Audio advertising is emerging as a powerful yet underutilised tool in the rapidly evolving marketing ecosystem. According to Oxford Road’s latest study, “The Sound of Growth: How Audio Fuels Branded Search, Q1 2025”, audio is a performance-driven channel and a significant contributor to brand awareness and long-term consumer engagement. This insight is backed by $400 million in cumulative audio spend and 30+ years of client experience. Let’s explore the findings and their implications for modern marketing strategies.

Audio’s Dual Role: Performance and Awareness

Audio advertising bridges the gap between immediate performance metrics and brand-building goals through mediums like podcasts, streaming, and radio. The study revealed that audio drove an average of 18% of branded search volume, proving its impact across the marketing funnel.

Audio offers a distinct advantage in a landscape dominated by short-term search and social marketing. It drives immediate consumer actions, fosters familiarity, and primes audiences for future engagement, making it an indispensable asset for sustained brand growth.

Immediate Impacts of Audio Investment

The research underscores that audio advertising has measurable short-term effects on branded search behaviour. For 80% of the analysed brands, weekly correlations between audio spend and branded search volume were statistically significant, often exceeding 97% confidence levels.

Source: Oxford Road, The Sound of Growth: How Audio Fuels Branded Search, Q1 2025

This demonstrates that audio triggers brand searches within days of exposure. These insights challenge traditional attribution models, which often overlook audio’s nuanced, time-sensitive impact. For marketers navigating multi-channel attribution, this fresh perspective encourages re-evaluating how branded search volumes are credited.

The Long Game: Consistent Audio Investment

Brands with sustained audio campaigns experienced stronger correlations between audio spend and search volumes than those with sporadic efforts. This finding reinforces the value of an “always-on” strategy, where consistent messaging builds frequency and consolidates the brand’s share of mind.

Source: Oxford Road, The Sound of Growth: How Audio Fuels Branded Search, Q1 2025

 

Interestingly, the study noted diminishing returns for brands with long-term investments, signalling a natural shift from rapid growth to incremental gains. This pattern aligns with the lifecycle of maturing brands, where advertising evolves from growth driver to market share maintainer.

Lagged Effects: Audio’s Extended Influence

The study also revealed audio’s ability to generate lagged impacts on branded search. For brands with longer consideration cycles, such as B2B companies, the effects of audio spending often persisted weeks after initial exposure.

Source: Oxford Road, The Sound of Growth: How Audio Fuels Branded Search, Q1 2025

 

Conversely, B2C brands with shorter purchase cycles saw quicker decays in impact. This distinction underscores the importance of tailoring audio strategies to match the audience’s decision-making timeline.

Strategic Implications for Marketers

Oxfor Road’s research emphasises that audio is not just a supporting channel; it’s a strategic lever for discoverability and consumer action. Brands that integrate audio into a balanced, full-funnel strategy can unlock significant advantages:

  • Bridge Attribution Gaps: Audio contributes to branded search in ways that traditional attribution models often miss.
  • Optimise Spending: Diminishing returns data can guide the calibration of audio budgets to maximise impact.
  • Foster Long-Term Growth: Audio’s ability to drive awareness, consideration, and high-intent traffic makes it an essential component of a sustainable marketing mix.

Audio’s Role in Modern Marketing

Marketers often overlook audio’s power in driving consumer behaviour, especially in branded search. However, as Oxford Road’s study reveals, audio delivers immediate and lasting results supporting brand growth.

By adopting a strategic approach to audio investment—one that balances short-term performance with long-term brand-building—marketers can harness audio’s full potential. Audio doesn’t just fuel the marketing engine; it provides the sound of growth.

For a deeper dive into the data and actionable insights, download the full report from Oxfor Road here.

Source: Oxford Road, The Sound of Growth: How Audio Fuels Branded Search, Q1 2025