A new IAB Media Center report finds that identity resolution and attribution tools are finally bringing traditional over-the-air radio, which still reaches 87% of US adults weekly, into the same measurement frameworks used across digital media, and marketers need to know it.
The report, Unlocking the Power of Data-Driven Audio, defines audio as broadcast radio, streaming audio, and podcasts. IAB says audio has become increasingly integrated into the planning, measurement and optimization systems marketers already use across other media channels.
AM/FM radio accounts for roughly two-thirds of all ad-supported audio listening and continues to reach 87% of US adults weekly, the report found.
Digital audio reaches 220 million Americans weekly, or 76% of the US population 12 and older, nearly matching YouTube’s 78% weekly reach, with Americans spending 87 minutes a day with digital audio, about the same time they spend on social media. Combined, Americans spend nearly three hours a day with audio across radio, streaming and podcasts, more time than they spend with subscription streaming video or social media.
Among the report’s radio-specific examples is iHeartMedia and Triton Digital’s AudioGraph, unveiled earlier this summer, which combines first-party listener data, identity resolution and predictive listening models to bring audience-based planning and measurement to broadcast radio. Early tests showed 75% higher KPI outcomes compared with traditional demographic-based plans, according to iHeart’s own data cited in the report.
Former Hershey Company Vice President of Consumer Connections Vinny Rinaldi said, “Radio now has a chance to see its day, helping drive demand creation and new intent for brands aligned with the measurement architect of the rest of the digital ecosystem. AudioGraph is a great innovation for the industry, bringing the massive scale of radio to help deliver against brand growth models, build on penetration, and reach genuinely new buyers.”
The report also cites examples across digital audio more broadly, including a SiriusXM and Innovid partnership connecting digital audio exposure data with cross-platform measurement, a Spotify and TransUnion marketing mix model analysis for the tech and telecom sector, and a Podscribe study that found an estimated 58% incremental purchase rate among audio-exposed households.
Even so, IAB argues the industry hasn’t caught up to what’s now possible. The report says most planners and strategists still view audio’s measurement capabilities as they existed a decade ago rather than where they stand today, a mismatch IAB says works against both advertisers chasing incremental growth and audio publishers, including radio, that are increasingly able to prove their results.
