How to advertise on Crime Junkie: what it costs, who buys, and how to book

Crime Junkie sells its host-read inventory on a quoted, per-campaign basis, not off a public rate card, and Spotsnow attributes an unusually direct-response posture to that activity, well into the 90s percent. The hardest number in the file: SoFi has run roughly 8 to 9 ads on the show and Spotsnow estimates its total spend there at over $3M, the biggest anchor commitment in the dataset. For a buyer, that mix reads plainly. Brands are here to move a coded action, and one is spending like the math holds. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys.

The show is Crime Junkie on Spotsnow, hosted by Ashley Flowers with co-host Brit Prawat.

Why Crime Junkie is built for host-read direct response

Ashley Flowers holds a Bachelor of Science in forensic psychology and founded the network that produces the show. Crime Junkie sits in true crime, part of the broader financial services advertiser base that spends heavily against it, led by SoFi.

Spotsnow attributes a direct-response share to this show that runs well into the 90s percent. That format matters because a host-read carries a code, a vanity URL, or a slash-page that ties the buy back to a measurable action. Crime Junkie holds attention the way DR needs it held. The storytelling is serialized and tense, so listeners don't skip the break the way they skip filler, and when Flowers reads an offer in her own voice, the endorsement borrows the trust she built narrating the case. Spotsnow estimates reach at roughly 7,400,000 listeners, an estimated audience that skews young, female, and mostly US-based.

The influence backs it up. The show holds an Apple Podcasts average rating of 4.7 across roughly 364,000 ratings, with an Instagram following near 1,400,000 and roughly 610,000 YouTube subscribers, plus active accounts on X and TikTok. That's broad engagement across platforms, and it was named Apple Podcasts' #1 show in both 2022 and 2023.

Who is advertising on Crime Junkie

Spotsnow tracked well over 100 brands against the show in the recent window, weighted toward finance, health, home security, and insurance. Recognizable names include SoFi, State Farm, GoodRx, SimpliSafe, and BetterHelp.

The anchor advertisers, broken down

SoFi

SoFi sells digital banking, loans, and investing to young professionals. Spotsnow data shows roughly 8 to 9 ads on the show and estimates total spend at over $3M, classified direct-response. A young, female-leaning, mostly US audience thinking about financial independence is exactly who SoFi wants opening an account.

GoodRx

GoodRx runs a prescription price-comparison platform and telehealth service. Spotsnow data shows roughly 9 to 11 ads here and estimates total spend at over $1M, direct-response. A cost-conscious, largely middle-income female audience managing household health is a clean fit for a save-on-meds offer.

SimpliSafe

SimpliSafe sells DIY home security systems with 24/7 monitoring. Spotsnow data shows roughly 9 to 11 ads on the show and estimates total spend at over $1M, direct-response. This is the sharpest audience match on the roster: people who spend hours a week thinking about intruders and cold cases are primed to buy safety at home.

The outlier: State Farm

Not everyone here is chasing a code. State Farm runs produced spots rather than host-reads, an awareness play sitting alongside the DR buyers. It shows a brand objective can work in this feed too, just with a different read type and a different measure of success.

All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.

Why true crime brands cluster here

The advertiser mix isn't random. It maps to a state of mind. Flowers walks through investigations with a forensic-psychology framing, and the audience listens in a solve-the-case posture, alert, skeptical, primed to act on new information. A home security pitch lands harder in a feed that spends every episode on what happens when safety fails. A save-on-medication offer lands with a mostly middle-income audience already doing the mental math. And a bank that talks about taking control of your money slots neatly into a show about people who wish they'd taken control sooner. The authority is Flowers' voice, the mindset is the audience's, and the read type is the bridge between them.

How your ad could sound

This Function Health read is a good template. What works: Flowers anchors it in something personal ("Over the weekend I was at a cookout with some friends, one of which was also a Function Member"), which keeps the endorsement in her voice rather than a script. The offer is concrete, "over 160 lab tests for $1 per day," and the handoff is clean: "Join at Function Health dot com slash Crime Junkie, and use code Crime Junkie."

Two things worth tightening. The offer and the discount code arrive fast and stacked together, which can bury the code for a listener half-driving. And there's no deadline on the credit, so nothing pushes a click now instead of later. Separate the URL from the code by a beat, and add even a soft urgency line, and the same read converts harder. View what a great sample ad looks like here.

What makes a show like this convert

1. The format does the selling. A host-read in Flowers' voice carries a code or slash-page, so the buy ties back to a measurable action instead of a vague impression.
2. Host credibility transfers. A forensic-psychology background and a 4.7 Apple rating across roughly 364,000 ratings mean the endorsement borrows real trust.
3. The audience is the buyer. An estimated 7,400,000 listeners who skew young, female, and US-based line up with finance, health, and home security offers.
4. Repeat buying proves the math. SoFi's roughly 8 to 9 ads and over $3M in estimated spend is not a one-off test; brands come back when the returns hold.

Crime Junkie in a nutshell

An estimated 7,400,000 listeners, skewing young, female, and US-based, tuned in for tense serialized true crime hosted by Ashley Flowers. The brands already buying, SoFi, GoodRx, and SimpliSafe among them, run host-read direct-response spots, while a few like State Farm run produced awareness reads. Inventory is sold on a quoted, per-campaign basis through the show's network, not off a rate card. If your goal is coded, trackable conversions to a finance, health, home, or subscription offer, this is a direct-response feed first.