Is Audio The #1 Channel For 2025??

Everyone on socials is always talking about the best channel is this or the best channel is that, but most of the time those are entirely trends based and FOMO centric.

Today we’re breaking down one of the longest standing Marketing channels that you’re probably investing in already and why you need to INCREASE your spend there.

So no trends, no fad, no FOMO, this channel is here to stay.

And our guest for today’s email?? Paul Suchman, CMO of Audacy, a multiplatform audio powerhouse, and Paul came prepared with DATA.

I loveeee data.

Let’s see what he had to say about audio as a channel, in his own liiiiightly edited words.

1. The Opportunity In Audio:

“If you look at the way human beings are consuming media, more than 30% of their consumption is audio. Audio is portable and elastic, it can accompany you in any activity you’re doing (I absolutely love a little walk while listening to my fav pod). 

In your home, car, at work, or exercising, audio can be with you. It’s the ultimate companion. 

And if you look at the way advertisers are allocating spend, the consumption and spend don’t align. 

30-35% of all consumption happens through audio, yet less than 10% of media budgets go towards it (WHAT). 

From an advertiser perspective it’s become such a goldmine. 

Traditional radio has long been perceived as the ultimate reach vessel, but audio today is multi-platform, over the air radio, digital streaming of those radio stations, plus your playlists across all devices. 

So it’s not just a reach awareness vessel, it’s a deep engagement media and a selling channel. 

With the technology behind it, you’re not only able to serve reach with precise targeting, you can also measure performance, which is why it’s such a killer media for advertisers.

2. Audio Creative Done Right:

Another opportunity with audio is that there is inventory available, making it possible to put your ad into environments where it’s not cluttered with other ads. (Unlike social where the timeline is JAM packed.)

On top of that, audio is a brand safe environment. Advertisers have a ton of control over the types of content and where their advertising appears. It could be host-read advertising, or a full brand integration. 

The main point is that advertisers have a lot more opportunity to pick the content, the hosts, the brands, the environments, and times of day where their advertising shows up.

The 2nd thing is the creative itself. In the old days of radio, we would see TV scripts rewritten to be radio ads and they wouldn’t always work.

But when you think about the palette that an advertiser has to paint on in advertising, they have music, copywriting, sound effects, and can use sonic branding cues. 

There’s so many tools at your disposal to create great advertising, but when that’s all devoid of visual images, the secret weapon is the human brain. 

The absence of visuals allows audio creative to really employ theater of the mind and let the user paint their own picture for what a product is, what a service is, and what their value propositions are. 

3. THIS is The Most Trusted Platform:

We found that audio is the most trusted medium out there (I believe it). Consumers trust it more than digital and social.

When advertisers insert themselves in smart ways into those trusted environments, their brands have a higher propensity to break through and land with those listeners. 

The reason for the high level of trust with audio channels is people are consuming audio in these very intimate environments. 

Devoid of visuals, audio is about conversations and discussion, it gives consumers a direct tap into their favorite people to follow, hence the high level of trust (RETWEET).

4. Why Audio:

You need to hit people at different parts and moments of their day. LinkedIn, Facebook, people are scrolling on their timelines only part of their day. 

There’s also parts of the day where they’re going for a run, cleaning, in a car driving to pick up their kids. As a brand you can’t use digital to be in those moments with consumers because there’s no visuals. 

That’s where audio comes into play.

You don’t want to be siloed in your Marketing efforts, so finding more places in the day where you can be part of a consumer’s life is the ultimate goal as a Marketer to stay top of mind.  

(That’s why I am still bullish on billboards and OOH advertising!!)

5. Audio’s Role in Rituals: 

People are ritualistic by nature, meaning people are creatures of habit. We have our morning routine, day routine, and evening routine.  

People live their day through a series of rituals or habits that they go through. What we wanted to understand was what is audio’s role in those.

So we interviewed 100s of people and looked at media consumption habits of those people

What we found was that your day is broken up into different mediums coming in and out during that day.  Our research found that audio is involved with more rituals than any other media.

11 of your daily rituals have audio in it (WHAT). Those rituals are intimate moments in the car, having coffee, walking the dog. The next highest is 8, with digital and social.  

Because audio is involved in so many rituals and consumers are so engaged in those moments, that is a massive opportunity for advertisers. 

But the kicker to all of this research was in some cases, not only was audio involved in the ritual, but audio was the ritual itself (okay now THIS is cool).

What I mean by that is we found consumers will go for a run or partake in their daily ritual at a specific time to hear their morning show or sports radio station.

That’s the power of live audio, local audio, and podcasting. Audio is deeply embedded in the rituals AND sometimes is the ritual itself.”