Do Podcast Ads Reach Real Listeners? Oxford Road Partners with Bumper to Find An Answer

Oxford Road, the world’s largest podcasting agency, and podcast growth agency Bumper announce a marketing partnership to bring the revolutionary Bumper Score to market as a shared, comparable read on the quality of a podcast’s audience.

Inspired by a 2025 Oxford Road report that found that better data could potentially unlock another $1B for the industry, Bumper created the Bumper Score to represent how well a show delivers ads to a real, verified audience. Every participating podcast receives a score from 0 to 200, which is calculated based on three metrics: 1) podcast delivery data; 2) verified audiences from major podcast apps and platforms; 3) how much of each episode (including ads) listeners actually hear. By spanning both audio and YouTube engagement, the Bumper Score addresses the longstanding challenge of podcast measurement, while assuring advertisers that their ads are reaching real people.

In partnering with Bumper, Oxford Road aims to bring the Bumper Score into planning and buying conversations with clients and partners, in the hopes of driving adoption across the industry. Improving measurement and attribution is a core mission for Oxford Road, which co-created the AMP Accords, a proposed set of standards and definitions that could result in more accurate data for creators, publishers, and networks alike. The agency sees the Bumper Score as a practical tool a buyer can use today, while the AMP Accords await industry-wide adoption. 

“Confusion is bad for business,” notes Oxford Road founder and CEO Dan Granger. “Right now, we make advertisers become CSI detectives just to understand whether their ads are working, and too often they decide it’s easier to take their money elsewhere. Bumper has developed a deeply thoughtful approach to making the quality of an impression more legible. The Bumper Score isn’t the finish line, but it’s a meaningful step forward.”

Bumper co-founder Dan Misener adds: “Better data means greater trust–and greater trust leads to more investment. That’s what the Bumper Score is all about, and we’re proud to partner with Oxford Road to improve the podcast ad market for everyone.”