The news: Audio advertising is an effective and engaging marketing opportunity, and users’ trust in hosts is boosting sales.

Among US weekly audio listeners who were likely to make a purchase soon, audio advertising drove a 22 percentage point increase in unaided ad recall compared with a control group, per an iHeartMedia and Omnicom Media Intelligence report.

• Both favorability and purchase intent attained a 5-point lift within the test group over the control group.
• Ads read by a trusted host in particular drove a 20-point lift in consumers’ likelihood of making a purchase within a week, an Omnicom spokesperson told EMARKETER.
• Long-form host-read ads perform even better than short ads, with two times higher recall than those 30 seconds or less.

Omnicom Media Intelligence noted that test and control group benchmarks differ depending on brand maturity and lifestage, making percentage-point lift between groups the most relevant efficacy measure.

What it means: Trusted voices and long-form content are amplifying audio’s impact across the funnel. Ads delivered by familiar hosts could be outperforming standard formats due to feeling more authentic and less interruptive, strengthening brand relevance and prompting action.

This dynamic highlights how the listener-host relationship—built over time through consistent, interest-driven content—can accelerate conversion more effectively than traditional ad approaches.

However, despite the conversion lift, advertisers may not be taking full advantage of this opportunity.

• Only 34% of podcast ads in Q4 2025 were host-read, per Magellan AI, suggesting brands are underusing one of audio’s most distinctive strengths.
• Instead, a growing share of inventory is being filled with programmatic or pre-produced spots that lack the same level of trust and integration.

Recommendations for brands: Invest in host-read audio ads—especially within podcasts—to turn audience trust into action.

• Prioritize creators whose voice and content align naturally with the brand, and give them room to personalize the message rather than relying on generic scripts.
• Test host-read formats against pre-produced and programmatic spots using metrics like recall, favorability, and purchase intent to evaluate effects.

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