How to advertise on No Agenda Show: what it costs, who buys, and how to book

No Agenda Show sells its host-read inventory direct, quoted per campaign rather than off a rate card, and it does it in a way most feeds can't: nearly all of the tracked ads here are direct-response reads. Spotsnow data shows the direct-response share sits in the high nineties percent, so this is a coded-offer show, full stop. Its top spender, Manuka Gold, has run roughly 19 to 22 ads, the kind of repeat volume that tells you the reads are converting. For a buyer weighing this show, that mix means one thing: you're buying attribution, not a billboard. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys.

The show in question is No Agenda Show, the long-running independent media-analysis podcast built by Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak.

Why No Agenda Show is built for host-read direct response

Adam Curry is a former MTV VJ and one of podcasting's earliest builders, the reason people call him the Podfather. That credibility carries the reads. The show sits in news, with a satirical, media-criticism bent that keeps listeners in the feed for hours at a time.

Spotsnow data shows the direct-response share sits in the high nineties percent, which is why the reads lean on codes, spelled-out URLs, and attribution rather than image spots. Spotsnow estimates the audience at roughly 115,000 listeners, and that is an estimate, not an audited count. What matters more than the size is the format: this is a conversational show where the reads are woven into the flow of the episode, not walled off in an ad pod. A host endorsement here borrows the same trust the audience already extends to the hosts, and that sustained attention is exactly what a coded offer needs to land.

The engagement signal backs that up. On Apple Podcasts the show holds about 4.6 stars across roughly 5,200 to 6,000 ratings. Its influence is concentrated in the feed and its listener-donation community rather than spread across Instagram or YouTube, which is arguably a stronger position for direct response: the people who show up are the people who pay in.

Who is advertising on No Agenda Show

The roster runs broad, roughly 40 to 45 brands over the last three months by Spotsnow's count, dominated by small DTC and community-native names with a handful of recognizable brands appearing once. Recent buyers include Blueland, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Gigawatt Coffee Roasters, and Manuka Gold.

The anchor advertisers, broken down

Manuka Gold

Manuka Gold sells premium manuka honey. Spotsnow attributes roughly 19 to 22 ads to the brand and an estimated total spend of over $40K, classified as direct-response. It fits a health-curious, older, higher-income male audience that will buy a premium consumable on a trusted host's say-so.

Imagemakers Inc.

Imagemakers Inc. is a resume and executive career service. Spotsnow attributes roughly 11 to 13 ads and an estimated total spend of over $30K, all host reads, all direct-response. It fits mid-career and executive listeners rethinking what makes them valuable in a hiring market they no longer trust.

Gigawatt Coffee Roasters

Gigawatt Coffee Roasters is a specialty roaster that runs the code ITM20 for 20% off. Spotsnow attributes roughly 9 to 11 ads and an estimated total spend of over $20K, direct-response. It's a community-native brand, and the read is pure value-for-value: coded, repeatable, and aimed squarely at listeners who already give.

The one-off names

Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Blueland each show up once as a host read. Those are awareness buys, a different objective entirely, and they prove the feed can carry a one-off brand play alongside the coded-offer regulars without either feeling out of place.

All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.

Why news brands cluster here

The pattern isn't random. This is a feed where the hosts have spent years telling the audience which sources to distrust, so the endorsement carries unusual weight when it points the other way, toward a product. That's why the advertisers who stick around are premium consumables, career services, and community-native goods: things a listener buys because a voice they respect vouched for them, not because a banner interrupted them. The audience skews heavily male, mostly 35 and up, US-concentrated, with a healthy slice of high earners, which is a spending profile that matches honey at a premium and a resume rewrite at executive rates. And because the reads sit among donor shout-outs on a value-for-value show, the ask never feels like an ad break. It feels like part of the same economy the listener already opted into.

How your ad could sound

The Imagemakers Inc. read is a clinic in a few ways. The hook is sharp and current: "AI can write your resume. The problem is it can write everyone else's too." It names a real anxiety the audience feels, then hands it to a person, Linda, who "helps professionals and executives figure out what makes them different, what makes them valuable." That personal framing is why it works, and the handoff back into a donor shout-out is seamless.

Two things could be tighter. There's no code and no urgency, so nothing pushes a listener to act before the episode ends. And the spelled-out CTA, "imagemakers ink with a K," quietly admits the domain is easy to mistype, which is friction between a hooked listener and the checkout. A discount code and a reason to move now would close both gaps. Good host-read practice rewards a clean, single ask with a coded incentive, and this read has the ask without the incentive.

View what a great sample ad looks like here.

What makes a show like this convert

1. The format does the work. Reads sit inside the conversation, not in an ad pod, so the coded offer inherits the attention the hosts already hold.
2. Host credibility transfers. Adam Curry helped invent podcasting, and a recommendation from that chair reads as a vouch, not a rented slot.
3. The audience is a buyer. It skews male, mostly 35 and up, US-concentrated, with a healthy slice of high earners who already fund the show directly.
4. Brands come back. Manuka Gold's roughly 19 to 22 ads is the clearest proof the math works: nobody reruns a coded offer this many times if it isn't paying out.

No Agenda Show in a nutshell

The audience is older, mostly male, US-based, and higher-income, and it already pays into the show through listener donations. The regulars who buy here are small DTC and community brands like Manuka Gold, Imagemakers Inc., and Gigawatt Coffee Roasters, all running coded host reads, with occasional one-off names such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. The show is sold direct and quoted per campaign, with no network in the middle. If your goal is coded, attributable direct response to a loyal, high-trust audience, this feed is built for it.