Audio Extends Advertisers Beyond The Screen.

Audio podcasts continue to offer advertisers advantages that extend beyond screen-based media, according to a new report from podcast research and advocacy firm Sounds Profitable.

The report, “The Podcast Atlas,” released last week, examines advertising effectiveness across the creator economy and evaluates the strengths of multiple content platforms. While the study concludes that advertisers benefit from a mix of channels, it identifies audio podcasting as particularly effective because it reaches consumers during activities when video is impractical while maintaining high levels of audience attention and trust.

One of the report’s key findings focuses on when consumers use audio and video podcasts. Researchers surveyed people who regularly consume both formats, allowing respondents to compare their own listening and viewing habits rather than relying on separate groups of users.

According to the study, 78% of those respondents listen to audio podcasts during at least one hands-busy activity vs. 55% who watch video podcasts in similar situations. Video was more likely to be used while people were relaxing with dedicated attention or while eating and drinking, suggesting the two formats serve different purposes throughout the day.

The report argues that audio’s ability to accompany consumers while commuting, exercising or completing household tasks gives advertisers access to periods when screen-based media is less likely to be used.

The research also challenges the assumption that multitasking reduces audience engagement. Among audio podcast listeners, 77% said they give podcasts their full or nearly full attention. “The hands are busy, but the ears, and the attention behind them, are not,” Sounds Profitable says. “These are long, low-distraction stretches where one creator’s voice is the only thing in the room, which is exactly the condition under which an ad actually gets heard rather than scrolled past.”

The study also found that audio podcasts ranked highest among major platforms for perceived credibility. Among the report’s most engaged users, referred to as “Primes,” 58% rated audio podcast content as accurate and factual vs. 55% for video platforms and 36% for Facebook. Audio also tied with video and YouTube for the lowest percentage of respondents reporting negative advertising experiences (21%).

Researchers found that audio audiences also approach advertising with comparatively less skepticism than users of other platforms. Thirty-one percent of Audio Primes said they question advertising claims most or all the time vs. 42% of Facebook users. In addition, 27% said podcast creators are motivated primarily by helping their audiences rather than financial gain, the highest percentage among the platforms included in the study. “An audience that walks into the ad assuming good faith is a rare thing to hand an advertiser,” Sounds Profitable says, “and it’s the difference between a message that gets a hearing and one that gets braced against.”

The report also points to strong audience retention for audio podcasts. Seventy-one percent of listeners said they finish episodes they begin almost always or more than half the time vs. 69% for video podcasts. Sounds Profitable concludes that the combination of sustained listening, audience trust and the ability to reach consumers during activities beyond the reach of screens makes audio podcasting an important component of advertisers’ broader media strategies.