Audio commands roughly a third of daily media consumption, yet the ad dollars allocated to that time still lag behind. A new Omnicom Media and iHeartMedia study puts hard numbers on the disconnect and identifies which formats are doing the most to close the gap.
The study, Turning Volume into Value: What New Audio Innovations Mean for Advertisers, is based on a controlled experiment among more than 3,500 US adults who consume audio content weekly. Results are drawn from brand lift surveys measuring impact across awareness, trust, and conversion for standard, host-read, long-form, dynamic, and interactive ad formats across three verticals: CPG, beauty, and insurance. Participants were randomly assigned to control and exposed groups, with real-world ad experiences followed by brand lift surveys across key performance indicators.
The one-third consumption figure comes from eMarketer’s 2025 data. A recent Audio Active Group study drawing on Advertiser Perceptions and Circana data found marketers have consistently assigned creative just 23% of contribution to campaign sales lift since 2020; roughly half the 49% share Circana’s own sales data attributes to it. The Omnicom and iHeartMedia research puts more specific numbers behind what better creative formats actually deliver.
Across formats, audio advertising drove a 22-point increase in unaided ad recall among in-market consumers, alongside gains in favorability, search intent, and purchase intent of five to six points each. The study also documents what it calls an “audio multiplier effect,” evidence that audio exposure improves performance across other channels. Specifically, it found audio lifted social performance by 83%, digital and social engagement by 109%, and branded search activity by 47%.
Host-read ads outperformed standard formats on emotional connection and brand trust, with the gap widening considerably when the host was one listeners actively trusted rather than simply recognized. Trusted host-read 30-second ads drove a 24-point lift in the perception that a brand is one consumers “feel strongly about,” compared to 15 points for a familiar-but-not-trusted host and just two points for standard ads. On purchase timing, trusted host exposure drove a 20-point lift in likelihood to purchase within a week, against eight points for a familiar host and two for standard.
Long-form host-read executions running 120 seconds versus the standard 30 pushed unaided recall to a 28-point lift, compared to 11 points for 30-second host reads. Trusted voices in long-form format also topped the clarity rankings: 76% of listeners said the ad clearly communicated the brand’s benefit, versus 42% for a standard :30.
Dynamic ads tailored to context, like time of day or listener environment, improved perceived relevance among 80% of respondents versus 73% for standard ads, and drove an 11-point lift in search intent compared to three points for standard formats.
Interactive motion-activated units, which prompt listeners to shake their phone to unlock brand information, generated stronger search intent and purchase intent gains among in-market audiences. Among listeners likely to purchase soon, 43% engaged with the shake prompt, with Millennials leading at 42% and Gen Z at 36%. Of those who didn’t interact, 32% cited uncertainty about what would happen — a sign the format has room to grow as execution improves.
iHeartMedia Insights President Lainie Fertick said, “Audio is one of the few channels that delivers both scale and intimacy.” Fertick added that when brands combine trusted voices with innovation, “audio becomes a powerful driver of trust, engagement, and accelerated purchase behavior.”
Omnicom Media EVP of Intelligence Solutions Kara Manatt said, “Listeners develop real relationships with the voices they hear every day.” Manatt stated that trusted voices “don’t just influence perception, they drive action.”
