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Mark Ritson’s Secret to Profit and Trust: Audio

Landmark global study proves audio's impact in the marketing mix – driving profit, trust and brand outcomes

Sound stats

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Weekly metro listeners (1)
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More P25-54 Australians listen to Commercial Radio than ad-supported Spotify (2)
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Consume podcasts monthly (3)
Savvy marketers are tuned in to the impact of audio advertising

Audio advocates

  • "Radio really is theatre of the mind. It allows consumers to really use their imagination and think about the stories that they're hearing, which we know drives better brand engagement."
    Marelle Salib
    Chief Investment Officer, OMD Australia
  • "The most distinctive brand asset is actually the sound or the jingle."
    Michelle Klein
    Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Westpac
  • "There's probably no better place to tell stories than audio. That's really what led us to a mix that was much more skewed to audio than anything we'd done in the past."
    Oonagh Flanagan
    Chief Marketing Officer, Webjet
  • "It's high-attention and high-trust. People are choosing to listen — whether that's podcasts, radio, their run to work, their wind-down time. They're actually listening. There are very few channels left where that's true."
    Gayle While
    Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Havas Host
  • "Audio's incredibly cost efficient. Incredibly versatile. It's also intimate. But there's one big thing that audio does better than any other medium and that is create an emotional reaction that lights a fire in people. There's never been a revolution without a soundtrack."
    Adam Ferrier
    Founder/Consumer Psychologist, Thinkerbell
  • "Just go and try it. If you're not using radio for your brand, go out there and give it a go."
    Olivia Martini
    Client Partner at Carat
  • "Radio is so underestimated. If it's not in your plan then it should be. If it is, then you should probably spend more on it."
    Rob Brittain
    Independent Marketing Consultant
  • "It's a very intimate medium. It often is done directly going into people's ears and it creates a powerful bond."
    Larry Rosin
    Co-Founder & President, Edison Research
  • "People are hungry for content, so how do you use the power of audio to get inside their ears, and take the creative and bring them together?"
    Margie Reid
    CEO, Thinkerbell
  • "The amount of cross-platform activation that exists in one cost effective medium with one brief and one partner, you can get so much back. I still see [radio] as a hero for media planners and particularly media planners that want to do good work and don't have a huge budget."
    Sam Geer
    Managing Director, Media, Accenture Song A/NZ
  • "There's a huge amount of growth coming through in audio and there's a lot of creativity to be had."
    Sian Whitnall
    Co-CEO, OMD
  • “Radio played a pivotal role in elevating our brand message across channels. Historically, we’ve used radio for value messages but using it for brand has not only supported our campaign goals but also strengthened our market presence.”
    Sam Byrne
    Senior Integrated Media Manager - Dan Murphy’s
  • "For the best bang-for-buck, marketers should consider radio as an integral part of the channel mix - and an 11% investment can double your campaign's impact."
    Mark Ritson
    Brand Consultant and Marketing Professor
  • “Radio gives us the ability to speak directly to listeners in a personal, authentic way, and that connection has kept our audience engaged, throughout the years of our campaign.”
    Jonathan Kerr
    Chief Growth Officer - Growth Ops, Budget Direct
  • "There's a very powerful recall moment for audio where if you get a jingle in your head, a message stays with you for a very long time. All you need to do is remember some of those jingles from your childhood, you remember that ad forever."
    Lara Thom
    Global Chief Marketing Officer, Guzman y Gomez
  • "There's a very powerful recall moment for audio where if you get a jingle in your head, a message stays with you for a very long time. All you need to do is remember some of those jingles from your childhood, you remember that ad forever."
    Lara Thom
    Global Chief Marketing Officer, Guzman y Gomez
  • "[Radio] is a grotesquely undervalued medium...If you've got a budget constraint, what tends to happen is people cut the radio. I would argue if you've got a budget constraint, spend it all on radio."
    Rory Sutherland
    Vice Chairman, Ogilvy UK
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Audio trends & tools

AUSTRALIAN'S APPETITE FOR AUDIO IS AT ITS HIGHEST IN 20 YEARS, OFFERING BRANDS A SOUND INVESTMENT IN REACHING ENGAGED AUDIENCES.

Australia adores audio

Listens to Total Radio (Broadcast + Streaming) 81%
LISTENs TO A PODCAST 48%
Listens to Online / Live-streamed Radio 27%
Listens to Ad-supported Spotify 16%
Source: The Infinite Dial 2024. % LISTENED TO AUDIO SOURCE IN THE LAST WEEK. PODCASTING = IN LAST MONTH. BASE: AUSTRALIAN POPULATION 12+. Spotify listening within their music service.

EVENTS & AWARDS

Latest news
AUSTRALIAN PODCAST RANKER – MAY
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA), in partnership with Triton Digital, has released the May results for the Australian Podcast Ranker. The Ranker is the country’s only official, third-party verified...
AUSTRALIAN PODCAST RANKER – APRIL
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA), in partnership with Triton Digital, has released the April results for the Australian Podcast Ranker. The Ranker is the country’s only official, third-party verified...
AUSTRALIAN PODCAST RANKER – MARCH
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA), in partnership with Triton Digital, has released the March results for the Australian Podcast Ranker. The Ranker is the country’s only official, third-party verified...
COMMERCIAL RADIO REACHES 12.7 MILLION AUSTRALIANS
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) has welcomed the GfK Survey 1, 2026 results. Survey 1 captured listening behaviour between 18 January and 28 February 2026 and is the first read of what promises to be...
AUSTRALIAN PODCAST RANKER – FEBRUARY
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA), in partnership with Triton Digital, has released the February results for the Australian Podcast Ranker. The Ranker is the country’s only official, third-party...

SOURCE – (1): GfK Radio 360 Ratings, SMBAP S1 2026, Commercial Radio listeners, All people 10+, Mon-Sun 12mn-12mn, Cume (000's). (2):Source: Edison Australia Infinite Dial 2026, National, P10+. (3): Edison Research, Infinite Dial Australia 2026, National, Consumed a podcast in PMth, P10+