Mobile Advertising with Digital Audio: What to Know
From the moment we wake up to when we finally climb into bed, mobile devices stay with us. That’s why digital audio and mobile devices go hand in hand, delivering anywhere, anytime access to a vast universe of podcasts and streaming audio content. With consumers accessing an almost endless amount of media on mobile at all times of the day, brands have a prime opportunity to reach them in multiple ways. If you haven’t been prioritizing mobile advertising, it looks like your competitors already are. In 2025, it’s anticipated that US advertisers will spend 82% of their media budget on digital and dedicate 66% of that budget to mobile.
When paired with digital audio, mobile advertising gets your brand noticed in a manner that’s trusted, contextual, and actionable. Let’s dive into the benefits and measurability of mobile audio advertising.
What Is Mobile Advertising?
Mobile advertising is advertising that is created for and delivered on smartphones and tablets. Thanks to the core do-it-all and take-it-everywhere features of mobile devices, advertisers have diverse options for how, when, and where their message reaches audiences. With digital audio, mobile advertising is possible across both streaming audio and podcasts. Brands have a variety of mobile advertising possibilities to choose from, including ads played between songs on streaming platforms and at various points during episodes of popular podcasts.
When you pair the power of mobile advertising with the ubiquity of digital audio, you’ve got the perfect setting for marketing success and a wide reach.
What Are the Benefits of Mobile Audio Advertising?
Mobile audio advertising lets you reach consumers via diverse ad formats, wherever they are in the day, with the potential for high engagement.
Versatile Ad Formats
While short-form ads tend to thrive in mobile environments, mobile ad campaigns aren’t limited to 30-second spots. There are 15- and 60-second options, but the real magic comes when you start mixing and matching. Use a mix of display, video, rewarded, or interactive ads to drive web traffic, reinforce your messaging, and more.
Target Based on Real-Time Data
When you pair the power of audio advertising with the versatility of mobile devices, you can target audiences with incredible precision. Consumers’ ages, genre preferences, and interests are all easy to carve out thanks to first-party data. And with the right partner and real-time data, you can get advanced—target by your listeners’ mood, activity, and more to send a message that really sticks.
Reach Listeners Wherever They Are
Mobile audio allows advertisers to reach their target audiences as life happens, arguably more than any other medium. Think of your consumers’ everyday activities like commuting in the morning and evening, working out at the gym, running errands, or lounging at home—mobile advertising via digital audio can target listeners no matter their activity, mood, or location.
High Engagement and Interactivity Rates
Mobile audio advertising has some of the best levels of listener engagement. For instance, Pandora’s display ads only reach listeners when they’re engaged with the app, making your ad unmissable. And when you use a mix of audio-only and display ads in your mobile advertising campaign, you’re minimizing the chance for ad fatigue by keeping consumers on their toes.
Which Mobile Solutions Are Available on SiriusXM Media?
We’re home to leading streaming platforms and podcasts, with a young, diverse, and growing audience to match. Here are just some of the ad solutions to choose from when you advertise with the largest ad-supported audience in digital audio.
Sponsored Listening
As a type of rewarded ad, sponsored listening rewards your audience with periods of ad-free listening on Pandora. Give your users an option to engage with your ad, from watching a video to interacting with a rich media experience, for an uninterrupted experience afterward. Your brand receives positive associations while creating a memorable experience for listeners—it’s a win-win.
Video Plus
Similar to sponsored listening, video plus lets mobile users opt in to your video ad in exchange for a temporary upgrade to premium-only features and on-demand listening. You only pay when a user watches at least 15 seconds of your video ad, so it’s ROI to the max for your brand.
Happy Hour
As another type of rewarded ads, happy hour incentivizes listeners who tune in during a valued time slot during the week. Listeners get ad-free listening during that period, and like with video plus, your campaign only incurs costs if a user watches at least 15 seconds of your ad.
Podcast Video Ads & Custom Video Segments
Podcasts may have started out as audio-only, but video podcasts are on the rise. With podcast video ads, you can amplify video campaigns with on-demand podcast video inventory on YouTube. With this ad type, you’re ensuring delivery to engaged viewers and mitigating risks by aligning with high-quality content and shows.
Video Host Reads
When you consider the increased trust, loyalty, and connection podcast hosts have with their listeners, it’s easy to understand why host-read ads are powerful. Now, kick that up a few notches by combining host reads with video—podcast listeners can now hear and see the host’s admiration and enthusiasm for your brand. After all, almost two in three video podcast viewers say they like to see the reactions and emotions of the host and guests.
These are just a handful of ways to reach mobile listeners, but there are many others, like high-impact mobile interstitials, hyper-personalized dynamic audio ads, and more.
How Can Audio Ads Be Measured on Mobile?
Mobile audio advertising is far greater than an awareness play, and it’s fairly easy to size up the metrics of a mobile audio campaign. Here are a few ways to measure the impact of your campaign when you advertise on mobile.
Upper-Funnel: Creative Testing
A/B testing your ad creatives can help you see what hits and what doesn’t. Compare multiple options of your brand messaging, voice acting, and ad length before throwing all your budget behind one version.
Upper-Funnel: Brand Lift
When adopting brand lift studies, you’ll get the answer to: “How does my target audience feel about my brand after hearing my ads?” This metric is an upper-funnel measurement, and it illuminates how well your digital audio campaign resonates with mobile device users, from brand awareness, to ad recall, to brand consideration.
Mid-Funnel: Location Analytics
Yes, believe it or not, you can even understand the where. If you’re aiming to increase foot traffic in the real world, like to your brick-and-mortar store, we can help you quantify that uptick.
Lower-Funnel: Attribution Studies
Wondering what your audience did after hearing your ad on a mobile device? Attribution studies connect the dots between your ad and intended consumer actions, such as form fills or downloads.
Lower-Funnel: Sales Lift
At the end of the day, the common goal is seeing a significant return on ad spend (ROAS). Implementing a sales lift study can help you measure the influence of your campaign on sales.
Our Mobile Competitive Advantage
With 65M mobile monthly unique visitors, 87% of which are ad-supported, across Pandora, SoundCloud, and SiriusXM digital (not including our partnerships), we offer unmatched reach and exposure. The platforms in our ecosystem are also highly mobile-centric and designed for an ideal mobile experience. For example, take SoundCloud, where 84% of all users listen on mobile devices.
And when you compare our numbers to that of competitors, the SiriusXM Streaming Network reaches 2.4x more listeners than iHeart and 8x more 18-24-year-olds. Additionally, Pandora has the largest share of ad-supported time spent—10% more than Spotify’s and 5x more than iHeart’s.
Mobile Audio Advertising Made Easy
If you’re looking to add mobile audio advertising to your upcoming campaigns, we’re the right partner to get it off the ground and soar to new heights.
Ready to make some noise on mobile? Let’s talk.
