyer, that mix reads clearly: brands come here to move product and track it, and they come back. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys. The show is The Weekly Planet on Spotsnow.

Why The Weekly Planet is built for host-read direct response

The show covers movies, TV, and comics, hosted by a pair whose comic-and-cinema commentary is the whole draw. It sits in Spotsnow's information technology & services advertiser bucket, driven by the software brands that buy it, though the audience itself is a pop-culture crowd.

Spotsnow classifies the direct-response share in the mid-90s percent, which tells you what the reads look like: codes, vanity URLs, and offers a brand can attribute back to a spot. That format only works if listeners sit through the break, and this show earns that. The banter runs long, the hosts sell the tangent, and the endorsement borrows the same trust the jokes do. Spotsnow estimates reach at roughly 175,000 listeners, and that figure is an estimate, not an audited count.

The audience skews male, skews younger adult, sits solidly mid-to-upper income, and is heavily US and UK with a real Canadian following. Influence proof is easy to find: the show holds a 4.9 average on Apple Podcasts across roughly 8,300 to 9,100 ratings. That pull is concentrated in the feed itself rather than spread thin across social platforms, which is exactly where a host-read lands anyway.

Who is advertising on The Weekly Planet

Spotsnow has tracked more than 100 brands on the show in recent months, a mix of software, healthcare, and consumer names. Recognizable buyers include Shopify, ZocDoc, BetterHelp, Amazon Prime, and Audi.

The anchor advertisers, broken down

Shopify

Shopify sells e-commerce and store-building software. Spotsnow attributes roughly 8 to 10 host-read runs to the brand and an estimated total spend of over $80K, all classified direct response. It fits a young, mostly male, tech-comfortable audience likely to start a side project or a store.

Quo

Quo is a first-time-homebuyer mortgage-readiness app. Spotsnow attributes roughly 8 to 10 ads and an estimated total spend of over $30K, all direct response. It fits the show's 25 to 44 core, the listeners entering their prime home-buying years.

ZocDoc

ZocDoc is a free doctor-booking platform. Spotsnow attributes roughly 6 to 7 ads and an estimated total spend of over $20K, direct response. It fits a broad US adult audience with disposable income and everyday healthcare needs.

The outlier worth noting

ZocDoc is also the shape-shifter of the group. Where Shopify and Quo spread their reads across several months, ZocDoc packed its buy into a single recent stretch, a short heavy burst rather than a steady flight. Different objective, same feed, and it still lands.

All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.

Why information technology brands cluster here

Software and app brands don't buy a comics podcast for the comics. They buy it because the listener is exactly who converts on a free trial or a starter plan: young, mostly male, tech-fluent, and already the kind of person who signs up for things. The hosts spend hours a week earning the right to recommend, and a coded read cashes that in. Quo bets on the same demographic aging into a mortgage. ZocDoc bets on the everyday US adult. Shopify bets on the side-hustler. Three different sales, one audience, and repeat buying that says the attribution held up. That's the case for the buy, not the artwork.

How your ad could sound

Here's a produced spot that ran in the break on a recent episode, a Grow Therapy read. It's dynamically inserted rather than a host endorsement, but it's a clean study in a coded direct-response spot.

What works: the hook is a real question. "Summer's supposed to be the easy season. So why are so many people quietly googling a therapist between summer Fridays?" That's a scroll-stopper, and the offer is dead simple, one destination repeated three times.

What to fix: the destination is a spelled-out slash URL, "Grow Therapy.com slash Acast", which is easy to mishear on a phone. And there's no urgency and no promo code, so nothing pins attribution to this show or nudges a listener to act today. On a host-read, a coded offer the host says in their own voice fixes both at once.

View what a great sample ad looks like here.

What makes a show like this convert

1. The format carries the offer. With a direct-response share in the mid-90s percent, nearly every read is built to be tracked, so a coded spot fits the feed instead of fighting it.
2. Host credibility does the selling. A 4.9 Apple rating across thousands of reviews means the recommendation carries weight the listener already trusts.
3. The audience is the right buyer. Young, mostly male, mid-to-upper income, and US and UK heavy, which is why software and app brands keep landing here.
4. Repeat buying proves the math. Shopify's roughly 8 to 10 host-read runs is the tell: brands don't renew reads that don't pay back.

The Weekly Planet in a nutshell

The listener is a young, mostly male, mid-to-upper income pop-culture fan concentrated in the US and UK. Shopify, Quo, and ZocDoc already buy here, mostly on coded direct-response reads and, in Shopify's case, host endorsements. The show is sold direct, quoted per campaign rather than off a rate card. If you run direct response and want an attributable buy against an engaged fan base, this feed fits; if you only want broad brand awareness, it's a weaker match.