How to advertise on The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi: what it costs, who buys, and how to book

Host-read inventory on The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi is sold on a quoted, per-campaign basis, not off a public rate card. Spotsnow attributes an estimated over $10,000 in tracked spend to the show's top advertiser, and Spotsnow estimates roughly 82% to 90% of ads here run as direct response. The anchor buyer, BetterHelp, has run roughly 7 to 8 ads on the feed. For a buyer, that mix reads as a coded-offer testbed, not a pure awareness play. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys. See the full profile for The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi.

Why The Downside is built for host-read direct response

The show is hosted by Gianmarco Soresi, a stand-up comedian who built the feed around dark humor and unfiltered interviews. It sits in mental health care territory on the buyer side, because its top spender sells therapy. Spotsnow estimates roughly 82% to 90% of ads here are direct response, and that format matters: codes, custom URLs, and clean attribution let a brand tie a spend line to actual signups. Spotsnow estimates the show reaches roughly 320,000 listeners, a figure treated as an estimate.

The comedy format is what holds attention through the break. Soresi's read comes off as a bit, not a pause in the show, so the ad borrows the same attention the interview earns. That's the whole argument for a host endorsement over a produced spot: the audience stays in the room.

On Apple Podcasts the show holds a 4.7 average across roughly 330 to 380 ratings, per Spotsnow data. Its influence is concentrated in the feed and in that Apple engagement rather than spread thin across social platforms, which is where the host-read conversion lives anyway.

Who is advertising on The Downside

Spotsnow data shows a deep, DTC-heavy roster, roughly 98 to 114 brands seen in the recent window, leaning toward services and subscription offers aimed at younger men. Recognizable names on the feed include LinkedIn, Mint Mobile, GEICO, Shopify, and Bombas.

The anchor advertisers, broken down

BetterHelp

BetterHelp sells online therapy memberships. Spotsnow data shows it has run roughly 7 to 8 ads on the show, with an estimated total spend of over $10,000, classified as direct response. Therapy for a young, cynical, mostly male audience that opts into a show about life's downsides is close to a perfect content-to-offer match.

MIDI Health

MIDI Health runs virtual care for women in perimenopause and menopause. Spotsnow estimates its total spend on the show at under $10,000, a mid-tier position, classified as direct response. It's a telehealth offer testing an audience that skews the other way, betting the feed pulls enough spillover reach to convert.

ShipStation

ShipStation sells shipping and fulfillment software for e-commerce sellers. Spotsnow estimates its total spend here at under $10,000, also mid-tier, classified as direct response. Younger, US-based, middle-income listeners map to the side-hustle and small-store operators ShipStation chases.

LinkedIn, the outlier

LinkedIn buys here on a produced, brand basis rather than a coded host-read. It proves a straight awareness objective can still find a home on a feed that otherwise runs on attribution.

All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.

Why comedy brands cluster here

A dark-comedy feed sounds like a strange place for therapy and telehealth, until you look at who's listening. The audience skews male and young, mostly in their 20s and 30s, middle-income, and heavily US-based. They opted into a show that rejects forced positivity, which means they've already told you they'll sit through something honest and unpolished. That is exactly the register a host-read wants. When Soresi vouches for a therapy subscription or a shipping tool, it lands as a recommendation from someone the listener trusts to be blunt, not a jingle. Coded offers convert on that trust, and the repeat buying from BetterHelp says the math held up more than once.

How your ad could sound

Here's a real spot pulled from a recent episode of the show.

If you're briefing a host-read for this feed, keep it in Soresi's voice. Open with a hook that sounds like the show, frame the product through a personal angle, and hand off to a clean offer with a code the listener can actually remember. Say the code twice, put urgency behind it, and don't bury the URL under a joke. A produced spot can run, but it forfeits the trust the host carries, which is the reason the direct-response numbers work here in the first place.

View what a great sample ad looks like here.

What makes a show like this convert

1. The format does the work. Spotsnow estimates roughly 82% to 90% of ads here are direct response, so the read is built to drive a click, not just an impression.
2. Host credibility carries the offer. A 4.7 Apple rating across roughly 330 to 380 ratings signals an audience that trusts the host's word.
3. The audience is coherent. Spotsnow estimates roughly 320,000 listeners who skew young, male, and US-based, a tight target for DTC and services.
4. Advertisers come back. BetterHelp's roughly 7 to 8 ads is the clearest proof the return justified the repeat.

The Downside in a nutshell

The audience is young, mostly male, middle-income, and concentrated in the US, drawn to blunt, dark-humor conversation. BetterHelp anchors the roster on host-read direct response, with MIDI Health and ShipStation buying alongside it and LinkedIn running a produced awareness spot. Inventory is quoted per campaign rather than sold off a rate card. For a brand with a coded offer and a clean landing page, this is a direct-response buy first and an awareness buy second.