Where does digital audio fit in the landscape of digital ad spend? Good question.

Digital audio will have 197.5 million adult listeners in the US this year, but each listener will generate only $36.05 in ad revenues. Radio fares slightly better at $49.10, but both pale next to most other major video platforms.

Audio captures only a small slice of ad budgets. An estimated 4.5% of 2024 media spend in the US will go to audio, with digital audio capturing only 1.8% of that total. Even with steady growth over the next few years, digital audio’s share will drop to 1.6% by 2028, and overall audio will capture only 3.4%. By comparison, in 2024, traditional TV will capture 15.1% and digital video 27.8% of media spend.

Audio ad spend is less than time spent would suggest. The average adult will spend an average of 2:42 each day listening to audio in 2024—21.4% of total media time spent. A little over half of that (1:24) is digital audio.

Monetization via subscriptions limits digital audio ad slots. The relatively low ad spend reflects, in part, limited inventory. Audio subscriptions will account for 63.0% of digital audio revenues in 2024.

How On-line Playlisting Can Save Music Radio

For music programmers who have been utilizing on-demand streaming data to properly align their on-air music with true music consumption, here's some news: Playlisting has become the dominant way most music fans listen.

At Bridge Ratings we have been tracking music consumption through on-demand streaming services for over four years. We now share this data with our music radio clients seeking to properly align their on-air song exposure to their listeners' actual consumption.

In a typical year we process and analyze hundreds of millions of streams from across the U.S. and, more specifically, by market and station.

Over the past three years we have undertaken an analysis of music streaming consumption and learned almost immediately in the fall of 2015 that playlisting plays a significant role in the way the average person consumes music through on-demand streaming platforms.

Playlist is a term to describe a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player sequentially or in random order. In its most general form, an audioplaylist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop.

Navigate the Future Blog

The Digital Audio Question

How On-line Playlisting Can Save Music Radio

Playlist is a term to describe a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player sequentially or in random order. In its most general form, an audioplaylist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop.

What We've Learned

Read the full article in the Navigate the Future Blog.