---
title: Why Squarespace went all-in on podcasts  - The Hustle
description: The $4B+ website builder grew its business by perfecting audio ads.
image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/131478938-News-Brief_2022-02-15T042421.280Z.webp
---

# Why Squarespace went all-in on podcasts

![Trung T. Phan](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Image-from-iOS-300x300.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=Image-from-iOS-300x300.jpg) [Trung T. Phan](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/trung-t-phan) [Trung T. Phan Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/TrungTPhan)

Published:  February 15, 2022

Updated:  October 11, 2023

When it comes to podcast ads, few names are as prominent as Squarespace.

![Why Squarespace went all-in on podcasts](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/131478938-News-Brief_2022-02-15T042421.280Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=131478938-News-Brief_2022-02-15T042421.280Z.webp)

The website building company splashed out on a [Super Bowl ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0rl8j5631Q) on Sunday, but has spent more than a decade filling our ears with promo codes.

#### **The first Squarespace podcast ad…**

… was in 2009. Founder and CEO Anthony Casalena paid ~$20k to run an ad on *This Week in Tech*, per [*The New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/13/business/how-did-squarespace-know-podcasts-would-get-this-big.html?referringSource=articleShare).

In a post-customer survey, Casalena discovered that ⅓ of Squarespace’s new subs came from the podcast. From this initial win, Squarespace went all-in on podcasts:

- In 2015, Squarespace was spending **2.5x more on podcasts** than the next highest company (Stamps.com)
- It has advertised on as many as **400 podcasts **at once
- It was once responsible for** a third of all revenue for Midroll**, a podcast ad placement platform

#### **The economics make sense for Squarespace**

When a customer sets up a website and domain, the cost — in time and money — of switching to another provider is very high.

According to *NYT*,* *“If they spent $500 on a podcast with a tiny audience and scored 20 subscribers, it was worth it.” And these ads often outperformed Facebook or Google.

Squarespace is now a public firm valued at $4B+. And while its Zendaya Super Bowl ad was good, we know what media format got the company here.

Topics: [Podcast](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/podcast)

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