How to advertise on Heart Starts Pounding: what it costs, who buys, and how to book
Lex Quintilla
Advertiser Partnerships Manager
Heart Starts Pounding sells its host-read inventory direct, quoted per campaign rather than off a public rate card. Spotsnow attributes a near-total direct-response posture to the show: roughly 98% of tracked ads are coded-offer host reads, the promo-code kind that a brand can trace back to a sale. Its top spender, Alma, has run roughly 10 to 12 ads here. For a buyer weighing this feed, that mix is the whole story: this is an attribution play, not a branding buy, and the repeat spend says the codes are working. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys. Here's the full Heart Starts Pounding profile on Spotsnow.
Why Heart Starts Pounding is built for host-read direct response
Host Kaelyn Moore comes to true crime with a film background, including development and production work in the horror world and a producer credit on the Are You Afraid of the Dark? reboot at Nickelodeon. The show sits in true crime and mental health care territory when you look at who buys it.
Spotsnow data shows direct-response makes up roughly 98% of tracked ads. That share matters because a host read carries a code or a URL, and the code is what closes the loop between a listen and a checkout. Spotsnow estimates the show reaches roughly 126,000 listeners, and that reach is an estimate, not a counted figure.
The format argument is about attention. Moore builds a case slowly, then breaks for the ad while a listener is still leaning in, and a host read borrows that held attention instead of interrupting it. When she says she hides bags of a product from her husband, the endorsement rides the same voice that just walked you through a cold case. That's the sustained attention a coded offer needs to convert.
The influence backs it up. Spotsnow data shows a 4.8-star Apple Podcasts rating across roughly 4,050 to 4,730 reviews, with roughly 885,000 Instagram followers. The audience skews strongly female, concentrated in younger and mid-career adults, mostly in the US with a Canadian and UK slice. Influence here is concentrated in the feed and on Instagram, which is exactly where a coded read lands.
Who is advertising on Heart Starts Pounding
The roster runs roughly 62 to 72 advertisers over the last few months, weighted heavily toward host-read direct response with a handful of produced awareness spots mixed in. Recognizable names include Shopify, Quince, Merit Beauty, Liquid IV, and Bombas.
The anchor advertisers, broken down
Alma
Alma runs a nationwide network that matches people with therapists and handles insurance and billing for providers. Spotsnow data shows roughly 10 to 12 ads on the show and an estimated total spend over $30K, classified direct-response. It fits an audience that sits with heavy, anxiety-adjacent subject matter every week and takes mental health seriously.
Solace Health
Solace Health is a patient-advocacy service that helps people navigate complex care and the systems around it. Spotsnow data shows roughly 7 to 8 ads and estimated total spend over $20K, classified direct-response. It fits listeners already thinking about health, uncertainty, and getting help when the process is confusing.
Kachava
Kachava sells a plant-based whole-body meal shake built around protein and superfoods. Spotsnow data shows roughly 5 ads and estimated total spend over $20K, classified direct-response. It fits a young, health-conscious, mostly female audience looking for convenient wellness.
The outlier: Carvana
Carvana runs here as a produced, brand-awareness spot with no coded host endorsement. It's a reminder that a pure-reach objective can buy this feed too, even though the core of the show is coded direct response.
| Brand | Est. total spend | Direct-response | Time of spend (last 1 year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alma | over $30K | Direct-response | Active, most recent Aug 2026 |
| Solace Health | over $20K | Direct-response | Active, most recent Aug 2026 |
| Kachava | over $20K | Direct-response | Active, most recent Aug 2026 |
All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.
Why wellness and health-services brands cluster here
Look at the anchors and a pattern shows up fast: therapy matching, patient advocacy, a nutrition shake. These aren't impulse buys. They're decisions people make when something in their life feels heavy or unmanaged, which is the exact emotional register the show operates in. Moore spends every episode with fear, grief, and unresolved cases, and her audience shows up ready to sit in that. A mental health or wellness brand that reads into that mood isn't fighting the content, it's extending it. Pair that with a host who has built genuine authority through storytelling, and a coded offer stops feeling like an ad and starts feeling like a recommendation from someone the listener trusts. That's why the health-services money keeps coming back.
How your ad could sound
Kachava host read on Heart Starts Pounding
The Kachava read is a clean model of what converts here. The hook is personal and specific: Moore says she has "hidden bags on the lowest shelves in the cabinet so that he can never find them." That's product-in-life framing, not a script. The offer is single and clear: "Go to kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your next order." One product, one code, one action.
Two things to sharpen. The code (HSP) lands once and late, so a listener who tuned back in at the end has to catch it on the first pass. Anchor it earlier or repeat it. And the CTA has no urgency, no deadline or scarcity to push the click now rather than later. A time-boxed offer would give the coded read more teeth.
View what a great sample ad looks like here.
What makes a show like this convert
- The format does the selling. A host read that carries a code turns held attention into a trackable action, which is why roughly 98% of tracked ads here are direct response.
- Host credibility transfers. Moore's storytelling authority, backed by a 4.8-star Apple rating, makes an endorsement read like advice.
- The audience is dialed in. An estimated 126,000 listeners who skew female and lean into heavy subject matter are primed for health, wellness, and self-care offers.
- Brands come back. Alma's roughly 10 to 12 reads are the proof the math works, because nobody repeats a coded buy that isn't paying out.
Heart Starts Pounding in a nutshell
An estimated 126,000 listeners, skewing strongly female and concentrated in younger and mid-career adults, mostly in the US. The buyers who repeat are health and wellness brands like Alma, Solace Health, and Kachava, almost all on coded host reads. The show is sold direct, quoted per campaign rather than off a rate card. If your goal is trackable direct response, this feed fits; if you only want reach with no attribution, there are cheaper places to buy it.
Frequently asked questions
Heart Starts Pounding is sold on a quoted basis rather than a public rate card. Four things move the number: placement (mid-roll host-read prices above pre-roll and post-roll), read type (a host endorsement prices above a produced spot), commitment length (multi-episode flights and category exclusivity price better than a single test), and how close you are to the air date. For market context, a host-read spot on a typical show costs a brand roughly $20 to $30 for every thousand listeners it reaches. In-demand shows clear well above that. The more useful signal for this show is who already buys: Alma has run roughly 10 to 12 ads, alongside Solace Health and Kachava. Repeat buying at that level tells you more about where a show prices, and what it's worth to the brands buying it, than an outside estimate can.
Ads run on most episodes, so the show is in demand and inventory moves fast. Plan on reaching out sooner than you think you need to.
About 1 week to book, 2 to 3 weeks to produce and run, plus 2 to 3 weeks of lead time, so roughly 5 to 7 weeks end to end.
Heart Starts Pounding is sold direct rather than through one of the large networks. You can approach the host's representation, WME, or book through a platform that already has the show in its inventory. You can view different advertising platforms here.
Yes, and they're the anchors. Alma, Solace Health, and Kachava are the top three spenders, all on coded host reads, all active as recently as August 2026. If you're a mental health, wellness, or health-services brand, the category is already proven on this feed.
Heart Starts Pounding isn't the only feed reaching this audience. Spotsnow shows which true crime podcasts have host-read spots open right now, and which brands already buy them.
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