October Podcast Roundup: Chills & Thrills

As the leaves turn brown and the nights grow longer, it’s the perfect time for advertisers to partner with SiriusXM Media’s robust slate of true crime hits and spooky folklore. Treat your brand to our impressive lineup of award-winning titles and seamlessly weave your messaging into spine-chilling narratives that listeners can’t get enough of. The captivating tone of this thrilling genre makes each show more bingable than the next, with 89% of US weekly listeners 13+ having binged true crime podcasts. Think beyond traditional ads—this is a prime opportunity to capture highly engaged audiences through bone-rattling tales and hair-raising mysteries this Halloween season. 

Campfire Stories

Halloween’s creeping up, and everyone’s entitled to one good scare. So dim the lights, grab some headphones, and listen to Full Body Chills. It’s the product of Ashley Flowers’ (Crime Junkie) worst nightmares and every advertiser's dream. With fan-submitted short stories, talented voice actors, and eerie soundscapes, the show captivates a passionate female audience that keeps coming back for more. Celebrating its sixth year, the show will pay homage to fan-favorite episodes with chilling callbacks and references.

Partners in (True) Crime

For the mystery-seeker, True Crime Garage is a binge-worthy chatcast shrouded in a chilling atmosphere. Full of insoluble stories of the missing, hosts Nic and Pat Edwards invite their long-time listeners to grab a drink (or two) as they plummet down the rabbit hole of unsolved cases. With a vulnerable, light-hearted, and sometimes humorous approach to storytelling, True Crime Garage remains one of the country’s most listened-to true crime podcasts, drawing in millions of highly engaged millennial women since 2015. 

Ghouls Night In

Forget about wishing you had the brattiest summer (sorry Charli), it’s spooky ghoul fall. And the Queen of True Crime, Ashley Flowers, has teamed up with crime-fighting sister duo Yvette Gentile and Rasha Pecoraro to deliver a unique twist on true crime storytelling on So Supernatural. Most mysteries can be solved by looking at the facts. But sometimes, the truth lies somewhere in the unknown. Enter the supernatural realm of true crime’s most bizarre occurrences and access a tight-knit female audience of believers, skeptics, and lovers of the obscure. 

Scream Queens

The First Degree gives off “final girl” energy—hosted by two fierce women, telling stories filled with nail-biting suspense. Each episode is told through the eyes of a guest who is one degree of separation from the crime. Lifelong friends Jac Vanek and Alexis Linkletter deliver a new perspective to the already fascinating true crime landscape by offering listeners a chance to weigh in on the stories they share, as 44% of true crime listeners enjoy tuning into episodes where the hosts incorporate listener stories and feedback (114 index). They’ve even heeded listeners’ calls for fresh content, launching a weekly series within The First Degree feed called Killing Time, where their predominantly female audience can step away from the gore and into the personalities behind the mic. 

The Haunting Hour

What’s your favorite scary podcast? I’ll go first—it’s Scared to Death. Every week, comedian Dan Cummins (Timesuck) attempts to playfully spook his wife Lynze with two alleged-to-be-true tales of the supernatural. Referred to as creepers and peepers, Scared To Death's audience consists primarily of Gen Z and millennial thrill-seekers with a strong affinity for spine-tingling stories. Dan has become quite the storyteller, releasing a miniseries called Nightmare Fuel , showcasing his own written work in the horror fiction genre. And his fans are obsessed, saying, “The addition of Dan’s fictional stories has shaken up the now long-running podcast and has reinvigorated my love for the show.” 

New England Nightmares

The audiochuck network is heading to the East Coast to unveil the chilling history of Maine and New England on Dark Downeast. Host and granddaughter of a lobster fisherman, Kylie Low, is a born and raised Mainer on a mission to honor the legacy of the humans at the heart of each story. In a recent report conducted by Edison Research, we discovered that 77% of true crime podcast listeners are more interested in consuming true crime content if it’s victim-centered. No wonder Dark Downeast is topping the charts. It’s giving heart-centered, ethical true crime presented as a mix of compelling narrations and documentary-style production. Brands can tap in and support the cause by creating authentic, relatable ad experiences that resonate with Kylie’s young female audience of at-home detectives.  

Interested in advertising on one of these shows? Start a chat with us… if you dare.