How to advertise on Keep It!: what it costs, who buys, and how to book

Keep It! sells its host-read inventory the way most Crooked Media shows do: quoted per campaign, not off a public rate card. Spotsnow attributes a near-total direct-response posture to the feed, with coded host-reads making up roughly 98 percent of its ads. Nutrafol, the show's top spender by Spotsnow's estimate, has run roughly 6 to 7 reads on the feed. For a buyer, that mix reads clearly: this is a coded-attribution show where DTC brands come back, not a pure awareness play. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys.

You can see the full profile for Keep It! on Spotsnow.

Why Keep It! is built for host-read direct response

Louis Virtel, an Emmy-nominated writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Pop Culture Jeopardy, co-hosts with cultural critic and author Ira Madison III. Spotsnow files the show under media production, though its listening pool leans comedy and society & culture.

That roughly 98 percent direct-response share, per Spotsnow, is the number a performance buyer cares about most. It means the format here does real work: codes, vanity URLs, and offers that a media team can actually trace back to a spend. Spotsnow estimates reach at roughly 200,000 listeners per episode, and the audience size is an estimate, not an audited count. The reason coded reads land here is attention. Virtel and Madison talk in long, opinionated runs, so the ad break isn't a hard cut to a jingle; the host carries the same voice into the read. That sustained attention is exactly what a host endorsement borrows against.

Engagement backs it up. Spotsnow data shows an Apple Podcasts rating around 4.6 stars across roughly 9,800 ratings, which is a deep well of repeat listeners for a weekly show. The influence here is concentrated in the feed itself rather than spread thin across a dozen platforms, and for a host-read buy that is the concentration you want: the trust lives where the ad runs.

Who is advertising on Keep It!

Spotsnow tracked roughly 146 to 170 advertisers on the show in its recent window, a roster tilted toward DTC wellness, sleep, and subscription brands. Recognizable names include BetterHelp, Squarespace, Quince, Mint Mobile, and Abercrombie.

The anchor advertisers, broken down

Nutrafol

Nutrafol sells a physician-formulated hair-growth supplement. Spotsnow data shows it running roughly 6 to 7 host-reads on Keep It!, with estimated total spend over $40K, classified as direct response. It fits a style-aware, wellness-minded, majority-female audience that acts on a coded offer, which is why it keeps coming back.

Helix

Helix builds custom mattresses matched to a sleep questionnaire. Spotsnow data shows roughly 5 to 6 host-reads here, with estimated total spend over $40K, also direct response. It's a DTC mainstay that lives on host-read codes, and Keep It!'s urban, higher-income listeners are squarely the kind of buyer that funnel converts.

Crooked

Crooked, the progressive media company that produces the show, cross-promotes its own sister podcasts and live events. Spotsnow data shows roughly 11 to 13 appearances, a mix of host-reads and produced spots, with estimated total spend over $30K. It's the show's own media home reaching an already politically engaged crowd.

The house-brand outlier

Crooked is also the outlier worth naming. Unlike Nutrafol or Helix chasing a coded conversion, the network runs its own cross-promotion, a different objective entirely. It proves the feed can carry awareness and community-building work, not just DTC math, which is useful context if your goal is association rather than a trackable click.

All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.

Why comedy brands cluster here

The roster isn't random. Nutrafol, Helix, BetterHelp, and Quince all sell to a listener who is style-conscious, spends on wellness, and trusts a recommendation from a voice they already like. Virtel and Madison have credibility that money can't buy quickly: two working writers with real pop-culture authority and a queer-centered, engaged, largely US audience that skews female and young-to-mid adult. That combination is why coded offers convert here. When a host who dissects celebrity culture all week says a mattress or a supplement is worth trying, it lands as a personal endorsement, not an interruption. Repeat buying is the tell. Brands don't run six or seven reads on a feed that doesn't move product.

How your ad could sound

Host-read for Strawberry.me on Keep It!

This Strawberry.me read is a clean model of what works on the feed. Virtel opens with a personal hook, then frames the pitch in his own language, splitting the difference between reasons for staying and excuses for not leaving. The line "It's like therapy for your career" does the heavy lifting: one plain analogy, one offer, one code. The handoff feels native, not scripted.

Where it could tighten: the close leans soft. "Find out if career coaching is right for you" is an invitation with no deadline, so there's nothing pushing a listener to act tonight rather than later. A dated offer or a one-line reason to move now would sharpen the conversion without touching the tone that makes the read work.

View what a great sample ad looks like here.

What makes a show like this convert

1. The format does the selling. A near-98 percent direct-response mix, per Spotsnow, means the reads are built for codes and trackable URLs, not vague awareness.
2. Host credibility carries the pitch. An Emmy-nominated writer and a published critic vouch in their own voice, so the endorsement reads as trust rather than a rate-card slot.
3. The audience is a buying audience. Roughly 200,000 estimated listeners who skew female, young-to-mid adult, higher income, and US-based are the profile DTC wellness and home brands chase.
4. Repeat buying proves the math. Nutrafol's roughly 6 to 7 reads, per Spotsnow, is the clearest signal a brand isn't testing here, it's renewing.

Keep It! in a nutshell

The listeners are queer-centered, engaged, skew female and young-to-mid adult, higher income, and mostly US-based, with an estimated reach around 200,000 per episode. DTC brands already buy here on host-reads, Nutrafol and Helix among the top spenders, alongside the Crooked house engine. The show is sold on a quoted, per-campaign basis through Crooked Media, not off a public rate card. With a near-total direct-response share, it suits performance and coded-offer buys more than pure brand awareness, though the house cross-promos show association work can run too.