Entrepreneurs, business leaders, and marketers have always been on the lookout for the most effective way to get their messages out to the world. Audio advertising has proven powerful, even in an era dominated by visual media. While online streaming and podcasting advertising are great ways to reach niche audiences with targeted messages, they can be expensive. A single professionally produced podcast advertisement could cost $1,000 to $2,000. Successful shows with millions of listeners can demand even higher prices for advertising slots. This cuts out ambitious smaller organizations that cannot compete against big budgets.
AudioGO is a growing audio advertising platform that brings a fresh perspective to the podcast advertising experience. The self-service platform allows companies with limited resources and tight budgets to compete against big budgets to get their message in front of the best people.
This article explores how AudioGO makes audio advertising more accessible and affordable for entrepreneurs and the small and medium-sized businesses they lead.
The Rise of Audio in the 21st Century
Audio was the first electronic mass medium. When radio was commercialized in the 1920s, it quickly became an indispensable part of life in the United States. People from all backgrounds and ages bought radios and tuned in to hear the news and enjoy entertainment programs. By 1939, 80% of United States citizens owned a radio and avidly enjoyed its content. The number of individuals engaging with audio content has remained strong ever since.
By the first years of the 21st century, widespread internet access made podcasting possible. This new streamed audio form marked a turning point, and podcasting caught on fast.
How quickly has podcasting grown since its inception? Consider this—the first time the concept of a “podcast” came up was in 2004. Three years later, Ricky Gervais set the Guinness World Record (at the time) for the most podcast downloads. His total? 261,670. Fast forward to 2024, and a staggering 47% of Americans (about 135 million) age 12 and older listen to a podcast at least once a month. The number for overall streamed audio content is even more impressive: a regular audience of 76% of the U.S. population age 12 and up, or about 218 million.
Of course, anywhere people congregate, advertising opportunities arise—at least for those who can afford to compete against big budgets.
The Budget-Unfriendly Audio Advertising Space
Edison Research data points to podcast advertising as an effective way to reach many hyper-targeted consumers. The survey polled what it calls “Super Listeners” — those who spend an average of 11.2 hours a week listening to podcasts. Of this group:
- 50% report that the best way for a brand to reach them with their message is through a podcast.
- 51% of Super Listeners say they pay closer attention to ads within podcasts.
- 56% say an ad increases the odds of them buying a service in the long run.
Tom Webster, SVP at Edison Research, concludes, “It’s clear that podcasting’s most active consumers are both difficult to reach through traditional means of advertising and extremely receptive to the right message, in the right context, in their favorite podcasts. The podcast industry has an incredible opportunity to be a trusted means of access to an extremely valuable subset of consumers.”
Podcasting advertising is not just another option. It is a unique, tech-driven format that allows advertisers to target specific, receptive audiences. It could be seen as a blend of traditional radio media and influencer marketing. Podcast audiences have an elevated sense of buy-in and are more ready to listen to and act on advertising messaging than mass media audiences typically are. Through pre-recorded ads, host sponsorships, and dynamic ad insertions, marketers can reach massive groups of potential customers with engaging and interesting advertisements.
Financial Impact for Small Businesses
The main problem stopping many smaller brands from maximizing podcasting advertising is cost. It is hard for small organizations to compete against the big budgets of larger brands.
According to data from Influencer Marketing Hub, podcasting ad rates in 2024 were roughly $18 per 1,000 listeners for a 30-second ad. To put that in perspective, a successful podcast with 1 million listeners could charge a business $18,000 for a single ad. In addition to the hefty price tag, many top-level podcasts have minimum advertising thresholds in the thousands of dollars.
This puts many popular shows out of the price range for small and medium-sized businesses. At the very least, this is the case for a traditional advertisement model. AudioGO challenges the status quo to allow more companies of all sizes to participate in podcast advertising.
Enter AudioGO: Rewriting the Podcast Advertising Script
AudioGO is an advertising platform that operates as a part of SiriusXM Media. It was built to deconstruct and re-invent a bloated podcast advertising process. With cutting-edge technology, AudioGO decentralizes and fractionalizes the vast podcast audiences into segments that are accessible and affordable for any size marketing budget.
The platform functions as an all-in-one podcast ad tool. It can create and distribute ads across more than 20 of the top podcast networks in the world. Rather than spend thousands on a single ad placement, users of the platform can craft hyper-targeted campaigns that:
- Create audio ads: Live actors can be used for a minimal fee (as low as $10). Marketers can also use the platform’s artificial intelligence-backed tool to instantly make an ad for free using a synthetic voice generator (reducing the cost to $0).
- Distribute audio ads: Once a marketer has created an ad, they may build an audience and launch a campaign using whatever budget they have to spend. Critical to small business accessibility, this doesn’t have to start in the thousands. Instead, it can be as low as $250.
AudioGO helps marketers reduce the podcast advertising threshold to a number that any business can manage. This allows them to compete against big budgets. At the same time, the platform doesn’t skimp on quality. On the contrary, its self-service features are designed to fill skill gaps and account for limited in-house expertise from smaller company teams.
AudioGO: High Value at Low Cost
AudioGO’s platform is designed to be cost-effective, but not at the cost of quality. As mentioned, users can generate ads for $10 or less using real voice actors or highly capable, zero-cost AI tools. The value goes beyond ad creation, too.
Targeting Ads Improves Impact
Once an entrepreneur has developed an ad, they may use a sophisticated audience targeting system to fine-tune the best audience for receiving it. This precision comes from AudioGO’s advanced targeting options, which build audiences based on:
- Geography
- Demographics
- Behavior
- Genre
- Device
- Language
- Time
- Ad positioning
Predictive audiences also make it easy to choose potent pre-built selections, while retargeting features allow promotions to reach interested parties multiple times, helping you find that frequency “sweet spot.”
Ad Reporting Helps With Optimization
Reports provide detailed analytics that are available within a minute of real-time listening. This makes it easier to respond to data quickly for existing advertisements and to optimize future ad campaigns. Brands can track key metrics, including:
- Budget: When money is tight, it’s helpful to see precisely how much is left and how the ad spends over time.
- Impressions: Both total and daily impressions are included, providing individual and big-picture overviews.
- Reach and conversions: Entrepreneurs can see how many listeners they’ve reached and how many are taking key actions.
This comprehensive ad reporting is critical to ensuring small and medium-sized businesses get the most out of every advertising dollar.
AudioGO: Lowering Barriers to Entry
The audio industry grows every year. As more people tune into online audio media options, business owners seek ways to reach this massive audience.
Businesses with big budgets have plenty of weight to throw around in the audio advertising space. However, AudioGO has allowed small and medium-sized companies to compete against big budgets.
The self-service platform enables entrepreneurially minded leaders to create professional audio campaigns and then promote their advertisements to targeted audiences from significant podcast audiences.
By lowering the barriers to entry, AudioGO is leveling the playing field for small businesses in the audio advertising space. It is opening doors and providing accessibility for cash-strapped brands that, up until now, have had to sit on the sidelines.
