Digital audio moves into a new phase of accountability and scale according to IAB Australia State of the Nation Report

The digital audio market is growing, innovating and broadening its strategic role according to  IAB Australia’s Digital Audio State of the Nation Report, and the recently released IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report. However, the Digital Audio State of the Nation Report also found that the market’s future scale and investment will depend heavily on the industry’s ability to deliver improved measurement sophistication, provide clearer evidence of effectiveness, and responsibly adopt new technologies including AI.

Now in its 10th year, the Digital Audio State of the Nation Report tracks the evolution of Australia’s digital audio ecosystem, charting the diversification of ad formats and platforms, shifts in investment drivers, technological advancements and insights into advertiser investment plans across streaming audio, podcast and video advertising environments and platforms

The Digital Audio State of the Nation Report will be officially launched today at IAB Australia’s Audio Summit, where industry leaders will examine how digital audio integrates with broader digital advertising strategies, trading models and measurement approaches.

The Report found that ad buyers are signalling further increases in digital audio investment with 69% of audio ad buyers planning to increase their spend in original content podcast advertising, while 56% plan to increaseinvestment in streaming music advertising.  Video podcasts were also found to be emerging, with 25% of respondents having already included the format in a campaign and a further 50% having researched the opportunity.

Audience attention, brand building, brand integrations, custom executions and access to talent and content creators were identified in the Report as key drivers in audio advertising investment.

It also found that the industry is adopting a curious but cautious approach to integrating AI into audio planning, activation and ad production process, with the greatest opportunity seen as performance tracking, reporting and campaign optimisation. However, 53% of Australian ad buyers expressed concerns with the use of AI in audio content production for host reads or voice cloning, where concerns around authenticity remain high.

Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia commented “There is clear positive sentiment around digital audio, with buyers signalling continued growth across podcasts and streaming. What’s equally clear is that investment confidence increasingly depends on outcomes-based measurement and consistent standards that allow audio to sit comfortably alongside the broader digital mix.

“At the same time, the expansion of the creator economy and the rise of video podcasts are reshaping how brands show up in audio environments. As an industry, we need to innovate around measurement, trading models and creative integration to ensure growth is matched with clarity and credibility.”

Steve Golding, Head of Audio Automation at NOVA and Chair of IAB Australia’s Audio Council commented: “The future for digital audio advertisers is increasingly compelling. As the channel scales within the media mix,advances in targeting, dynamic creative, and experimentation with content creators will make audio campaigns even more relevant, accountable, and effective allowing them to deepen connections with audiences and build trust at scale.”

The Digital Audio State of the Nation Report comes just days after the release of the IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report which found digital audio revenue grew 8.5% year on year to reach $338.7m for CY25.

Additional Findings

• Content Creators: This year access to talent and content creators as a driver for digital audio advertising usage has seen a significant year-on-year jump (+10 percentage points) to make this the second most important driver (to audience attention and engagement capabilities).

• The creator economy : 61% of respondents have used podcast creators and talent as part of their creator marketing strategy, with a further 17% considering the opportunity.

• Shift to performance:  Previous years have shown heavy reliance on digital audio for brand building objectives. This year, 37% of respondents plan to increase the share of spend on performance advertising compared to brand, with 27% of respondents expecting to increase the share of spend on brand.

• Buying formats : Audio programmatic buying remains stable on last year with 72% of respondents buying programmatically in 2025. Amongst those buying programmatically, 68% intend to buy streaming audio guaranteed deal in 2026 (up from 51% in 2025) and 62% plan to buy podcast advertising guaranteed deal (up from 43% in 2025). Capabilities in data and targeting have evolved over the last decade and it continues to dominate the reasons for buying programmatic audio.

•  Business outcomes : Standardised data is required for integration into existing planning and Market Mix Modelling tools (MMM) to allow comparable evaluation of digital audio with other channels. MMM, is now the leading tool for assessing sales impact and ROI of audio advertising, with 44% of respondents using it to assess the effectiveness of digital audio investment. However, evidence of effectiveness and measurement continue to be key industry challenges, compounded by fragmented formats and lack of standardisation in the audio space.

The Report was supported by industry body Commercial Radio & Audio, as well as 19 different media and tech companies, including Acast, ARN, Blis, Eardrum, Foxtel, Google, Magnite, News Corp Australia, Nine Radio, NOVA,Publicis Groupe, Earmax, SCA, Spotify, The Trade Desk, Triton, Yahoo, WPP Media and Zenith.

Fieldwork was conducted in November and December 2025, with 128 survey responses collected from decision makers or influencers on the allocation of marketing spend from advertising buy-side, including from media, creativeand digital advertising agencies, agency trading desks and brands/companies that buy audio advertising. 95% of respondents were from ad agencies, including holding groups and smaller independent agencies, and 5% of respondents were from brands or companies that buy advertising.

IAB Australia offers a range of free audio advertising related resources including the Foundations of Digital Audio Advertising course for marketers and newcomers, an Audio Buyers Guide, a beginners guide to Measuring Digital Audio in MMM and AI Unlocked, a resources and learning guide for the ad industry.