Guideline Sees Digital Audio Ad Spending Growing 9% In 2026.

Digital audio is still under-monetized relative to its reach — and podcasting continues to account for nearly all of the category’s momentum. Guideline’s latest Digital Audio Market report shows digital audio continues to outpace much of the broader advertising market, but the biggest opportunity may still lie ahead — particularly for podcasting.

“There’s a lot of opportunity in terms of upside relative to consumption, versus what we’re actually seeing from a monetization perspective,” said Sean Wright, Chief Insights and Analytics Officer in an interview.

Despite 58% of U.S. adults consuming digital audio, Guideline says it still captures just 2% of total media dollars spent.

“There’s no reason in my mind that that can’t be 5% of marketing plans given the sheer amount of consumption,” Wright said. “In the U.S. alone, that could mean an additional $3 billion roughly.”

The gap has closed a bit in recent years. Globally, digital audio ad revenue climbed from $2.1 billion in 2022 to $3.1 billion in 2025, growing 13% annually — faster than consumption, which increased 6% per year over the same period. Still, year-over-year revenue growth has slowed from 16% to around 10% as the category matures.

Podcasts Drive Growth

Digital audio revenue has risen from $0.6 billion in 2017 to $2.6 billion in 2025. In the U.S., podcasting is the primary catalyst. Guideline reports 77% of digital audio ad revenue growth in 2025 came from podcasts, even though podcasts account for just 31% of total digital audio ad spending.

“Podcasting has become the growth engine,” Wright said. “It’s virtually all of the growth that came to digital audio in 2025, and we’re expecting that to continue.” Guideline forecasts podcasts will account for 35% of digital audio spending this year.

Podcasting’s strength lies in its brand-building effectiveness and flexibility, and that has appeal to marketers. The data also shows large advertisers are also increasingly embracing the medium.

Follow The Money

As digital audio spending climbs, the source of the dollars has been a bit of a mystery. Guideline is offering an answer. Its analysis shows the biggest source of additional dollars last year came from in incremental budget increases. And $87 million shifted from TV budgets into digital audio in 2025.

“If you pitch taking money from the TV space to a marketer who’s trying to think of what’s up-and-coming and cool, it’s much easier to make that argument than saying pull from social media,” Wright said.

Guideline’s data also shows about a third less money was shifted out of radio to digital audio last year than TV, totaling $29.3 million. Wright believes that is because digital audio CPMs are higher than AM/FM, which means to make a radio ad work online, marketers need to spend more on a per ad basis. “It's probably harder to migrate those budgets, because you're not trading it, you're not trading it spot-for-spot,” Wright said.

Looking ahead, Guideline forecasts U.S. digital audio ad spend reaching $2.9 billion in 2026, up from $2.6 billion in 2025 — a projected 9.3% gain. It’s a slower rate of growth, which Wright says is a result of maturation of the market. “I don’t think it’s lack of an interest, it’s a lot more dollars being thrown at a bigger pool,” he explained.

Overall, Guideline’s U.S. ad growth is forecast at 4% in 2026, with digital formats forecast to be up 6.7% and traditional formats — including radio, print and linear TV — down 3.5% from a year earlier.