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

Sawbones sells its host-read inventory through Maximum Fun, quoted per campaign rather than off a public rate card, and Spotsnow classifies 100% of its host-read ad activity as direct response. Its anchor advertiser, the scrubs brand Figs, has run a handful of host-read spots across the past year. That mix tells a buyer one thing up front: this is a coded-conversion feed, not a branding parade. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys. You can see the full profile for Sawbones on Spotsnow.

Why Sawbones is built for host-read direct response

Sawbones is hosted by Dr. Sydnee McElroy, a practicing physician, alongside her husband Justin McElroy. Spotsnow files the show under apparel & fashion through its top advertiser, though the audience is squarely science and health curious.

Spotsnow attributes all of the show's host-reads to direct response, which is what makes the format work here: promo codes, vanity URLs, and clean attribution back to a specific read. Spotsnow estimates the show reaches roughly 295,000 listeners, and that number is an estimate, not an audited count.

The format argument matters more than any rate. A doctor narrating misguided medical history keeps you inside the episode, and the comedy stops the ad break from feeling like an off-ramp. The reads run in the hosts' own voice, so the endorsement borrows the same attention the show already holds. That sustained attention is exactly what a host-read leans on to move a code.

Influence shows up in the feed. Spotsnow data shows a 4.8 average Apple Podcasts rating from roughly 14,000 to 15,500 ratings. The pull here is concentrated in the listening relationship rather than spread thin across social platforms, which is why coded reads convert against it.

Who is advertising on Sawbones

The roster is small and DTC-heavy, mixing healthcare-adjacent apparel with lifestyle subscription brands. Recognizable names include Figs, Squarespace, Smalls, Factor, and Quince.

The anchor advertisers, broken down

Figs

Figs sells direct-to-consumer healthcare apparel, mostly scrubs. Spotsnow data shows a handful of host-read spots on the show and estimates its total spend here at over $40K. Spotsnow classifies the brand as direct response. A physician host and an audience full of health workers is close to a native fit, which is why Figs sits at the top of the roster.

Squarespace

Squarespace sells website building and hosting. Spotsnow data shows a handful of host-read spots and estimates total spend on the show at over $30K, classified direct response. It's a broad DTC play that leans on a self-improvement, side-project audience, and a science-curious crowd overlaps neatly with that.

Smalls

Smalls sells fresh, human-grade cat food on subscription. Spotsnow data shows a handful of host-read spots and estimates total spend at over $30K, also direct response. It reads as an audience-adjacency buy: pet-owning, home-heavy listeners who care about what they put into a body, even a cat's.

The pattern across all three

There's no true awareness outlier here. Figs is healthcare-native, Squarespace and Smalls are broad subscription plays, but every one of them buys on a coded, direct-response basis. Different objectives, same mechanic: they all want a click they can trace.

All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.

Why science brands cluster here

A physician co-hosting a comedy show about medicine is a rare kind of credential. When Dr. McElroy reads a spot, the endorsement carries the same authority the episode just spent forty minutes building, and that authority transfers cleanly to a scrubs brand, a meal kit, or a pet-food subscription. The audience arrives already sorted for trust in evidence and curiosity about what actually works. That mindset is why the roster tilts toward health, home, and self-improvement DTC, and why a coded read here tends to get scanned rather than skipped. You're not renting attention. You're borrowing a doctor's word, in a room full of people who came for exactly that.

How your ad could sound

Here's a recent host-read on the show, a Factor spot, to hear the format in the hosts' own voice.

What works: the read opens on a real, human moment, being solo and hungry and reaching for junk, before it ever names the product. That personal framing earns the pivot. The enthusiasm is genuine (Let's eat real), and the offer lands with a code and URL that both carry the show name, so the attribution is clean on the way out.

Worth improving: the code and URL run together fast, and sawbones50off is easy to mishear as two things at once. The terms crowd the call to action, and there's little urgency beyond while supplies last. Slowing the code down and giving it a clean beat of its own would recover conversions a rushed read loses.

View what a great sample ad looks like here.

What makes a show like this convert

1. The host-read format holds attention. Reads run in the hosts' voice mid-episode, so the ad rides the same engagement the show already built.
2. Host credibility is a physician's. Dr. McElroy is a practicing doctor, and an endorsement from that chair carries weight a produced spot can't buy.
3. The audience is primed to act. Spotsnow describes younger adults, leaning female, solidly middle-to-upper income, and mostly in the US, a group receptive to health and home DTC offers.
4. Brands come back. Figs has run a handful of host-read spots and its anchor peers repeat too, which is the clearest signal the math is working.

Sawbones in a nutshell

Spotsnow estimates the show reaches roughly 295,000 listeners, younger adults who skew female, middle-to-upper income, and mostly US-based. Figs, Squarespace, and Smalls already buy here, all on host-reads and all direct response. The show is sold on a quoted, per-campaign basis through Maximum Fun, not a public rate card. If you're a DTC brand chasing coded conversions, this is a direct-response feed, not an awareness buy.