Digital audio strengthens its performance case

Audion has launched its Audio Performance Index, which it describes as the first benchmark study to measure digital audio advertising across the full marketing funnel. Produced with Happydemics and based on 423 brand lift campaigns across EMEA, the research argues that audio is delivering results beyond awareness alone.

According to the study, digital audio produced a +47.2-point uplift in brand image, which Audion said was 10 points higher than display and video, and 4.5 points higher than social. Brand preference rose by +14.2 points, while purchase intent increased by +21.6 points among the strongest-performing campaigns. Taken together, those results present audio as a channel that can influence awareness, consideration, and action in the same campaign cycle.

The research also found that audio was the only channel to show consistent growth between 2023 and 2025, with early 2026 data pointing in the same direction. Audion and Happydemics attribute that performance to the listening environment itself: fewer competing distractions, stronger contextual relevance, and the emotional effect of voice-led creative.

As media buyers continue to compare channels more directly on measurable outcomes, studies such as this one are likely to be used less as format promotion and more as planning evidence. Audion’s argument is that digital audio can now be assessed against the same performance expectations applied to other media, rather than being treated as a supporting channel.

Geoffrey Fossier, Global CMO, Audion, said: “Our Audio Performance Index is the first study to measure the effectiveness of digital audio across the full funnel. With several hundred campaigns analysed through Happydemics’ unified methodology, our findings provide agencies and advertisers with the robust proof they need to integrate digital audio into their media plans with precision, whatever their marketing objectives.”

Virginie Chesnais, CMO, Happydemics, added: “Audio should no longer be seen as a secondary lever — it is a performance driver, measurable at every stage of the funnel. As a trusted third party, our role is to provide unified, actionable measurement that allows brands to optimise every euro invested. Our data proves that when audio is held to the same standards of comparability as other media, it reveals its full value in the media mix: a major impact on brand image, and a strong ability to turn intent into action.”