June 23, 2023 | Katelynd Gibbons 

Our typical daily exposure to ads and digital influence has been changing rapidly over recent years, and while a great deal of focus goes to visual messaging, the impact of what we hear cannot be understated. There’s an especially interesting potential to reach people when they’re participating in activities like travel, exercise, or hanging out in group settings and are otherwise not viewing any accompanying media. A recent Veritronic survey on listening habits showed 77% of respondents stream music or podcasts during road trips, and 78% said they will likely listen to digital audio while spending time outdoors this summer.[1]

Overall, 79% of audio is consumed while people are unreachable by visual media.[2] Most importantly, people are really tuning in to a lot of audio content. According to Statista Market Insights: “In the Digital Audio Advertising market, the number of listeners is expected to amount to 174.20m users by 2027.”[3] Pew Research found roughly half of Americans have listened to a podcast in the last year, and about 20% said they listen nearly every day.[4] Music industry research showed that Americans stream 75 minutes of music per day on average.[5] So, for brands looking to connect with people in memorable and engaging ways, employing digital audio advertising is a powerful tactic!

Digital audio advertising is simply the delivery of audio content on digital platforms and devices. It delivers audio ads between songs or podcast breaks to get in a listener’s ear while they are already engaged in the audio content. This involves placement on streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, TuneIn, Podcast One, and many others. Traditional radio has also boomed onto the digital audio scene with online radio streaming, which provides opportunities for brands to play audio spots within radio broadcast segments. This can carry a lot of influence, considering recent “Share of Ear” reports from Edison Research found listeners over 13-years-old spend nearly 60% of ad-supported audio time with AM/FM radio.[6] Their reporting also found 18–49-year-old radio listeners are using radio streaming 20% of the time.[7] Notably, among the 25-54-year-old demographic, 52% of ad-supported listening is attributed to AM/FM radio streams, clearly outperforming other popular streaming services.[8]

Digital audio advertising offers a lot of useful advantages for brands. It can be thoughtfully targeted by location, demographics, interests, or genres, ensuring that ads reach the appropriate audiences. Audio ads can create an immersive and influential experience by reaching listeners during moments when they are actively engaged with audio content, and advertisers can deftly leverage data and technology to deliver tailored audio messages to listeners, enhancing the memorability and effect of their advertising campaigns. One of the other great benefits of digital audio advertising is that brands will gain insights into ad performance, allowing them to consistently measure metrics like impressions and audience engagement to further optimize advertising campaigns.

The power of audio ads is undeniable. According to research gathered from podcast listeners at the close of 2022:

·      70% said they visited the advertiser’s website after hearing the ad in a podcast.

·      67% said they talked to friends or family about the advertiser.

·      60% said they made a purchase influenced by the audio ad.[9]

By opening their marketing strategy to include more audio platforms, brands can tap into the growing popularity of audio content consumption, engage with consumers in a more personal way, and create memorable and impactful brand experiences that lead to trackable actions.

While there’s great potential to speak directly to people who are actively listening to programs and music they enjoy, it's still important to note that digital audio advertising is especially effective with other forms of advertising, such as programmatic display, pre-roll video, social media ads, and other tactics as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy. That creates the strategic reach and variation to engage consumers across multiple channels and touch-points.

Ultimately, the digital audio landscape provides numerous new avenues for personalization, connection, and engagement in the modern age. Connecting with the right target audiences when they are actively listening and often unreachable through visual methods creates unique opportunities to build brand awareness, increase memorability and trust, and drive consumer action. Americans are listening… Businesses just need to make their voices heard!

[1] “Survey Shows Audio Provides Soundtrack For Summertime Activities,” InsideRadio, 2023, https://www.insideradio.com/free/survey-shows-audio-provides-soundtrack-for-summertime-activities/article_505d24cc-f92d-11ed-a3d3-47956563631e.html.

[2] “Insights: The Power of Audio: Chapter 1,” Spotify Advertising, n.d., https://ads.spotify.com/en-SG/news-and-insights/the-power-of-audio-chapter-1/.

[3] “Digital Audio Advertising - United States,” Statista, 2023, https://www.statista.com/outlook/amo/advertising/audio-advertising/digital-audio-advertising/united-states.

[4] Elisa Shearer, et al., “Podcasts as a Source of News and Information,” Pew Research Center, 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2023/04/18/podcasts-as-a-source-of-news-and-information/.

[5] “Music Streaming Statistics in 2023 (US & Global Data),” Musical Pursuits, 2022, https://musicalpursuits.com/music-streaming/.

[6] “Radio Reigns Supreme In Ad-Supported Audio: Recapping Edison Series,” Inside Radio, 2023, https://www.insideradio.com/free/radio-reigns-supreme-in-ad-supported-audio-recapping-edison-series/article_ff108b72-d28f-11ed-a566-d79e1f736953.html.

[7] “Weekly Insights 5.24.2023 Radio on a Radio,” Edison Research, 2023, https://www.edisonresearch.com/weekly-insights-5-24-2023-radio-on-a-radio/

[8] “Radio Reigns Supreme In Ad-Supported Audio: Recapping Edison Series,” Inside Radio, 2023, https://www.insideradio.com/free/radio-reigns-supreme-in-ad-supported-audio-recapping-edison-series/article_ff108b72-d28f-11ed-a566-d79e1f736953.html; https://www.edisonresearch.com/share-of-ear-research/.

[9] Michele Majidi, “Actions taken after hearing a product advertised in a podcast in the United States as of December 2022,” Statista, 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1205722/podcast-advertising-effectiveness-us/.