Podcast advertising is increasingly an agency favourite in 2025, according to IAB Australia’s Australian Audio State of the Nation Report. 79% intend to increase their podcast investments this year with respondents seeing them provide new marketing opportunities in the creator economy due to what can be a direct partnership between podcast creators and advertisers.
So too programmatic digital audio buying with nearly the same percentage finding benefits in its targeting, reporting and attribution, and flexibility.
Streaming music (65%) and streaming radio (56%) should also see increases in spend according to the Report, with audio’s ability to offer incremental reach on other media and to compliment the media mix. This was evidenced in Nine Entertainment‘s half year financial results.
The IAB Report, in its 9th year, is a collaborative industry project with Commercial Radio and Audio (CRA) and 18 other media and tech companies and covers the usage and attitudes to advertising in streamed radio and music, podcasts original content and catch-up radio.
Branding was the main objective for most digital audio campaigns, though the use of streaming audio and podcasts to improve brand perceptions or to inform or educate with storytelling was also found to be important.
Podcasts beyond the usual favourite genres of lifestyle, health and wellness, saw agencies investing strongly with society and culture podcasts (up 12%), news and current affairs (up 10%) and true crime podcasts (up 9%). The latter’s increase follows the 2024 IAB Australia ‘Crime Pays’ Report showing true crime podcast content delivers engagement and memorability at levels know to influence consumer decisions and change behaviour.
The biggest issues detracting from streaming digital audio and podcast advertising were evidence of effectiveness and measurement and tracking of results. Lack of standardised audience data for media planning was outlined as a reason with measurement with it suggested that greater media owner collaboration and integration with other media would all help growth in the audio industry.
Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia said:
“The Report highlights the strength of the digital audio ad industry in terms of investment but also its expansion within the digital ecosystem. Agencies and marketers are applying the same measurement techniques to digital audio as they do to video. They are also exploring the role of podcasters in the creator economy and capitalising on the growing trend of video-enabled podcasts.”
Fieldwork for the report was conducted in December 2024 and January 2025 with 133 survey responses collected from the advertising buy-side including media, creative and digital agencies, agency trading desks and brands/companies that buy advertising. 88% of respondents were from agencies and 12% from brands or companies that buy advertising direct.
The recent IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report found digital audio revenue reached $313m for CY24.
The full IAB Australian Audio State of the Nation report is here: https://iabaustralia.com.au/resource/audio-advertising-state-of-the-nation-2025/
IAB Australia also offers a free Foundations of Digital Audio Advertising course for marketers and newcomers who would like to learn more about the audio landscape.