In today’s saturated media landscape, brand marketers hunt high and low to make meaningful connections and maximize their ad spend. To help, I’d like to share this advice: Tune into total audio, leveraging the strengths and incremental reach of over-the-air radio as well as digital audio. By directing more ad dollars to local radio, digital streaming and podcasting, brands can optimize ad spend and increase conversion.
In a 2023 analysis, data analytics firm Neustar (now TransUnion) finds that national brands left $6 billion of revenue on the table by not optimally utilizing audio to market their products and services.¹ Who wouldn’t want a slice of that revenue pie?
Brands often ask us at Audacy if they should place their audio messages on local radio or digital audio. The answer, quite simply, is both. When advertisers bundle over-the-air with digital streaming and podcasts, they see 1.5x return on investment, according to a recent audio attribution study.²
Audio builds brand awareness, boosts purchase intent and generates sales. Yet, most brands are woefully underinvested in audio, leaving behind billions in potential revenue. At a moment when brands are under pressure to prove ROI and optimize their ad dollars, total audio is a clarion call—delivering to advertisers more bang for their buck.
Total audio listening is booming
For savvy marketers, the timing couldn’t be better. Today’s consumers have a robust appetite for all things audio, and a multiplatform audio ad campaign leans into each channel's strengths.
From local radio to podcasts to digital streaming, Americans are tuning in at steadily high levels. Consider these eye-catching (or ear-catching) stats on the audiences:
- 96% of Americans listen to audio daily.³
- 200 million Americans 12 and over listen to online audio weekly.⁴
- 73% of Americans listen to AM/FM radio in the car, while 37% use online audio and 38% listen to podcasts.⁵
- 89 million Americans 12 and over listen to podcasts weekly.⁶
Yet, national advertisers have chronically underspent in audio, and not just by a thin margin. Neustar reviewed three years’ worth of media investments across Fortune 100 companies and reported that some industries are underinvested in audio by 12%, some by 25% and some by even more. When brands level up their audio investment, it helps generate a significant boost in revenue.
Across industries, improving audio's
share of the media mix delivers a boost
in ad-directed sales of more than 30%
According to Neustar’s analysis, entertainment companies have the most to gain from total audio, enjoying a 30% lift in ad-directed sales from radio advertising and a 24% lift from digital audio ads. Retailers do well also, experiencing a 31% lift from digital audio and a 6% bump from radio.
