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BBC Studios drives 45% uplift among high earners for World Cup travel with Affinity Audiences
BBC Studios ran a podcast campaign for a major U.S. hospitality brand to engage football fans planning World Cup travel, combining Affinity Audiences from NumberEight, brand suitability controls from Barometer, and brand lift measurement from Veritonic.
45%
increase in brand awareness among high earners
28%
increase in brand awareness among parents
19%
increase in overall brand awareness
Introduction
Demonstrating the power of collaboration in podcast advertising
BBC Studios launched this campaign for a hospitality brand to reach football fans planning travel around the upcoming World Cup, while showing what podcast advertising can achieve with the right partners.
Using NumberEight’s ID-less Affinity Audiences, Barometer’s bespoke brand suitability curation, Veritonic’s brand lift measurement, and four rotating creatives, the campaign delivered both scale and measurable impact.
Challenge
Scaling football audiences without sacrificing control
Football podcasts attract highly engaged audiences, but relying only on a small number of well-known sports shows can limit campaign scale.
BBC Studios, therefore, looked for a way to expand reach across additional relevant podcasts and audiences, specifically targeting football fans, likely travelers, and families or groups engaging with major football events, while maintaining strong relevance to the campaign objective.
At the same time, the campaign needed to ensure brand-suitable environments and demonstrate the effectiveness of podcast advertising through independent measurement.
How could the campaign scale across the podcast ecosystem while maintaining relevance to football fans?
Results
Awareness jumps across key audiences
Using NumberEight’s Affinity Audiences and football podcast lookalikes, the campaign scaled its reach across podcasting, while Barometer’s bespoke suitability controls kept placements relevant and suitable environments. The result was measurable brand lift across key audiences, with notably no negative brand sentiment.
45%
28%
19%
Solution
Scaling football audiences while staying in control
To reach football fans planning travel around the World Cup, BBC Studios combined NumberEight’s ID-less Affinity Audiences with Barometer’s bespoke suitability controls and Veritonic’s brand lift measurement. NumberEight activated both a Football World Cup Fans audience and podcast lookalikes based on selected BBC football podcasts, helping the campaign find relevant listeners beyond a small set of known shows. This partner-led approach delivered scale while staying relevant, brand safe, and measurable.
- Alanna Vaughns, Revenue Partnerships Lead, Audio at BBC Studios
