This is the Q1 2025 installment of our quarterly “Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.​

Sports remains a profitable ad opportunity: Two-thirds of Americans are sports fans and over half have made a purchase based on audio ads.

What do brands need to know about the next wave of digital growth?

Ad revenues outlook declining amid economic uncertainty: The latest Magna ad sales forecast indicates several factors are at play in the downturn.

Top-line time spent with media will grow very little in the US going forward, making it essential to identify which formats and platforms are winning the newly zero-sum competition for consumer attention.

Programmatic plays a small but growing role in digital audio services ad spending. Major digital audio platforms are leaning in.

Retailers looking to capitalize on retail media’s growth opportunities need to understand the market developments, formats, and challenges shaping ad spending in Latin America.

SiriusXM struggles to pull off streaming: A low revenue forecast prompts the company to reexamine its strengths in a crowded field.

High audio listenership and time spent this year means limited growth. Subscription revenues will be healthy, as most listeners pay to limit ads. And Spotify will lead in nearly every metric, though several platforms are doing well.

Amazon’s AI ad tool adds audio to its repertoire: Amazon merchants can plug their product pages into the tool to create 30 second audio spots.

Spotify is holding off on launching audiobook ads: Statements from its ad chief reflect a nascent product that it doesn’t want to dilute with ads—yet.

Contrary to popular belief, not every creator has a podcast. But those who do are a driving force behind the roughly $1.50 billion US creators will generate from digital audio distribution channels this year.

Our forecast for time spent with media has held relatively steady throughout 2024, but several important milestones are on the horizon.

The average US adult will spend more than 8 hours per day on digital media this year, with about half of that time spent on mobile devices and more than a quarter on CTV.​

Black consumers are tech-savvy and eager to stay up to date on the latest digital and pop culture trends.

Total media ad spending growth has stabilized, and digital ad spending is set for an extended period of low double-digit annual increases. Amazon, TikTok, and Instagram will be the main growth drivers this year.

Although traditional radio advertising remains a $10.5 billion business in the US, it’s slowly shrinking. Digital audio advertising, by contrast, will grow 6.8% in 2024 to reach $7.12 billion.

US adults will spend 7 more minutes per day with media in 2024 than they did in 2023, confounding expectations of a post-pandemic reduction in screen and audio time.

To reach the overwhelmingly young, diverse, and growing population of Hispanic consumers in the US, advertisers must understand their media preferences.

This year, North America holds the title for most podcast listeners at 149.4 million, per our August 2023 forecast. By 2027, China will take over with 178.7 million listeners.