Agree with previous review regarding length and frequency of ads.

The ads are so disruptive and very long. The episodes are short to being with and the actual episode is about 50% ads, and I’m not exaggerating. I DNFed after like the fifth episode because it was hard to follow with all the constant interruptions. And I know the zodiac story well! There are 2-4 min ads at the beginning and end of every episode and at least two ad breaks during the actual episode that are also usually 3-4 mins long. I am all for podcasters making a living and don’t fault the vast majority of creators for using ads, I’ve used the promo codes several times to support them, but this one is excessive to the point of annoyance. Please reconsider how you finance your show as you’ve lost me as a listener over it and it sounds like many others as well based off the other reviews.

Way to many ads to properly engage with the storyline. I get it to have an ad or two in the beginning and maybe one or two more short ones in the middle. But to have 3-5 one mi ute or so ads in the beginning and in the middle is way too much.

Why are there so many ads??? It really impacted my ability to follow the story. Don’t bother with this one, it will just frustrate you.

There is a good podcast in here somewhere. Of a 27 minute episode, first 3 are ads, then a promo of the episode you’re about to listen to, then ads, then a little bit of something, more commercials, a promo of the next episode, and more ads. Do not recommend.

Basically title. The storytelling is really good, with great resources and guest speakers. But 4 3-minute ad breaks in a 27 minute episode is way too long.

15 episodes was too long considering a large amount of the run time was for boner pills and booze gadgets. However, the series is addictive and does paint a skeptical and fair portrait of what is known and what is speculated about the phenomenon. Most of all the consumer is also compelled to ask themselves about what role they play in the true crime juggernaut. Also of interest; for reasons unspecified the david fincher film based on robert graysmith’s book is not discussed or evaluated with respect to contradictory facts or viewpoints about the cases.

About 1/3 of every short episode is ads, it’s maddening to try to listen to it. It WOULD be a good podcast, sadly, it’s unlistenable unless you can easily forward through all of the ads. Never listened to a podcast with so much advertising. It’s a deal-breaker.

The podcast is good but my gosh…the ads are crazy! Like most heart shows this podcast is filled with ads some of which make zero sense with the topic of the show. It’s almost ruined by the number of ads. One episode was 33 mins long with almost 10 mins of ads you have to fast forward through.

I have found that all the iheart shows are VERY ad heavy. And I don’t know why I’d pay for no ads on a show that only has about 10mins of content without the commercials. (A hard concept for capitalists to grasp.) This is constant throughout the iheart podcast network. Great ideas for shows,good hosts-but I’ve tried a good amount of them and still can’t find myself ever pushing the “follow” button… Made it to episode 3… oh well…

Take the length of the episode and deduct about 1/3 of it for ads and a preview for the next episode. A lot of time spent adding nothing and saying even less. A waste of time unless your a fan of constant ads. I wouldn’t waste my time on this and I won’t be wasting future time on any of their other podcasts. Truly disappointing.

Spoiler-It was Ted Cruz all along

The first ten episodes of this are really interesting and compelling. The show gets a little lost around episode 11, but eventually finds its way back. My biggest complaint is the crazy amount of ads in this show. I fast forwarded through most, but it was a bit annoying. Overall this is a great podcast - story, narration, and even the music. Loved it.

This podcast has the most long and drawn out amount of ads that I have ever heard in a podcast. I’m talking ten minutes of show with 20-25 minutes of ads. Can’t tell you how many times I forgot what I was even listening to because the ad breaks are so frequent and so long. Could’ve actually been a good podcast but they decided doing 5 minutes of work and filling in the rest with ads was called making a podcast about the zodiac killer

Not even going to bother finishing the series. -Constant bombardment of ads -Outrageously long introduction & recap -Repetitive commentary

An update to fix it and fix the crashing issue I need it for a week to get back to the office until the end of this week so we will be back

During a couple of the commercial extravaganzas, I forgot what podcast I was listening to.

Really enjoyed this podcast but the amount of ads in the show was really frustrating. There was almost as many ads as their was content in each episode. But seems like this is how all of iheartradio shows are these days.

This is a 30 minute podcast and the constant ads make the content unlistenable. After one episode, I quit. I’d like to listen to this podcast but the amount of ads make all the research and thought the authors put into the show a waste.

I couldn’t make it through the first episode. The background music was way too distracting - like someone constantly tapping their fingers on a table.

Unlistenable jumble of ads. I barely remember anything about the show.

If you like ads for other shows. This is your show to listen to. Every episode is mostly ads every few min. Not a show you can start and listen to while at work or something. Constantly ads over and over every episode. Big 👎

It would be a great pod if they didn’t have so much advertisement

Well written, investigated, and preformed. But my god the ads. Their timing and volume are beyond distracting. It never lets you become immersed. The best way to explain this, is switching “out” and “in” from that famous Al Pacino line. “Just when I thought I was in, they pull me back out!”

I’ve never heard this many ads on a podcast. I’ve enjoyed other series produced by same host but this is as it is, is too disruptive & distracting. It’s basically half ads.

I signed up to be a subscriber, because I have really enjoyed the monster true crime series, but I’m getting a ton of commercials on the zodiac

Love the story, but even for the subscribers the ads are still injected into the story. Please find a way to solve this, been a fan since the first monster series, got excited about the subscription in hope for it being ad free but doesn’t look that way, just series perks I guess.

The stories are so interesting from this company but oh my god the ads have literally turned me completely off. I won’t listen anymore because of the excessive ad quantity what feels like every few minutes. The episodes are not long enough to warrant twelve ads per ep

This podcast does a good job of summarizing the Zodiac case… however, it also goes off on tangents and is wayyy longer than it needs to be. We don’t gain much insight when the host interviews a random cab driver who happens to work near where the killer struck 50 years earlier to ask him if he knew about the case. Or talks about how the media and society would handle the case differently now. Or visits a spot where the Zodiac struck and interviews a random couple there. Or….

Commercials feel like they are longer than the story.

As soon as I was getting into it, along came another batch of annoying ads. It’s not good enough to pay for. I gave up after 2 episodes.

So so so many ads. And it’s as if they are making the ads as obnoxious as possible.

host’s voice is perfectly soothing & not annoying at all.

This was very interesting and creepy but I’m disgusted

Good luck; the serious subject matter juxtaposed with perky upbeat commercials is annoying. They really want you to go premium apparently. Just call the network I ❤️ Ads

This is more commercials than podcast. I don’t know how good or bad it is. As soon as I started to get interested another ten mins of commercials start.

Sooo interesting.

Forces you to pay for ads.

They are really good at narrating the story, but the commercials are way too much. Couldn’t get thru the first episode.

I’d say 50% of the audio is advertisements and episode credits. Thank goodness for being able to skip ahead, but my word.

The “background” music is so loud it makes it difficult to hear and focus on the podcast content.

A commercial break every ten minutes, and each break is two minutes. Like commercials? Then this show is for you.

A great in-depth look at the Zodiac Killer murders. Sticks to the facts and presents sane theories about possible suspects. My only complaint is that there are a ton of long commercial breaks.

nothing new…music is mixed too loudly feels like they just wanted to cash in pretty dissapointing

Maybe y’all can listen to some other podcasts and see how some of them can have ads but less annoying then the way did here. You have done great work with the podcast, then you completely pooped on your work with commercials…… sooo annoying. The mood is set and all, then boom lights on and commercials.

Like many others have said it’s a great listen but dang those ads are way too long.

Yes the ads are annoying but I don’t think that takes away from all the interesting information and facts in the podcast. You can easily skip through the ads so I’m not sure why so many people complain about them, I guess because it’s 2022 and people think it’s the end of the world to have ads and commercials. I really enjoyed the podcast!

I’ve followed the Zodiac case over the years…sometimes pretty avidly and other times not so much. There wasn’t a ton of new information or content that I was unfamiliar with, but it’s a good overview. Early to mid episodes greatly benefit from the presence of Michael Butterfield, who is probably the best and most reliable of all the people researching this case. He follows the facts and doesn’t have a pet suspect to try to make the evidence fit. Which was why it was disappointing to have so much time spent (and wasted) on the likes of Sandy Betts, copycat killers who had nothing to do with the real Zodiac, the extended Zodiac online community of obsessive and attention seekers, and other diversions in the later episodes. I realize that this is part of the story to some extent…the mythology, the cult following, hangers on, etc. but it felt like padding. I guess it was also inevitable that Tom Voight weighed in with his suspect (one of many he has had), the Goldcatcher nonsense and other exercises in dubious theorizing. Still, this was a worthwhile podcast and for someone wanting to know about this case, you could definitely do a lot worse.

I used this in a school essay and it worked out well nice job

The show itself is well researched and executed, but like most corporate produced podcasts, you are bombarded with ads and far too long intros. Like a slick magazine with 25% content and 75% advertising. Too bad.