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The beauty of branded podcasts lies in their ability to create meaningful connections through storytelling. By inviting listeners into immersive audio experiences, brands have found a powerful way to engage audiences – without feeling intrusive.
Branded podcasts are shows created or sponsored by a company with the goal of building awareness, trust and loyalty. Rather than pushing products, the podcasts offer entertainment, insights or inspiration that draw attention to the brand’s values and expertise.
Branded podcasts have evolved fast over the past decade. No longer niche, they are now mainstream and widely adopted by companies across various industries. With the continued rise of on-demand audio, they’re becoming an essential part of content strategies worldwide.
In this article, we’ve gathered the 10 best branded podcast examples in 2025 so far. Together, they demonstrate how brands utilise this format to craft compelling stories and foster lasting relationships with their listeners.
10 Best Branded Podcast Examples 2025 [clickable table of contents]
- Branded Podcast Example 1: T Brand Studio for L'Oréal Groupe
- Branded Podcast Example 2: Content Republic | Trustmedia for BMW
- Branded Podcast Example 3: Brand Content Studios for Yodlee
- Branded Podcast Example 4: CairoRCS Studio for Distilleria Marzadro
- Branded Podcast Example 5: Schibsted Brand Studio for FirstVet
- Branded Podcast Example 6: Lower Street for Early Warning
- Branded Podcast Example 7: Beam Audio Agency for Airtox Safety Shoes
- Branded Podcast Example 8: Atlantic Re:think for PwC
- Branded Podcast Example 9: Lower Street for Stanford GSE
- Branded Podcast Example 10: Schibsted Partnerstudio for Kondomeriet
Types of Branded Podcasts in 2025
Before we dive into the best branded podcast examples of 2025, let's take a look at the different types of branded podcasts being produced today.
As branded podcasts grow more sophisticated, it’s important to understand that they don’t all follow the same format or serve the same purpose. Each type comes with its own strengths, challenges and strategic considerations.
At the Native Advertising Institute, we’ve identified seven core types of branded podcasts that brands are using to connect with audiences through on-demand audio:
- Thought leadership
- Documentary-style podcasts
- Narrative brand stories
- Branded interview shows
- Branded entertainment series
- Internal brand
- Partnered or co-branded
1. Thought leadership
Built around industry insights, expert opinions or relevant niche topics, thought leadership podcasts aim to build authority while delivering value to a specific audience.
Best for: B2B brands, consultancies and companies looking to establish expertise
Typical format: Solo episodes or expert interviews with an educational tone
2. Documentary-style
Storytelling-driven documentary-style shows that explore a topic or issue over multiple episodes – the client is aligned with the subject matter, but its presence is not upfront and centre.
Best for: Brands looking to elevate awareness and build an emotional connection
Typical format: Multi-part series with scripted narration and immersive production
3. Narrative brand stories
True stories directly related to the brand’s history, purpose or customer experiences – with much clearer branding than the documentary-style approach, there is no mistake about the client's mission, values or impact.
Best for: Purpose-driven brands and companies with strong storytelling potential
Typical format: Episodic or standalone stories with clear brand involvement
4. Branded interview shows
Interviews with guests on topics that align with the brand’s audience and identity. Similar to thought leadership podcasts, but more conversational.
Best for: Brands that want to build relationships and reach by positioning themselves as the curator of good conversations
Typical format: Ongoing series with rotating guests
5. Branded entertainment series
Entertaining content with little or no overt product messaging. Reliant on creativity and comedy, the brand is essentially the sponsor of the experience. This is a high-risk approach that can boost both reach and reputation, or break them.
Best for: Brands seeking bold, top funnel engagement and cultural resonance
Typical format: Scripted fiction
6. Internal brand
Designed for internal audiences – employees, stakeholders, partners, etc – these podcasts are typically distributed privately to communicate strategy, share company news, celebrate the company’s culture or provide training.
Best for: Large or globally dispersed organisations with a need for effective internal communication and culture
Typical format: Interview segments, state-of-the-company addresses, culture stories or training modules
7. Partnered or co-branded
A collaboration of two or more brands that enables them to reach each other’s audience.
Best for: Brands looking for extended reach, third-party credibility or alignment with a media voice
Typical format: Co-hosted shows, publisher-led series or guest-branded podcast segments
10 Examples of Branded Podcasts [2025 Updated]
Branded Podcast Example 1: ‘This Is Not a Beauty Podcast’ by T Brand Studio for L'Oréal Groupe
To give the L’Oréal Groupe podcast ‘This Is Not a Beauty Podcast’ true star quality, the cosmetics giant and producer T Brand Studio, the content studio of The New York Times, recruited legendary actress Isabella Rossellini as the host. The campaign was L’Oréal’s first unified global media initiative, and it accordingly brought together all 37 of its brands along with a range of high-profile guests, including Olympic gold medallist Noah Lyles and Michelle Obama’s makeup artist Carl Ray.
The six-episode documentary-style audio series challenged the perception of beauty as superficial, exploring how beauty intersects with politics, science, health, business and culture. It used in-depth interviews and journalistic storytelling to explore unexpected ways beauty impacts the world – and then spread the content across the world via various NYT channels, including print, social media and digital.
L’Oréal chose T Brand Studio for its journalistic credibility and immersive storytelling capabilities. The NYT editorial voice helped elevate the topic among an audience not typically engaged in such content. Isabella Rossellini’s unprompted social promotion further boosted engagement.
L’Oréal’s goals were to raise awareness, reach new audiences – particularly men and executives – and shift perceptions of beauty. These were exceeded: the podcast reached over 42 million people, topped various charts and saw high listener engagement and strong brand perception lifts.
The campaign has enjoyed a lasting impact – and no, we’re not alluding to Rosselini’s Oscar nomination or the death of her long-time collaborator and ex-partner David Lynch, which both came in January 2025. Rather, we’re referring to the impact of its wide acclaim, which has redefined the brand’s voice, built an audience segment for future branded podcast efforts, and positioned L’Oréal as a cultural thought leader.
Branded Podcast Example 2: ‘Future Lanes’ by Content Republic | Trustmedia for BMW
BMW partnered with Content Republic | Trustmedia to create ‘Future Lanes’, an immersive bilingual podcast series developed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of BMW Belux. Co-hosted by two BMW employees, Jeroen Lissens and Fanny De Leenheer, the podcast offered a personal, behind-the-scenes journey that combined legacy, innovation and storytelling. The campaign was supported by Belgium’s leading business media outlets, De Tijd and L’Echo, whose audience closely align with BMW’s target demographic: affluent, tech-savvy and future-focused.
Travelling from BMW’s Belux headquarters in Bornem to its global HQ in Munich, ‘Future Lanes’ took the form of a road trip podcast. Consisting of eight episodes (four in Dutch and four in French), it explored themes central to BMW’s vision: electrification, circularity, technology and digitalisation. Personal stories and insights shared by employees, experts and brand ambassadors endeavoured to create a human and engaging format. The series was supported by native articles, social campaigns and extensive distribution via major platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
BMW chose podcasting for its ability to create deep, in-car engagement. Trustmedia’s in-house production ensured the messaging remained fully aligned with the publisher’s premium tone and values. Recording on location brought richness and realism to the storytelling, perfectly in keeping with BMW’s brand.
The campaign’s objectives included highlighting BMW’s core values, reaching a younger audience, and exceeding performance KPIs. Every metric was surpassed: downloads were 158% over target, article engagement was double the expectations, and the average listening time exceeded 14 minutes. BMW’s brand affinity and loyalty were also strengthened.
The podcast was a monster hit in Belgium, particularly, where it topped the rankings for six consecutive weeks, and for the automotive sector, which has taken notice of the podcast’s benchmarks. Already, it has inspired BMW’s global HQ to explore similar lanes in the future.
Branded Podcast Example 3: ‘Data-Driven Finance: The Financial Intelligence Podcast’ by Brand Content Studios for Yodlee
Created by Brand Content Studios for fintech platform Yodlee, the podcast ‘Data-Driven Finance: The Financial Intelligence Podcast’ quizzes expert guests about financial matters. Streamed via all major podcast platforms, the episodes are made widely available – not least by the guests – to reach key fintech and financial services audiences.
The host, polished podcaster Mike Stiles, brings an outsider’s curiosity to the conversations, allowing guests to take centre stage while keeping the tone accessible, laidback, engaging and often humorous. Rather than positioning Yodlee as the focus, the podcast encourages frank, unscripted dialogue with professionals from across the financial sector.
Yodlee chose a non-promotional approach to position itself as a thought leader in open banking and increase awareness of its AI connectivity platform. By allowing external experts to lead conversations, the brand achieved a more credible and trust-based connection with its audience.
The campaign aimed to build brand exposure, drive website traffic and engage a specialised but growing audience interested in fintech and connected banking. While there are no official figures, it is believed the podcast outperformed Yodlee’s blog content and reached roughly 5,000 listeners.
Ultimately, the podcast has successfully positioned Yodlee within key industry conversations while creating a sustainable content platform. Its growing episode library has attracted increasingly high-profile guests and expanded its network effect, which has helped to boost brand stature, reach and credibility.
Branded Podcast Example 4: ‘Sogni Distillati’ by CairoRCS Studio for Distilleria Marzadro
Developed by CairoRCS Studio and published across Corriere della Sera’s digital and social platforms, this podcast series tells the origin story of Italian grappa distillery Distilleria Marzadro through a biography of its co-founder, Sabina Marzadro. Told over four immersive episodes, it traces Sabina’s journey from post-WWII poverty in Trentino to entrepreneurial success – a compelling blend of personal legacy and brand storytelling.
Aimed at Italians aged 25–54, the podcast uses a narrative documentary style to tell Sabina’s story. Sound design plays a crucial role: well-balanced transitions and effects enhance the emotional resonance and historical context of the story. Native ads and episode summaries, published weekly by Corriere della Sera, helped to support the series.
CairoRCS Studio believed that bringing authenticity and emotional depth to the listeners was key to amplifying the brand’s artisanal, heritage-rich values. The character-driven narrative gave listeners a human connection to the brand and its origins. By rooting the campaign in real history, the creators reinforced the distillery’s identity as both culturally and socially significant.
The campaign more than exceeded objectives to introduce the brand to a wider audience and position Distilleria Marzadro not only as a fine producer of grappa, but as a symbol of Italian resilience and female entrepreneurship. The podcast achieved 211,000 downloads, far surpassing the original 40,000 target, and reached 22 million ad impressions.
The campaign proved that even unfamiliar historical figures can resonate when framed through strong storytelling. Sabina’s journey captivated listeners, enabling Distilleria Marzadro to emotionally connect with a new generation using meaningful content.
Branded Podcast Example 5: ‘Animal Life’ by Schibsted Brand Studio for FirstVet
Billed as a podcast for those who have or want to get a pet, ‘Animal Life’ was produced by Schibsted Brand Studio for FirstVet, Sweden’s leading digital veterinary service, and distributed through Aftonbladet’s news podcast feed. To maximise the reach, the series was promoted with short audio ads, companion articles and social media content.
The six-episode series combines emotional storytelling and expert advice to engage urban pet owners who view their animals as family members and value proactive care. Added relevance comes with the timing of the release – for example, highlighting seasonal concerns that might affect the pet’s welfare, such as a surge in ticks. Each 15-minute episode covers the real-life story of a pet owner faced by a challenge, which is complemented by insights from FirstVet professionals – a powerful combination of authentic voices and emotionally resonant storytelling.
FirstVet and Schibsted chose podcasting for its ability to build deep emotional connections. They chose Aftonbladet’s popular podcast feed because they figured they could reach a massive, engaged audience where pet-related audio content was previously absent – and they weren’t wrong.
Not only did nearly half the listeners visit FirstVet’s site after listening to the show, but the campaign exceeded every benchmark, achieving an average completion rate of 82%. In total, it racked up 176,000 total listens – 294% of the guaranteed figure. Brand awareness rose by 28 percentage points, and consideration and preference by 29 and 27, respectively.
Through emotional resonance, smart placement and a commitment to authenticity, ‘Animal Life’ set a new benchmark for audio storytelling in native advertising – proving that branded podcasts can not only match editorial content, but outperform it.
Branded Podcast Example 6: ‘Nickel & Crime’ by Lower Street for Early Warning
Podcast agency Lower Street partnered up with Early Warning, the fintech company behind services like Zelle and Paze, to launch ‘Nickel & Crime’, a true crime podcast series with a financial focus – so more about the Bernie Madoffs than the Boston Stranglers of this world.
Structured as a light, narrative-driven show, each episode tells the story of a real-life financial scam with the help of expert insights from Early Warning experts. Rich in true crime tropes and storytelling techniques, and produced using sound design, voice acting and engaging narration, the podcast was specifically designed to appeal to female financial services professionals, aged 35-50, working in fraud and risk mitigation.
The creative approach was chosen to give Early Warning a unique brand identity and human voice – a quality traditional B2B fintech content rarely achieves. By tapping into the popular true crime genre and keeping the tone light and digestible, the brand moved away from its dry corporate messaging to build a content platform that professionals enjoy and share.
Objectives to build brand visibility, affinity among financial professionals and a sharable resource for clients were all met. Target audience goals were fulfilled – 60% of the listeners were female and 55% aged 35-59 – and the series scored an overall 73% average consumption rate, according to Spotify, with many episodes performing in the high 80s.
As well as positive feedback, ‘Nickel & Crime’ has generated genuine employee enthusiasm, which has proven to be an internal morale booster. Certainly, its entertaining yet informative format has carved out a distinctive niche in fintech storytelling.
Branded Podcast Example 7: ‘Byggepladsen’ (‘The Construction Site’) by Beam Audio Agency for Airtox Safety Shoes
Figuring that Danish tradespeople like to listen to the radio, footwear manufacturer Airtox Safety Shoes recruited Beam Audio Agency to create a branded podcast aimed at the segment. Promoting ‘Byggepladsen’ was a challenge, however, as tradespeople are not known to be regular podcast listeners. A hands-on approach was therefore taken to involve the tradespeople as co-creators, and this even involved calling tradespeople directly.
Accepting that its target audience will not likely listen to a whole show at a time, each episode of the show is made up of around seven high-energy segments, which allows listeners to drop in and out easily. Every segment is built around easy-to-make listener contributions, such as text messages, photos and voice notes. To further engage listeners, each episode includes prizes and challenges tied to community events.
Some 50 episodes later, Byggepladsen has built a loyal following through a mix of relatable content, humour and strong community engagement – not least thanks to the energy and relatability of its co-hosts, the well-known carpenter Anders Nielsen and popular radio host David Mandel. So it is fair to say it has exceeded all its goals. An 88% Apple Podcasts consumption rate and 4.6–4.8 star ratings confirm it has made a deep connection with its audience.
The audience has played a huge role – the producers now have far more listener-generated content than they can use, to the extent that they have become their own community. And at the centre of this, Airtox has positioned itself as a beloved voice in the daily lives of Denmark’s tradespeople.
Branded Podcast Example 8: ‘Most Interesting Thing in AI’ by Atlantic Re:think for PwC
PwC’s experts are among the thought leaders who contribute to ‘Most Interesting Thing in AI’, a podcast series produced for the consultancy network by Atlantic Re:think, the branded content studio of The Atlantic – along with a wide range of other contributors: from AI pioneers and artists to ethicists and Nobel laureates. Each episode explores a distinct impact of AI on business, society and innovation: from deepfakes and sustainability to AI-powered silkworms.
The ace up its sleeve is host Nicholas Thompson, the CEO of The Atlantic, who brings credibility and curiosity to the series – as well as extended reach through his personal network of over 2 million LinkedIn followers. Additionally, the series has been amplified across The Atlantic’s podcast network, and also via newsletters and social media.
PwC wanted the podcast to stand apart from surface-level AI content. So rather than add to the noise surrounding AI, the brand has positioned itself as a calm, trusted voice offering clarity and actionable guidance to a C-suite audience. With Atlantic Re:think, the content has an editorial lens that appeals to business decision-makers who demand substance over sensationalism.
It’s more than fair to say the series has fulfilled expectations. Not only has it successfully enhanced PwC’s brand authority in AI strategy, but it has reached executives in key industries and sparked meaningful conversation – and a second season is already in production.
With 180,000 downloads, 28 million impressions and above-benchmark engagement across platforms, all KPIs have been met or exceeded. Overall, the series has helped PwC create a high-trust environment for exploration, deeply embedding the brand in the global AI dialogue.
Branded Podcast Example 9: ‘School's In’ by Lower Street for Stanford GSE
Stanford Graduate School of Education, one of the seven schools that make up the university, wanted to reboot a research-driven podcast series that had successfully appealed to educators, this time widening the appeal to include parents of the students. Production agency Lower Street was brought on board to relaunch the podcast with a new strategic focus, bringing together multiple teams from Stanford in a cross-campus effort to combine rigorous research with storytelling and personality.
The result was ‘School’s In’, a 12-episode season with broader appeal. While still anchored in Stanford faculty expertise, it used simplified language and co-host banter to boost clarity and accessibility, covering a varied range of topics such as edtech, AI and mental health among youngsters. Available across all major podcast platforms and as a video podcast on Stanford’s YouTube channel, the series was co-hosted by Dan Schwartz, the Dean of Stanford GSE, and Denise Pope, the school’s Senior Lecturer.
With 87,743 downloads, an average 67% episode completion rate and a 4.86/5 star rating, the reboot has more than matched the success of the original podcast series. Acclaim in both The Stanford Daily and Pod Bible further boosted credibility.
And certainly, ‘School’s In’ has successfully reinforced Stanford GSE’s thought leadership. It also confirmed there is a strong appetite for education content among parents, opening new pathways for engagement and influence in future seasons.
Branded Podcast Example 10: ‘Puteprat’ (‘Pillow Talk’) by Schibsted Partnerstudio for Kondomeriet
Kondomeriet, Norway’s leading sexual wellness retailer, recruited Schibsted Partnerstudio to produce a branded podcast to normalise conversations about intimacy. The result, ‘Puteprat’ (‘Pillow Talk’), is the branded content studio’s first fully commercial podcast, offering honest, expert-led conversations concerning sex and relationships. With well-known guests, ranging from sexologists to influencers, it prioritises humour, insight and relatability to reach a wide audience with content that is both entertaining and educational.
Central to the show is the audience, as their questions shape each episode, creating an intimate Q&A format. This has enabled Kondomeriet to foster deep audience trust with storytelling and honest dialogue that strengthens emotional resonance.
Strategically distributed across major platforms – including PodMe, Spotify and VGTV – the content has also been repurposed as short-form video for Instagram and TikTok, further expanding the reach. This omnichannel strategy also included cross-promotion via leading Schibsted podcasts and strong media amplification through the likes of VG and Aftenposten. Product giveaways involving partner brand Myyk, meanwhile, added interactivity and reinforced the brand identity.
The campaign has quickly exceeded goals to position Kondomeriet as a trusted, expert-led voice in sexual wellness, boost audience engagement and drive long-term brand preference. With high listener engagement, strong qualitative feedback and elevated brand affinity, listener participation and social sharing rates have surpassed expectations.
‘Puteprat’ has redefined how a sexual wellness brand can connect with its audience, proving that authenticity, participation and clever influencer strategy can break taboos whilst building a trusted, lasting relationship with listeners.
Kondomeriet famously has an ‘orgasm guarantee’ that a customer can return any product within 30 days if they aren’t happy. Suffice it to say, with ‘Puteprat’, it has delivered a product that satisfies all-comers.
