Podcasts are another avenue marketers are exploring as another alternative.
"Brands are eyeing podcasts as the next frontier of influencer marketing," said Lauren Fisher, principal analyst at eMarketer. "They're seeing great performance and value from host-read ads, which allows brands to tap into the trust and influence that many of these podcast hosts have with their listeners."
Drop, an app designed to help consumers earn rewards from their shopping, is one company that has started to explore new audio channels outside of social platforms. Catalina Lee, director of marketing at Drop, said that the company had a lot of success leveraging influencers on Instagram and Facebook, but over time, "these channels have been getting more competitive and more expensive. The podcast space is growing, and people go to podcasts because they're really interested in a topic, and because they're into the storytelling and conversation that happens within this format. As a result, you're reaching a highly engaged audience who connects not only with the topic being discussed, but also with the podcaster in a meaningful way so there's a great deal of familiarity and trust that gets built there."
Read more about the ways marketers are using influencer marketing successfully in our recent report.