Podcast sponsor databases, compared by what they can see
Sponsorable, Podchaser, Podmerse, Magellan AI and SponsorBoard all answer some version of “who sponsors podcasts like mine?” They differ less in size than in three things: what they read, how far back they let you look, and whether you can check a record yourself. We make one of them, so this page sticks to what each tool says about itself and to checks anyone can repeat.
Checked October 9, 2026. Other companies’ figures are quoted from their own pages on that date, with links; they change, so open the link for today’s.
At a glance
| Tool | What it reads, in its own words | Coverage it states | How far back you can look | Buyer contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsorable How we compare → | “Our systems read each new episode and detect its sponsors from the episode content itself” | 5,425,233 podcasts and 226,893 sponsors (homepage) | 90 days on Starter ($39/month), 365 days on Pro ($99/month); unlimited on Enterprise | Yes — email and LinkedIn |
| Podchaser Pro How we compare → | Machine learning for “integrated host-read sponsorships and syndicated audio-matched advertisements” | The “top 5,000 podcasts”; the feature is marked “currently in beta” | Brand rankings and spend estimates cover the last 30 days | For reaching podcasts (hosts, producers, networks), not sponsors |
| Podmerse | “We detect both host-read and dynamically inserted sponsorships” | 360K sponsors and 44K podcasts (homepage); 20,000+ brands and 50,000+ podcasts (About page) | Not stated | Not stated |
| Magellan AI | “Speech analysis” of published audio | 40,000+ advertisers across 50,000+ shows; public rankings use the top 3,000 U.S. podcasts | Not public (sold by demo) | Not stated |
| SponsorBoard | Sponsorships on public record, each tied to a dated episode you can open | Established English-language business, technology and trade shows (which ones) | First and last date for every show, free on every public brand page | No |
Some tools that come up in the same searches are built mainly for other channels. SponsorGap’s own help page answers “Is SponsorGap only for newsletters?” with “Primarily yes”. Who Sponsors Stuff and Appeared.in focus on newsletter sponsors, and SponsorRadar covers YouTube and says it does not count “audio-only podcasts that do not publish to YouTube”.
Which one fits what you need
- You need the buyer’s email address. Sponsorable includes the buyer’s email and LinkedIn. SponsorBoard does not. Podchaser’s contacts are for reaching podcasts — hosts, producers and networks.
- You sell ads on large U.S. shows and need the ads that are only spoken. Magellan AI analyses the audio itself; that is what it is built for.
- You run a show in a specific trade and want to know who keeps paying in your corner, and for how long. That is what SponsorBoard is for: boards grouped by who advertises rather than by genre tag, first and last dates on every brand page, and every record traceable to a dated episode.
- You sell newsletter or YouTube sponsorships. Start with the newsletter and YouTube tools above.
Four checks to run on any of them — us included
Every sponsor database is a claim about what somebody read. These checks take a few minutes and need nothing but the show’s public feed. We ran each one on October 9, 2026; what we found is under each.
- Match a show you know, episode by episode. Open the tool’s page for a show you listen to, then the show’s RSS feed, and compare the latest episodes.
What we found: Sponsorable’s Lex Fridman Podcast page matched the feed: six of six sponsors on the newest episode, and the right number of sponsors on each of the eight before it. In The Joe Rogan Experience feed, the notes for JRE MMA Show #186 (October 1) name three sponsors — Perplexity, Uber Eats and BetterHelp. Sponsorable’s page for the show lists one sponsor for that episode. - Try a show whose ads are spoken, not written. Many large shows insert ads into the audio without naming them in the notes. Many tools look nearly empty on those shows — SponsorBoard included. Pick one and see what the tool shows.
What we found: Today, Explained, from Vox, offers an ad-free version to paying members, so it carries ads; its episode notes name no sponsors. Sponsorable describes each of its sponsors as “detected in the episodes themselves”. Its page for the show reads: “2,285 episodes. 1 of those episodes have been sponsored by 1 companies.” Magellan AI, which analyses audio, publishes individual ad records for reads that never appear in a show’s notes — Quince on HerMoney with Jean Chatzky, for example. If spoken-only ads matter to you, this is the check that separates the tools. - Ask how far back you can look. Whether a sponsor came back is the most useful thing a host can learn about it, and that takes history.
What we found: Sponsorable’s pricing page gives 90 days of sponsorship history on Starter and 365 days on Pro; unlimited history is Enterprise only. Podchaser’s brand rankings cover the last 30 days. SponsorBoard shows the first and last date on every show for free — Squarespace is one example. - Search a brand that uses more than one web address. If you are counting how many shows a brand buys, check whether the tool merges its variants. Run this one on us too.
What we found: Sponsorable keys each sponsor “by its domain”. On its Joe Rogan page Perplexity appears as pplx.ai; on its Lex Fridman page, as perplexity.ai.
A note on totals
Database totals move as records are cleaned up, which is normal. Sponsorable’s homepage listed 5,931,899 podcasts and 252,187 sponsors on June 15, 2026 (archived copy) and 5,425,233 podcasts and 226,893 sponsors on October 9, 2026. A bigger number is not a better answer to your question; what a tool counts, and whether you can check it, is.
Where SponsorBoard is the wrong choice
- You need contact details. We have none, and we say so on every page.
- You need ads that are only spoken. A show that never names its sponsors outside the audio looks empty here too.
- You need every podcast. We follow established shows in business, technology and the trades around them, not the whole directory.
- You sell newsletter or YouTube sponsorships.
What SponsorBoard does differently
- Boards by who advertises, not by genre. Shows land together because the same companies pay them, so a vacation-rental show and a law-firm show do not share a board just because both are tagged “business”. Find the board for your trade →
- First and last seen, free. Every public brand page lists each show with the dates we found. Browse brands A–Z →
- Every record leads to a dated episode. Open that episode and you will find the line. How to check a sponsorship in five minutes →
Checked October 9, 2026; our own records read through 2026-10-20. If anything here about another tool is wrong or out of date, write to sponsorboardsupport@proton.me and we will correct it.