'Agility and Impact': the Biggest Current Opportunities in Audio

by editorial on 10th Jul 2025 in News

From podcasts to music streaming services and smart speakers, audio content is experiencing a resurgence - bringing with it new opportunities for brands to connect with audiences in a more personal and immersive way. At the heart of this transformation lies programmatic audio advertising.

Previously considered simply for brand awareness, developments in programmatic audio allows for greater measurability and flexibility, making it an attractive proposition for brands seeking data-driven results and clear ROI.

The benefits are clear: high engagement, reduced ad fatigue, and the ability to reach listeners during moments when visual media can't. With consumers increasingly tuning in across multiple devices and platforms, the scope for meaningful interaction through audio has never been greater. As the landscape continues to grow, programmatic audio is fast becoming an essential pillar of the modern media mix. We asked a panel of experts their thoughts.

What the industry thinks…

Audio advertising has evolved - from mass messaging to mass precision. With AI-powered Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO), brands can now deliver hyper-localised, real-time messages tailored to individual listeners.

Powered by rich data signals like location, weather, device, and user behaviour, audio can now accompany consumers across the customer journey, from discovery to conversion, with contextual relevance via transcript AI that drives outcomes. And it’s all done at scale, with AI generating creative variations faster than you can say ‘Play Sabrina Carpenter’.

Audio is uniquely intimate, consumed one-on-one, on the go, and often screen-free. It’s the channel that cuts through the noise. Integrated into omnichannel strategies, it boosts both reach and receptivity, bridging emotional connection with data-driven precision. This isn’t just audio - it’s audio with brains, agility, and impact.

Roxanne Harley, Head of Growth, Azerion UK

Audio is no longer a secondary channel: it’s becoming central to how brands show up in a screenless world. In 2024, US podcast ad revenue reached USD$2.43bn (£1.75bn) growing 26.4%, while global digital audio spend hit USD$7.6bn (£5.6bn), up 8.5%. Europe saw similar growth, fuelled by mobile-first audiences and changing listening habits. The real shift is creative. AI is helping teams produce content faster, more locally, and with greater contextual relevance - keeping audio deeply human while moving at the speed of culture.

Engagement rates in audio can exceed 50%, outperforming many other channels. This drives stronger brand awareness and recall, making audio a powerful tool in the modern marketer’s toolkit. As access to audio advertising grows, so will its impact. The future lies in delivering high-quality audio across markets, and languages, with messaging that feels authentic and immediate. Audio’s connection with listeners is unmatched and its potential is just beginning.

Johan Liljelund, CIO & EVP, DanAds

We’ve been experimenting with in-app audio for quite some time and have seen a noticeable uptick in advertiser interest. It's still early days, but the potential is clear. In-app audio gives brands a chance to connect with users during moments of focused listening, often without the ad fatigue that comes with other formats.

What excites me most is the shift toward more personalised and context-aware audio experiences. With AI, we can tailor messaging based on behaviour, preferences, or even the user's environment, making ads feel more relevant and less disruptive.

As inventory grows and programmatic buying becomes easier, the opportunity to scale and optimise in real time is only getting stronger. To maximise performance, advertisers should lean into smart targeting using signals like app context, location, and usage patterns. Pair that with engaging creative like interactive or voice-enabled formats, and audio becomes a powerful way to connect.

Frederic Liow, Chief Revenue & Operations Officer, Algorix

The audio world is shifting fast, and three opportunities excite me. First, audio is going visual. YouTube’s already a top podcast platform, and Spotify’s going all-in on video to grab attention and double ad spend. It’s not about replacing audio—it’s about boosting discovery and giving fans more ways to connect.

Second, the download metric is “dying”. It doesn’t show who actually listened. Bumper’s cooking up smarter ways to measure podcast success—think listener retention, completion rates, and actual engagement instead of old-school file counts. It’s all about quality over quantity now.

Third, AI isn’t the future—it’s the now. Tools like Headliner and Wondercraft are helping podcasters automate editing, clips, and even voiceovers. Jamx is in the mix too, using contextual AI to drop podcast recommendations into articles where people are already tuned in.

Bottom line: if you're in audio, it’s time to get smarter, move faster, and meet listeners where they actually are.

Guy Bronfeld, Co-Founder & CRO, Jamx

As digital media matures, one of the most underestimated yet powerful channels right now is audio. Its growth has been steady, but 2025 feels like a tipping point especially for programmatic players ready to think beyond the screen.

Right now, audio is quietly becoming one of the most exciting parts of programmatic. With the rise of podcasts, smart speakers, and in-car streaming, the opportunity to engage audiences in a screen-free, focused environment is bigger than ever. For brands, this means less noise – literally and more room to be heard.

What’s really exciting is how data and targeting are finally catching up in the audio space. We can now deliver highly contextual, dynamic creative in real-time, tailored to listener moods, locations, or even the time of day.

For industry members, the key is to stop treating audio as a “nice to have” and start integrating it into omnichannel strategies. Think beyond reach – consider how voice can create deeper brand experiences. And as measurement improves, those who experiment early will be better placed to prove value and scale fast.

Audio isn’t a complementary format anymore. It’s a strategic one, and the smartest players are already listening.

Emin Alpan, CEO, Aceex

Audio is experiencing a resurgence, largely enabled by programmatic, offering brands unique opportunities to forge intimate, immersive connections with consumer audiences during their commutes, while working, and simply enjoying their listening on screen and off.

What’s especially exciting is the personalisation and ad relevancy potential; audio ads can include ad decisioning based on real-time signals cued against brands’ first-party audiences or listening audience(s), their behaviour, location, listening preferences, current weather, and more. This makes the audio ads more engaging to the listener and more impactful for performance. With programmatic audio, marketers can also take advantage of scaling their audiences across multiple audio providers within a single campaign, experimenting with narratives, and unifying audio analytics for holistic creative and media performance.

Charel MacIntosh, Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Clinch

For over a century, audio advertising has proven its resilience. Its next evolution is to definitively prove its omnichannel impact, measuring influence far beyond the earbud. The opportunity is not just in listening, but in measurable action.With advanced omnichannel attribution, we can now deterministically measure how digital audio campaigns influence conversions across CTV, display, and even in-store traffic.

This moves audio from a traditional upper-funnel tactic into a measurable, performance-driven channel.While podcasting has led the charge in outcome-driven advertising, this new wave of measurement unlocks performance budgets for the entire audio ecosystem. The focus is shifting from who last saw the customer to which channels genuinely drive conversion, propelling the next stage of audio’s growth.

Tom McKay, Director of Client Success and Strategic Growth, Covatic