Background: The rapid growth and popularity of podcasts have established it as a significant medium in the everyday life of today’s consumers. With its unique and personal content, as well as its intimate and engaging nature, podcasts have also become an attractive platform for marketers. However, the increasing amount of advertising, especially that which is read by podcast hosts, raises questions about how this form of advertising is perceived by listeners, and whether the type of content consumed might affect the perception of the advertisement. 

Purpose and research question: The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of and compare consumers' perceptions of host-read advertising in podcasts with informative versus entertaining content. Based on this, the study aims to understand whether these types of podcast content influence the perception of this form of advertising. Thus, the study intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors that affect the effectiveness of podcast advertising, leading to the following research question: How do consumers' perceptions of host-read advertising in podcasts differ depending on the type of content they consume? 

Method: The study adopted a qualitative research method, where a total of nine semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather detailed insights from podcast listeners. The interview guide consists of ten questions divided into four different themes, based on the theoretical framework: consumers' media use and needs, factors influencing consumers' perceptions of advertising, and host-read advertising in podcasts.

Results and conclusion: The study's results show a clear difference in consumers' perceptions of advertising depending on the type of content they consume. These perceptions are based on how they value the advertisements, with consumers who listen to informative podcasts tending to have more positive perceptions than those who listen to entertaining podcasts, where the perception was clearly negative.