• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, January 7, 2025

It could be the podcaster or the tone or the note in a jingle or jangle that calls attention to a brand, but how do podcasts, streaming and radio drive actions and connect consumers with search?

Podcast and creator-based video ad agency Oxford Road wanted to know, so it began running tests. One showed audio drove 18% of branded search volume for its clients.

For marketers, audio is far more than just a supporting channel. It can significantly drive discoverability like search, and account for a significant share of brand demand and credibility, according to the data.

Based on data from $400 million in cumulative audio campaigns using more than 30 years of client spend, the study provided evidence that brands making investments in audio can see it drive as much as 40% of branded search volume.

The study, The Sound of Growth: How Audio Fuels Branded Search, also suggests that audio’s impact on search volume can last for weeks after the initial investment, helping marketers better manage expectations and more accurately deliver on goals.

One of the more interesting insights from the analysis points to an ability to estimate the percentage of branded search volume attributable to audio spend. This is done through the correlations and various models.

Across the brands Oxford Road studied, analysts estimated for brands that have shorter-term and lower investments in audio, the data does not clearly identify a relationship between spend and search. An estimate of the contribution of audio to branded search is low.

Agencys want brands to think that consistancy is key. It is, but be mindful of budgets and returns on investments.

The return percentages will vary based on factors like historical investment, campaign consistency, and the percentage of media investment allocated to audio. Brands with sustained, high-intensity audio campaigns see higher percentages, and brands with larger overall media budgets and more channels in the mix tend to see audio contribute a lower percentage to their branded search volume.

Those with larger overall media budgets and more channels also see weaker relationships between audio spend and search overall, although they typically have high levels of statistical significance.

Audio has an immediate and delayed effect on search, with lagged impacts sometimes lasting weeks after the initial investment.

Lagged effects are more pronounced for B2B brands or products with longer cycles of consideration by those thinking about purchases, with more immediate impacts and quicker decay rates for B2C brands with shorter purchase cycles that have a heavy focus on promotional offers and short-term sales.

Consistancy is key, of course. Consistent audio investments build stronger brand response over time, leading to higher search volume compared to brands with sporadic or limited investment.

The data also calls out consistent audio investments in building brand response over time. Brands with a sustained history of audio spending demonstrate stronger relationships between audio spending and search volume compared with brands with sporadic or limited investment.

This is consistent with the hypothesis that an always-on media approach is best and that building frequency over time helps brands develop and consolidate share of mind, which aids performance across all channels, not just audio and not just search.