T-Mobile Tops March Surge in Podcast Ad Spending.

March is typically the strongest advertising month of the first quarter and that played out in podcasting this year, offering the industry a signal that while advertisers may be watching the economy—they’re still spending as normal. Magellan AI estimates the top 15 advertisers spent a combined $52,160,600 million in the medium last month based on company estimates. That is up 5.3% from what the top 15 spent a year earlier. It is also up 17% from the prior month.

There was a change atop the rankings, however. T-Mobile overtook BetterHelp, which had led Magellan’s top advertiser list during January and February. Last month, despite spending more on podcast ads, BetterHelp slid back to second place. T-Mobile ranked No. 1 with just under $6 million in total spending. That was up 86% compared to what the wireless company spent in the prior month based on Magellan estimates.

BetterHelp boosted its budget 4% month-to-month to an estimated $5.2 million, while third place Toyota ad spending surged 79% between February and March, to nearly $4.8 million last month as it apparently looked to capitalize on the rush of car buyers looking to make deals before new tariffs kick in.

Shopify remained in fourth place on Magellan’s ranker with just under $4 million of podcast ad spending last month with an 11% increase, while Quince moved up to fifth place with an estimated $3.6 million worth of podcast ads, a 22% increase from February.

The biggest decline in the top ten came from DraftKings, which had rode the Super Bowl sports-betting wave in the early part of the year. But while its spending shrank 14% month-to-month, it remains among podcasting’s biggest advertisers.

Overall, Magellan’s monthly update reveals the usual springtime return to spending. Among the 15 biggest spenders, only three brands spent less in March compared to February. That list includes Amazon, which had been No. 1 in December, but without any special events driving shopping in March, it pulled back its podcast spending by 19% last month according to Magellan estimates.

Among the big spenders, Magellan says Sports was the most-used genre by nine brands. Five used Comedy podcasts the most, while one other used News podcasts the most, according to the analysis.

Magellan AI’s monthly ranking of brands that deliver the largest increases in spending in the medium — its list of movers and shakers — is led by an online provider of weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy. FuturiHealth had a nearly four-fold increase in spending month-to-month to just under $1.5 million as it apparently targeted listeners gearing up for the warm weather months.

The change of seasons also delivered a huge boost in sending by FastGrowingTrees, the online retailer for plants. It spent more than $1 million on podcast ads last month after having spent just $3,600 during February.

Other gains were from less seasonally-focused advertisers, like PayPal, which increased its podcast spending 315% month-to-month to nearly $1 million in March. And Volkswagen, which upped spending 905% to more than $800,000.

Magellan says its list of movers and shakers spent a combined $9,594,000 in March.

Magellan AI analyzes podcast advertising data from the top 3,000 podcasts in the U.S., as ranked by Apple Podcasts. Magellan AI’s proprietary model is used to estimate advertising spend. It includes factors such as the number of ads and variation in ad load detected for a given episode, number of downloads for each episode, and estimated CPMs as reported in select media kits and estimated based on popularity.