How to advertise on True Crime Obsessed: what it costs, who buys, and how to book

True Crime Obsessed sells its host-read inventory on a quoted, per-campaign basis, not off a public rate card. Spotsnow attributes almost all of the show's ad activity to direct response, which tells you what the feed is built for: coded, trackable reads that a buyer can measure. Chime, the top spender here, has run roughly 5 to 6 host reads on the show, and the roster around it leans the same way. If you're a DTC brand weighing this buy, the mix reads clearly: this is a conversion feed, not a branding play. Spotsnow estimates all of this from tracked advertiser activity, not audience surveys. True Crime Obsessed pairs documentary recaps with two-host comedy, and that format matters more than any single number.

Why True Crime Obsessed is built for host-read direct response

Patrick Hinds comes out of Broadway and theater; his co-host Gillian Pensavalle is a professional voice-over artist and actor. Together they founded the Obsessed Network. The show sits in financial services advertiser territory as much as true crime, given how many fintech brands buy here.

Spotsnow attributes nearly all of the show's host reads to direct response. That format works because the offer travels with the host's voice: a promo code, a vanity URL, a discount a listener can act on mid-episode, all of it attributable back to the spot. Spotsnow estimates reach at roughly 690,000 listeners, and calls that an estimate rather than an audited count. What holds the ad break is the banter. Two hosts talking over each other about a documentary keep listeners in the room, and a host-read borrows exactly that attention when the pivot to a sponsor lands inside the same conversation.

Its influence is concentrated in the feed and on Instagram, where Spotsnow data shows a following of about 134,000. The audience skews young and heavily female, sits mostly in the US, and spreads across solid middle-to-upper income, per Spotsnow. That's a group that follows codes and buys on recommendation, which is why the roster looks the way it does.

Who is advertising on True Crime Obsessed

Spotsnow lists roughly 31 to 36 advertisers active on the show in the recent window, weighted toward fintech, wellness, and subscription commerce. Recognizable names on the roster include Shopify, Rocket Money, ZipRecruiter, DraftKings, and Quince.

The anchor advertisers, broken down

Chime

Chime runs fee-light mobile banking for everyday Americans. Spotsnow data shows roughly 5 to 6 host reads on the show and estimated total spend over $100K, classified as direct response. A young, US, middle-income audience is exactly Chime's everyday-banking base, which is why it keeps coming back to this feed.

Zenni

Zenni sells affordable prescription eyewear online. Spotsnow data shows roughly 4 to 5 host reads on the show and estimated total spend over $100K, classified as direct response. A budget-savvy, mostly female audience that already shops online is a natural fit for low-cost glasses bought on a code.

Butcher Box

Butcher Box delivers a meat subscription straight to the door. Spotsnow data shows roughly 4 to 5 host reads on the show and estimated total spend over $100K, classified as direct response. Household grocery decision-makers who are already comfortable with subscriptions convert well on a recurring offer read by a trusted host.

DraftKings, the outlier

DraftKings runs here as a produced spot rather than a host read, a brand-awareness objective in a feed built for attribution. It shows a different playbook can still work in this audience, even if it's the exception to the direct-response rule.

All spend figures are Spotsnow estimates.

Why true crime brands cluster here

The pattern isn't random. Fintech, wellness, and food subscriptions all want the same buyer: a young woman in the US with money to spend and a habit of acting on a recommendation. True Crime Obsessed delivers that buyer inside a format that keeps her listening through the break, and the hosts have spent years building the kind of trust that makes a coded offer land as advice rather than an interruption. When Chime, Zenni, and Butcher Box each spend past six figures on a show and keep re-upping, that's not brand experimentation. It's a channel that returns. The comedy is the delivery system; the attribution is the reason the money stays.

How your ad could sound

This Salt and Stone read shows the format at its best and its most avoidable mistake. What works: the two hosts trade off naturally, and the hook is concrete and sensory, right down to "smell like a five star lobby." There's a personal frame ("somebody literally at the gym asked me what deodorant I was wearing"), which does more selling than any spec sheet, and the offer is clean: "saltinstone.com/tco and use code tco for 15% off your first order." The handoff back to the case is seamless.

What to fix: the code and URL get muddled in a repeated run of "what deodorant, what deodorant," so by the time the call to action arrives it lands soft. Say the code once, clearly, and say it twice at most. There's also no deadline on the 15%, so nothing pushes a listener to act now instead of later. A simple "this week only" would give the offer urgency the banter can't supply on its own.

View what a great sample ad looks like here.

What makes a show like this convert

1. The format carries the offer. A host read folded into two-host banter holds attention through the break in a way a produced spot can't.
2. Host credibility does the persuading. Hinds and Pensavalle have years of trust with a loyal fan base, so a recommendation reads as advice.
3. The audience acts on codes. Spotsnow data shows a young, heavily female, US audience with middle-to-upper income, the profile most likely to redeem a promo code.
4. Repeat buying proves the math. Chime alone has run roughly 5 to 6 host reads on the show; brands don't re-up like that unless the attribution comes back clean.

True Crime Obsessed in a nutshell

The audience is young, heavily female, mostly US, and comfortable spending, per Spotsnow. Fintech, wellness, and subscription brands already buy here, almost entirely on host reads: Chime, Zenni, and Butcher Box each land past six figures in estimated spend. The show is sold on a quoted, per-campaign basis through the hosts' own Obsessed Network. If your objective is coded, measurable direct response, this feed is set up for it; if you want pure awareness, you'd be swimming against the current.