A host brief is a short document, usually a page or two, that gives a podcast host what they need to talk about a product in their own words. It covers who the product is for, the one idea the read should land, the offer and its exact terms, the few lines that must be said word for word, the claims the host can and cannot make, and the code or URL listeners should use. A good brief reads like the start of a conversation. A brief that reads like a script tends to come back sounding like one, and it gives away most of what makes a host-read worth buying.
Why the brief matters as much as the show
When a brand buys a host-read it is buying a minute of the host’s credibility with their listeners, and the brief decides how well that minute is used. Nielsen’s research from October 2020 found that host-read ads produced, on average, a 50% increase in purchase and recommendation intent compared with ads that were not host-read. That advantage depends on the host sounding like themselves, which a brief can protect or spend, so two brands on the same episode at the same price can get very different results from the page each one sent.
What goes in a brief
We keep our briefs to the same ten parts, in roughly this order, so a host who has read one of ours can find what they need in the next.
- The product in one sentence, written the way a listener would describe it to a friend.
- Who it suits, and who it does not, so the host can speak to the right people in their audience.
- One idea for the read to land. If there are three, the host will choose one anyway, so we choose it.
- Three to five talking points, each with the reason behind it, so the host can use the reason in their own words.
- The offer, with its exact terms, the code, the URL and the date it ends.
- Mandatory lines, meaning anything that must be said exactly, with pronunciations and the URL spelled out as it should be read.
- Claims the host can make and claims to avoid, with the evidence behind the ones they can.
- The placement, the length and whether the read is recorded into the episode or inserted dynamically.
- Disclosure, where the format needs more than the read being plainly an ad.
- Deadlines, and where to send the aircheck once the episode is out.
Why talking points work better
Talking points give the host facts and reasons and leave the phrasing to them, which is what lets the read sound of a piece with the show around it. A script asks the host to perform someone else’s sentences, and listeners who have heard the host for years can tell.
The test we apply to each talking point is whether it gives the host something true and specific to say. “Made with care” gives a host nothing to work with. “Each mattress is assembled by hand in one workshop, which is why delivery takes ten days” gives them a fact, a reason and an answer to the question listeners will have about delivery. We write reasons, and leave the adjectives to the host if they want them.
- The product
A savings account in an app that moves a little money aside for you each week.
- Our note: Said the way a listener would describe it to a friend.
- Who it suits
People who mean to save and never get around to it. Less so anyone who already has a system that works.
- One idea
Saving happens when you no longer have to remember to do it.
- Our note: One idea. Give a host three and they will pick one anyway, so we pick it.
- Talking points
- You choose an amount and a day, and Larkspan moves it each week. (There is no decision to make each time, which is why it sticks.)
- You can pause or withdraw at any time, with no fee. (Listeners worry about being locked in.)
- The app shows what you have put away this year. (Seeing the number is what keeps people going.)
- Our note: The reasons in parentheses are for the host. They can use them or leave them.
- The offer
Open an account at larkspan.com/listen by November 30 and Larkspan adds $20 after your first four weekly deposits.
- Our note: Runs four weeks past the final episode, because people keep listening.
- Say exactly
"Larkspan is a financial technology company, not a bank." The URL as "larkspan dot com slash listen".
- Our note: Two lines only, each with a reason the host can see.
- Please avoid
Calling it an investment, promising savings will grow, and naming other banks.
- Placement
Mid-roll, about 60 seconds, recorded into the episode. Aircheck link and timestamp within two days of release.
Let the host use the product
The best lines in a host-read come from the host’s own experience, so we send the product, or set up the account, well before the first recording and ask the host what they noticed. Their answer often becomes the opening of the read, and sometimes it tells us something about the product the brand had not thought to say.
It also keeps the read honest. A host who has used the product can describe it without stretching, and a host who did not like it can say so before the brand has paid for the episode.
Length and placement
Length is part of the brief because it changes what the host can do. A Nielsen study commissioned by Spotify (Spotify Advertising, 2021) found host-reads did best between 30 and 60 seconds, and in Nielsen’s September 2021 research, ads of a minute or more raised purchase and recommendation intent by roughly 40% more than shorter ads. We usually brief for 60 seconds in a mid-roll, and let the host run a little longer when the product needs the room.
The offer does a lot of the work
An offer gives the listener a reason to act now and gives the brand a way to see who did. It has to survive being heard once, at speed, by someone who is driving or cooking, so we keep it to one thing, such as a first month free, a discount on the first order or an extended trial. It should be easy to say aloud and easy to remember an hour later.
The code and the URL need the same care. Fairing’s Podcast Attribution 101 (August 2024) observes that most listeners never type the vanity URL and look the brand up by name instead, so the brand’s own site has to recognize podcast listeners who arrive that way, with the offer visible on the home page or at checkout. Right Side Up, a growth marketing agency, cautions (updated February 2024) that codes get posted to coupon sites, where the sales get credited to other channels, so we give each show its own code and still treat code redemptions as a partial count.
We also set the offer to outlast the flight. Listeners keep finding episodes for weeks after release, and an offer that expires before they hear it turns a good read into a complaint.
Mandatory lines and claims
Some words have to be said exactly, such as a regulatory line for a financial product, a pronunciation the host might guess wrong, or a URL with an unusual spelling. We keep these to two or three, mark them clearly, and explain why each one is there, because a host who understands the reason will say the line more naturally.
Claims need a firm boundary. We list the claims the host can make with the evidence behind each, and the claims to avoid, with the reason. A host speaking freely will reach for the strongest version of a point, so the brief has to say in advance where the strong version stops being true.
Disclosure
A standard host-read is plainly an ad and needs no separate disclosure of payment. The FTC’s Endorsement Guides, as revised in June 2023, take precisely this situation as an example: a host reads something plainly commercial early in a podcast, and listeners would assume a payment (16 CFR 255.5, Example 12). The example adds that if the host also posts about the product on social media, that post is judged separately. Disclosure needs care when a read moves into the conversation and starts to sound like the host’s editorial view, so if a brief invites the host to talk about the product beyond the ad break, we ask for a clear line saying the segment is sponsored.
What to leave out
We leave out anything the host cannot say in their own voice, including the brand’s tagline, a list of features, comparisons with competitors that have not been cleared, and superlatives the brand cannot prove. Load a brief with everything the brand wants said, and the read that comes back usually carries none of it.
After the read
Once the episode is out we check the read against the brief and send the host notes the way an editor would, on what landed and what to change next time. Hosts settle into a product over a run of episodes, and the brief should change with them, so by the third read it can be shorter than it was for the first.