An ad on Instagram competes against dozens of visual stimuli per second, and the user's thumb is always ready to scroll past it. An ad on a podcast or Spotify gets heard while the person is driving, cooking or exercising: they cannot simply "look away" as easily. That different kind of attention, combined with much lower advertising competition than the saturated visual channels, makes audio a channel very few small businesses have seriously tried.
The three main formats, and what each one is good for
Dynamic ads on platforms like Spotify, inserted automatically based on the listener's profile, work similarly to a programmatic ad: scalable, measurable, targetable by age, location or interests. Advertising on a specific podcast, on the other hand, usually relies on the trust the listener already has in that host: when the host themselves reads the ad in their own voice, it builds a level of credibility a generic ad cannot match.
Why audio creative cannot just be the voiceover from a video ad
An audio ad has no visual support of any kind, so all the important information (brand name, what you offer, how to find you) has to come through clearly with voice alone, repeated more than once within the ad itself, because the listener cannot "scroll back" to re-read it if they miss it.
How to measure results when there is no direct click
Many people hear the ad and search for the brand afterwards on their own, instead of clicking directly from the audio itself. That is why it is worth using a unique promo code for the audio channel, or directly asking "how did you hear about us?" on the contact form, to attribute sales that would otherwise stay invisible in standard analytics.
What kind of business it makes the most sense to try it for
It works especially well for brands with a story to tell (not just a price to advertise) and for businesses that already know which podcasts or shows their target audience listens to, because there the investment is targeted precisely instead of blindly.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a very high budget to start advertising on audio?
Not necessarily: self-service options exist on platforms like Spotify with much lower entry budgets than directly sponsoring a big podcast, suitable for testing the channel without risking too much.
Does audio advertising work the same for local businesses as for national brands?
Yes, many platforms allow targeting by specific geographic location, which makes audio advertising viable even with a very local reach.
Should I record the ad with a professional voice, or can someone from the business record it?
It depends on the format: for dynamic ads on platforms, a professional voice usually works better; for sponsoring a specific podcast, having the host read it in their own usual voice tends to build more trust than an outside voice.