IAB Australia’s Online Advertising Expenditure Report has revealed that digital audio advertising spending in Australia rose 13% compared with the same period a year ago, reaching $51.9 million this March quarter.

Podcast advertising surged by 20.7% to $19.8 million in the quarter, while streaming audio spend grew 8.8% to $32.1 million.

This is the first release of quarterly spending data resulting from collaboration between IAB Australia and Commercial Radio & Audio. 

Figures released in February showed ad spending on digital audio totalled $221.2 million in 2022.

“Digital audio has not only been resilient but is showing strong sustained growth in a tough advertising market,” said Ford Ennals, chief executive officer of CRA.

“Advertisers are following audiences into podcasts and streaming. With the latest Infinite Dial research confirming Australia is the leading podcast market in the world, we expect online audio to attract an increasing share of ad spend.

“Radio streaming audiences are also growing strongly and the changes we are making to radio audience measurement to better understand streaming listeners are designed to tap into the digital revenue opportunity.”

The IAB online advertising report showed digital audio accounted for only 4.2% of total general display advertising expenditure in the March quarter.

The radio industry will soon launch its new Radio 360 audience measurement system, aimed at providing more granular data across all platforms of listening.