Are Audio Streaming Platforms in Your Marketing Mix? They Should Be
Step into any city street today, from Lagos to London, Delhi to Dubai, and you’ll notice a quiet rhythm in the chaos. The hum of traffic fades behind the soft glow of earbuds. Everyone’s tuned in to music, podcasts, stories, and soundscapes that move with them.
In 2025, audio isn’t just background noise; it’s the soundtrack of daily life, and for brands, it’s one of the most personal ways to be heard.
Just in the U.S., digital audio listening is hitting all-time highs, nearly 79% of the population (≈ 228 million listeners) reported listening monthly to digital audio in 2025. And globally, the value of the audio streaming market (music + spoken word) was estimated around US$40 billion in 2024, with forecasts pointing to almost US$89 billion by 2030.
That’s only part of the story. Add in other platforms, podcasts, low-attention alternatives, mobile listening, and the numbers become truly astronomical. Especially in emerging markets, including Africa and India, audio streaming is rapidly growing.
The growth of audio streaming on the continent (and globally) is not just an opportunity for streaming platforms and artists. This is a great opportunity for brands and artists to reach their audiences innovatively and creatively.
Personalization, Engagement, and Reach
It’s important to look at audio streaming platforms’ benefits before deciding how brands can take advantage of them.
Advertising on audio streaming platforms is a great way to reach your customers, wherever they may be and whatever they might be doing.
Audio streaming is no longer limited to the home or vehicle. It can be used while commuting, exercising, walking, cooking, relaxing, wherever someone is wearing earphones. The “in-between” moments matter. In fact, one guide notes that digital audio reaches listeners during times when visual channels can’t.
It’s important to meet customers wherever they are. This is a strong reason for audio-streaming marketing.
Ads on audio streaming platforms are also more engaging. Research shows that digital audio listeners enjoy a superior listening experience compared with traditional radio broadcasts: greater emotional intensity, better memorability, higher engagement. For example: audio ads generate stronger attention, one study found audio generates 56% greater attentive seconds per thousand impressions than other digital media.
Audio-streaming ads are highly personalized according to listener interests, increasing engagement. This can be refined further by location, device, age, behaviour, so that only the most relevant ads are heard.
From a stats perspective: The digital audio advertising market worldwide is forecast to reach about US$12.16 billion in 2025, with global ad-spend on digital audio growing at roughly a 4.9% CAGR through 2030.
In short: if you’re building a marketing mix and don’t include audio streaming platforms, you’re likely missing a large, engaged, mobile audience.
Finding the Right Partner
Audio streaming platforms can offer a great deal from a marketing perspective. They are a valuable addition to the marketing mix of any business.
When you want to make the most of audio-streaming advertising, it is key to choose the right partner.
- The ideal partner has extensive experience in streaming platforms that are relevant to your customers (demographics, geographies, devices, formats).
- They should help you create the most effective content for those platforms (script, voice-talent, segmentation, CTA).
- They should understand the different ad formats available: audio ads (30s, 15s), companion display, sponsored sessions, takeover banners, dynamically inserted host-read ads, etc.
Even though streaming platforms offer multiple ad options, audio remains the most powerful touchpoint. Listeners engage with it in moments when screens aren’t in use, during commutes, workouts, or daily routines, making it a uniquely intimate and distraction-free medium. Well-crafted audio ads can build recall, emotion, and brand affinity far more naturally, ensuring your marketing message lands with maximum impact.
Listening Is a Passion
Audio streaming services are a huge part of media consumption worldwide, and as connectivity becomes more affordable and ubiquitous (mobile data, 5G, smart devices, AI assistants), this role will only grow.
In 2025 and beyond, marketers have even more opportunities:
- The fact that nearly 80% of Americans listen to digital audio each month (and over 70% weekly) underscores the scale.
- Podcasts continue to surge: for example, the ad-spend on podcast advertising grew ~32.8% year-over-year in early 2025 in the U.S.
- Spoken-word formats are increasingly monetised, and allow brands to reach niche audiences in a more intimate way (trusted hosts, serial formats).
- Emerging technologies such as AI-generated audio, voice assistants, interactive audio ads, geo-triggered audio messages (e.g., location based) offer new creative possibilities.
- While streaming music remains dominant, the audio ecosystem is diversifying (music + podcasts + audiobooks + live audio) — giving brands multiple touch-points in the listener’s day.
Marketing opportunities are available to businesses that want to reach their customers wherever they are. If you haven’t yet added audio streaming platforms to your marketing mix, now is the time.
New Heading: Why Audio Works in 2025 More Than Ever
- Mobile-first listening: Over 65% of consumers use their smartphones as primary devices for streaming music.
- Earbuds as ubiquitous device: Wireless earbuds and headphone usage continues to rise, making audio a truly portable medium.
- Reduced visual competition: With social feeds saturated with visuals, audio offers a less-crowded space, fewer scroll distractions, and higher attention.
- Enhanced data & targeting: Streaming platforms now provide better listener signals (genre, playlist, device, session duration, skip behaviour) which brands can leverage for smarter micro-targeting.
New Heading: Practical Steps to Add Audio Streaming to Your Mix
- Audit your audience: Are your target listeners using audio streaming, podcasts, music apps? What devices, what genres, what time-of-day?
- Define objectives: Brand awareness, reach, engagement, direct response? Audio campaigns can fit all, but you’ll choose formats accordingly (e.g., 15-second audio for top-of-funnel; sponsor a podcast series for mid-funnel engagement).
- Select the right platform/partner: Look for platforms with strong reach in your geographic/ demographic segment. Evaluate their ad formats, targeting options, and creative support.
- Design audio-first creative: Make sure your scripts are tight, voice-talent matches your brand tone, and the message works when someone is only listening (no visuals). Consider supplemental display or companion banners in the app.
- Leverage personalization & context: Use targeting by time of day, location, device, listener behaviour (e.g., workout playlists, commute time, etc.).
- Measure & optimise: Define what “success” means (listens, ad-completion, brand lift, site visits). Use the data to refine creative, targeting, and frequency. According to the IAB 2025 report, campaigns that included digital audio saw an 8% higher ROAS and up to 4% incremental reach compared to other digital channels, proving that audio drives measurable business impact within the media mix.
Final Word
Don’t underestimate the power of audio streaming platforms in your marketing mix. With growing reach, high engagement, and increasing personalization, they deliver a unique opportunity to meet listeners where they are, headphone-on, mobile, active, or relaxing. The data in 2025 shows audio is not a niche channel anymore; it’s a core channel.
If your brand is not yet leveraging audio streaming in a meaningful way, now is the moment to pivot. Smart brands will move in early, test creatively, and integrate audio into their marketing strategy, not as an afterthought, but as a strategic pillar.
Information Sources –
https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IAB_MeasuringDigitalAudioinMMM_June_2025_FINAL.pdf
https://zipdo.co/audio-industry-statistics/
https://radioactivemedia.com/audio-advertising/
https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IAB_MeasuringDigitalAudioinMMM_June_2025_FINAL.pdf
Also Read:- Optimizing Ad Reach: Connect Across 850+ Audio Apps with PayTunes’ Dynamic Audio Ads