Digital audio advertising on the music, podcasts and radio your customers stream.
Your ad between songs and inside podcasts on Spotify, Pandora and streaming radio, played only to listeners in the area and the audience you choose.
- Heard, not scrolled past. It plays while the phone is in a pocket and the screen is off.
- $2,500 to $5,000 a month in media is where most campaigns start.
- A report of who heard it, not just the hour it ran.
What digital audio advertising is
Digital audio is the audio people stream: music apps, podcasts and radio stations played over the internet. The ads run in the breaks, the way a radio spot does. You will also see it called streaming audio advertising, streaming radio advertising or programmatic audio. It is the same thing.
Two things separate it from a radio buy. A radio spot buys a time slot and hopes the right person is tuned in. A digital audio ad is aimed at an audience and an area, and it comes back with a report of who actually heard it.
Most listening happens with the phone in a pocket or a speaker on the counter. So a spot usually carries a companion banner on the app's screen. Someone who hears the ad and glances down sees the same message.
Podcasts and streaming radio, wherever the day takes them.
How an audio campaign runs
- Choose the listeners
The audience you want and the area they live in: a metro, a list of zip codes or a radius around your location.
- Bring the spot
The recorded ad, and a companion banner for the apps that show one.
- It plays where they listen
Spotify, Pandora, podcasts and streaming radio, on the phone, in the car and on a speaker at home.
- Report
Every month you see how many times it played and how many people it reached. Where there is a location to visit, visits can be counted too.
Where the ads play
The services your customers already have open.
- Spotify
- Pandora
- Podcasts
- Streaming radio
- Music apps
- Companion banners on the same app
Audio reaches people in moments a screen cannot: driving, working out, cooking, on a job site. It is a high-attention, low-clutter place to be.
What it costs to start
$2,500 to $5,000a month in media is where most campaigns start.
A tight area, such as a few zip codes or one neighborhood, works at the low end. A whole metro, several markets or a statewide plan needs more.
Below that it can run. It just does not reach enough of the right people often enough to tell you whether it worked.
Audio is cheaper reach than Connected TV, which is why the two often run together.
How you know an ad nobody can click is working
There is usually nothing to click when the phone is in a pocket. So audio is measured by plays and reach: how many times the ad was heard, and by how many different people.
Where the business has a location, the next question is whether listeners came in. The published campaign below reports store visits and what each visit cost.
Thirty days of digital audio for a retailer
A retail client. 30 days.
A retailer ran digital audio for 30 days: ads in podcasts, streaming music and digital radio.
- Store visits
- 23,419
- Cost per store visit
- $2.95
- Impressions
- 14,799,119
- Reach
- 3,738,264
Copied from the case study we published at the time. The client's name is withheld. A past result is not a forecast: yours will depend on your market, your budget and your offer.
It runs well behind a TV commercial
Streaming audio is cheaper reach than Connected TV and often runs alongside it: the commercial on the television in the evening, the same name in their ears the next morning.
See Connected TVSell it under your own brand
Your agency keeps the client and the margin. We plan it, buy it and run it, and the report carries your logo.
The white-label versionDigital Audio across Minnesota
26 Minnesota markets, each with its own local page. We run campaigns anywhere in the country.
Related services
Questions people ask
What people want to know before they start, answered the way we would answer on a call.
How much does streaming audio advertising cost?
Most campaigns we run start at $2,500 to $5,000 a month in media, across several listening services rather than one. A tight area works at the low end. Audio is cheaper reach than Connected TV, so a budget goes further.
Is streaming audio the same as programmatic audio?
Yes. Streaming audio is where the ad plays. Programmatic describes how it is bought: aimed at an audience, one play at a time, rather than as a block of airtime on one station.
Can a listener click an audio ad?
Usually not, and that is fine. The companion banner on the app can be tapped, but most listeners never look at the screen. Audio is measured by plays, reach and, where there is a location, visits.
Does digital audio work with Connected TV?
It does, and it is a common pairing. Audio is cheaper reach, so it keeps your name in front of the same area between the times the commercial plays on their television.
Where do these ads actually play?
Spotify, Pandora, podcasts and streaming radio — anywhere someone is listening with headphones in or a screen off. It reaches people broadcast can't, in moments a banner ad never sees.
Is this the same as buying a radio spot?
No. Traditional radio buys a time slot and hopes the right person is listening. Digital audio targets by audience and geography and reports back who actually heard the ad, not just what hour it ran.
What goes with the audio spot?
A companion display banner runs alongside it on the same app, so someone who hears the ad and glances at their screen sees the same message reinforced.
Tell us the area and the budget. We will show you the plan.
Tell us your goals. We'll show you the plan — and the numbers behind it.