“An electron microscope is needed to observe YouTube Music audience shares.” That is the assessment from Cumulus Media’s Pierre Bouvard, who says the ad industry is misallocating billions of dollars on flawed audio consumption ideas that cut out radio.
When Advertiser Perceptions surveyed 302 agencies and marketers in August 2025, respondents guessed that Pandora and Spotify captured a combined 41% of ad-supported audio, while AM/FM radio held just 26%. The truth is almost the opposite. Edison Research’s Q2 2025 Share of Ear study found AM/FM commands 66% of ad-supported listening. “2.5X greater than agency/advertiser perceptions,” Bouvard writes, via the Audio Active Group.
The Cumulus Media/Westwood One Chief Insights Officer has a blunt assessment of the gap: “AM/FM radio is 13X larger than ad-supported Spotify and 17X bigger than ad-supported Pandora.”
This disconnect, he argues, explains why marketers chasing digital audio often end up with campaigns that overlook the biggest audience available. “You cannot check the box of an audio media plan that only contains digital audio; you’ll miss 70% of America,” Bouvard says.
Bouvard singles out YouTube Music as an example of perception running ahead of reality. He notes that “the word ‘billions’ gets thrown around a lot” when YouTube pitches audience size to agencies, but “it is unclear the metric or countries represented.” Edison data shows the platform’s ad-supported service captures just 1% of listening time – trailing AM/FM (66%), podcasts (20%), Spotify (5%), and Pandora (4%).
Daily reach data reinforces the scale advantage. Ad-supported Spotify, Pandora, and podcasts combined reach 31% of Americans. AM/FM radio alone reaches just short of double that base at 60%. Bouvard stresses that the order of planning matters: build from radio’s 60% foundation and add digital for incremental reach, not the reverse.
Threaded throughout the analysis is a critique of how decisions are made. Bouvard points to demographic breakdowns showing AM/FM’s strength “across all demographics,” including a 47% share among 18–34s. That is double podcasts and quadruple Spotify.
The result, he argues, is an industry led by narratives, not evidence. Whether driven by generational bias among planners, aggressive marketing by streaming platforms, or simple unfamiliarity with audio measurement, the effect is the same: “media buyers are chasing perceived audiences on streaming services while underinvesting in the demonstrably larger broadcast audiences.”
His call to action is clear: reset assumptions, trust the audience data, and start every audio plan with AM/FM radio as the base.
