New Study From WARC And iHeartMedia Reveals Major Audio Investment Gap For Marketers

New Survey

WARC has unveiled the results of a study conducted in collaboration with iHEARTMEDIA, on media consumption and audio investment in the U.S. 

“The Investment Gap: Understanding the Value of Audio” "highlights a divergence between consumption and investment." While 31% of the average consumer’s media consumption is now audio, only 8.8% of the average media budget is allocated to audio, and 25% of advertisers do not invest in audio at all.  

According to the study, consumers of every generation are spending more and more time with audio content across radio, streaming and podcasts, driven by audio’s ease and accessibility with the growth of wireless headphones and smart speakers adding to in-car, at home and at work listening. 

While WARC data forecasts audio advertising spending in the U.S. to reach $13.9 billion this year, a double-digit recovery (+10.9%) from the pandemic’s 2020 cuts, the report highlights a large audio investment gap and the vast opportunity that exists in this mass-reach and high engagement audio advertising market. 

The study also identified four key types of advertiser attitudes towards audio: 

• Audio Avoiders: The 25% of advertisers who do not invest in audio at all
• Broadcast Believers: Those who have seen the benefits of radio and are beginning to delve into more forms of audio  
• Digital Only: Those who have started to invest but are missing out on the full suite of audio options, particularly the 90% reach of broadcast radio
• Cross-Platform Champions: Those who explore audio’s full potential and continue to test, learn from and optimize their investments across platforms.

Furthermore, the study shows that audio is not a monolith. There are different and critical channels within the audio segment, and they play different roles in the minds of the consumers that advertisers should take advantage of. 

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