Audio Advertising is Shaking up the Game, but Will It Last?

Digital audio has emerged as a vital part of advertising strategies. What was once considered an alternative revenue stream is now turning into a brand’s strongest asset. Listenership is growing, targeting is improving thanks to AdTech and programmatic platforms, and AI and ML provide unimaginable capabilities. Brands want to tap into this potential and reach the pockets of audio consumers.

Industry analysts and researchers reflect optimistic projections of this medium’s future potential. The global audio advertising market is set to grow from $38 billion by the end of 2025 to $51 billion by 2030.

But is this a growing trend or a temporary situation that will fade away in the future? Let’s dig in.

Factors Contributing to Industry Growth

The popularity of podcasts and streaming platforms

Audio streaming and podcasting have become a spot for advertisers to invest ad dollars.

Audio streaming platforms

Consumers subscribe to streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music to access vast libraries, curated playlists, and personalized recommendations. These platforms attract millions of paying listeners globally and help them discover music in an easy-to-use format.

More than half of all subscribers to music streaming platforms are from the USA. Over 154 million Americans are estimated to pay for services like Spotify today, with projections to reach over 160 million by 2028. The top five audio streaming platforms will get more than 300 million listeners by 2028:

Projected subscription count on streaming platforms

Source: EMARKETER Forecast

However, the very nature of this business model makes platforms seek new revenue streams, with streaming audio advertising being the top pick. Here’s how:

• Licensing restrictions. Unlike video streaming, audio services often provide similar catalogs because of licensing restrictions. As a result, listeners have little incentive to subscribe to multiple platforms, limiting the potential for widespread paid subscriptions.
• The growth of paid subscriptions has been slow. While services like Spotify and Apple Music continue to grow, fluctuating economic conditions and price increases slow their explosive expansion. Pandora, for instance, will likely lose over 5 million subscribers by 2028.

Podcasts

Over 580 million global digital audio listeners are expected to consume podcasting content by the end of 2025. This audience is the largest and most engaged group of consumers. Listeners turn to podcasts for entertainment, learning, and to satisfy the urge to multitask. The channel has achieved broad adoption, with 158 million monthly listeners in the US this year.

Podcasts have become a hidden gem for advertisers, as this channel seems to be undervalued. Listenership is still consistently rising, and technology continues to add more layers of contextual targeting and flexibility to podcast advertising, signaling more opportunities for brands on the horizon:

Quick facts on podcasting

Changing consumer habits

Shifts in how people prefer to consume digital content create ideal conditions for digital audio advertising growth. Audio formats fit naturally into the way people live today. They’re easy to access and available on the go, which matches modern digital habits:

• Passive content consumption is on the rise. Screen fatigue doesn’t mean audiences want to engage with less content; they just want to do it differently. Instead of staring at a screen on their device, people can opt for an alternative using an audio channel.
• Multitasking consumers create a personal listening space. Screens can be impractical for a fast-paced lifestyle where people juggle multiple activities. Audio becomes a wonderful way to soundtrack routine tasks with music, podcasts, and audiobooks.
• On-the-go audiences need content anytime, anywhere. They increasingly rely on connected devices, smart speakers, and wireless headphones to access content.

Intimate, non-intrusive ad formats

All types of audio advertising don’t abruptly interrupt the listening experience. Instead, they integrate into the rest of the content naturally. The timing of audio ads is still crucial, with pre-roll ads proving 5% better than mid-roll and 39% more effective than post-roll, as discovered by eMarketer.

Moreover, audio ads facilitate a personal connection with a listener. When a podcast host promotes a sponsor, the familiar voice builds trust. Audio content is also commonly delivered via headphones, so a sense of connection with the consumer becomes even stronger.

Emerging Opportunities

• Engage listeners and increase ROI

One of the benefits of audio advertising is that it reaches engaged consumers. Digital ads are better at capturing audience attention than TV, social media, and display creatives. For instance, they are 50% more effective, as confirmed by multiple studies:

Besides drawing user attention, audio ads are efficient for driving higher brand recall and purchase intent. These outcomes are tied to how our brain operates. The auditory memory has a powerful capacity to retain information, and spoken words are easier for the brain to process. As a result, audio ads become more efficient than other forms of advertising.

• Target consumers and scale advertising efforts

One of the key strengths of digital audio is the ability to buy and serve ads programmatically. According to a recent MTM survey, 81% of agencies believe that programmatic pipelines help deliver contextually relevant messages. By factoring in real-time behavioral insights, location, and even mood signals, advertisers can reach the right listeners at the right moment.

Programmatic audio also has an unmatched capacity to scale advertising efforts. Whether expanding into new regions, audience segments, or inventory types, automation facilitates growth. Unlike many other digital formats, programmatic audio advertising operates in a more trustworthy ecosystem than other advertising channels. The space is currently brand-safe, with no loopholes for ad blocking.

• Tap into hard-to-reach and niche audiences

Some forms of audio, especially podcasts, can help brands reach segments that don’t belong to broad demographics. Podcast listeners often belong to specific cultural communities, professional niches, or dedicated fandoms, making them highly intentional and engaged in their content choices.

Many renowned brands have already leveraged the capabilities of podcast advertising. SquareSpace, a website-building platform, sponsored design-focused podcasts and gave away promo codes to encourage subscriptions and track conversions. Blue Apron, the company specializing in meal kit delivery, targeted cooking enthusiasts while offering a free trial of their service. Their ad campaigns ran on culinary podcasts and explored “What is audio visual advertising impact?” by reinforcing their strategy with display ads.

Challenges and Limitations

Despite the strong potential of audio ads for brands and advertisers, there are specific challenges to overcome:

• Ad fatigue. Audio’s immersive nature gives advertisers better odds of converting audiences than visual ads. However, that same strength can backfire when the content is repeated. To avoid fatigue and maintain performance, brands must focus on creative variation, intelligent frequency capping, and dynamic ad insertion strategies that keep content fresh and relevant without oversaturating the audience.
• Measurement uncertainty. Advertisers seek confidence in attributing a return on investment to audio ads. More established digital formats like display allow for easier tracking of conversion paths, while audio often lacks the same level of transparency. However, industry perceptions remain optimistic. The advent of advanced attribution models and cross-channel tracking is expected to strengthen audio’s position.
• Relevance. Audio excels at creating an immersive space for engaging audiences, but ads can break that connection by failing to match the context and user expectations. Unlike other ad formats, tracking clicks and impressions to adjust your strategy is not possible. Considering the current listening environment is also challenging due to limited data insights and poor creative scalability. Moreover, many advertisers continue to treat digital audio like radio, characterizing it as static, linear, and universally applicable.

The Role of Technologies

Emerging technology gradually changes how industry players reach, engage, and convert listeners. Consumers also benefit from the shift: a user journey becomes more personalized and meaningful. Here’s what’s driving the win-win situation:

• Real-time targeted audio advertising and large-scale personalization with AI and ML.

Advertisers apply AI and ML to create ads and their variations in seconds to tailor the messaging to specific preferences when serving an ad. Advanced models can assess the listener’s mood based on collected behavior signals. AI can also quickly analyze podcast content to identify its topics and use them as a base for context-based targeting. These innovations streamline brand discovery, boost retention, and engage listeners in real-time.

• Automated ad buying through programmatic platforms.

Programmatic platforms rely on algorithmic technology to automate ad buying, selling, and insertion of targeted messages in audio content. They match advertisers and audiences in real time using rich demographic, contextual, and behavioral data about target listeners. The platform automatically applies campaign parameters and optimizes the delivery in the background. As a result, advertisers can control ad spend, eliminate waste, and reach more goals in one platform.

• Engaging audiences with new audio ad formats.

Automation and technology enablers like AI provide opportunities to add new ad formats to digital audio content. Mobile audio advertising, in particular, benefits from innovations like interactive and voice-activated ads that encourage users to react and participate in the conversation. Evolving features such as Spotify’s streaming and dynamic ad insertion show impressive results in driving audience engagement.

Working in AdTech for over 15 years, we at Geomotiv have witnessed the effects of innovations on our clients’ success. While our job was to handle technical aspects in the first place, we couldn’t help but notice the importance of adapting to changing trends. We can currently observe the unfolding story in online audio advertising with a shift toward automated systems, advanced algorithms, and AI models.

The Future Outlook

With opportunities provided by a blend of innovative technologies, programmatic platforms, and new ad formats, the outlook for audio advertisers remains positive. Other advertising channels like video and display are in strong positions, but none of them offer a combination of strengths delivered by audio ads:

Audio beats other formats across key areas like engagement, targeting, and growth potential. Strong personalization capabilities, native integration into user experiences, and rapid innovation in programmatic and AI technologies fuel increasing ad spending.

Brands’ and advertisers’ success will depend on how fast they can adapt to the specifics of the medium and the technologies that make it so efficient. Audio ads connect through emotions, build trust in seconds, and reach people in the right moments and contexts. With the right technology and agile mindset, advertisers can capitalize on that connection and drive conversions.

Final Word

The future of audio ads looks exciting. The medium creates moments of profound engagement, with listeners actively immersing themselves in the ad experience. However, advertisers planning to tap into its potential must go the extra mile to succeed.

Challenges like poor ad placement, repetitive content, and immature measurement standards cause some advertisers to avoid the channel. Luckily, emerging technologies like AI, machine learning, and programmatic platforms are expected to drive extensive industry adoption.

We at Geomotiv have seen the true power of these technologies in action. The platforms we build help buy audio inventory programmatically, which is instrumental in reaching mass audiences with personalized messages. They can also easily incorporate AI-powered campaign optimization, creative variation, and real-time targeting. And if you want to experiment with new ad formats, our solutions will provide a technology layer for any bold idea.