Advertising on Music Builds Personal, Emotional Connections

Music is more than entertainment: it’s companionship, inspiration, motivation, comfort, celebration, validation, and so much more. 

In a media landscape that is as fragmented as it is crowded, advertising on music breaks through the noise. It builds personal, emotional connections that can take brands from awareness, into the consideration set, and down the path to purchase. 

Yet, too many advertisers aren’t leveraging the power of music to its full potential. At our Built with Audio event, we talked about the gap in audio investment. Though consumers spend 21% of their total media time with audio, audio media only accounts for 4% of media budgets.   

So, whether you think of music and audio as upper-funnel channels or think the best storytelling is visual, here is your reason to believe in the power of music.

Digital Audio—especially Music—Is Wildly Popular

How many people do you know who don’t listen to music? While you try to think of someone, it’s a good time to share some stats with you on audio listening in general and music consumption specifically.

• Everyone is listening. 79% of Americans ages 12 and up listen to digital audio each month—that’s 228M listeners.

• They’re putting in time. 4+ hours a day is the amount of time the average listener spends with digital audio like streaming music, podcasts, and non-terrestrial radio.

• Most of that time is with music. 74% of time spent with audio is with music.

To recap, pretty much everyone is listening to digital audio for hours each day, and most of that listening time is spent with music.

Reach Large, Ad-supported Audiences

If you’re looking for scalable media, advertising on music delivers. And if you’re looking for large audiences who love music, look no further than the SiriusXM Streaming Network. With famed platforms like Pandora and SoundCloud and partners like Audiomack and idobi, we reach 76M listeners. Most of our audience is addressable—meaning they listen to ad-supported music—so you can reach 87% of our listeners with ads. And with our newest satellite tier, SiriusXM Play, you can extend reach to our subscribers with our premium, curated music stations.

Music Is Part of Identity

Music is a defining characteristic. It’s part of how people describe themselves. The artists and songs they like tell us something about them. And the complex mosaic of musical tastes is as personal and distinct as a thumb print. In fact, nearly half (49%) of our listeners say music is a part of who they are.

For Gen Zers, the connection between music and self is even stronger.

• Music is personal. 51% of listeners ages 18-24 say that music is a part of who they are.

• It’s how they expressed themselves. Listeners in the 18-24 range over index for saying music allows them to express themselves (132).

• It connects them to others. These Gen Zers over index for saying music connects them to their community and culture (118).  

• It’s the score to everyday life. 18-24-year-olds are 30% more likely to say music is the soundtrack of their lives.

Get More Personal with Your Consumers

In an oversaturated media landscape, where consumers encounter thousands of advertisements each day, it takes more than one-size-fits all ads to get attention, influence behavior, and inspire action. The more personal your ads feel to consumers, the more likely they are to become customers. 

Music is a medium that inherently reflects who listeners are. When you pair that with data and identity signals—from 170M listeners across our portfolio, generating billions of transactions a year—you can really get personal with your target consumers.  And when you advertise on music with dynamic adtech, your ads can reach the right listeners at the right time with personalized messaging.

Music Inspires an Emotional Response

From hype songs to lullabies, music has the power to change the way we feel. It creates atmosphere, setting the mood and enhancing the vibe. Whether listeners need a boost, motivation, or to unwind, music is there.

• Music is a mood booster. 77% of our listeners say music improves their mood.

• It’s relaxing. 75% say music relaxes them.

• It provides motivation. 73% say music motivates them, and 51% say it helps them focus.

• It’s a source of self-care. 59% say music is important for their mental health and well-being.

• It helps younger listeners work through feelings. 51% of listeners ages 18-24 say music helps them process their emotions.

Tune into the Vibe

When it comes to advertising on music, there’s more to personalized marketing than demographics and geographics (though we have the proprietary, first-party data to have you covered there).  It’s also important to meet consumers in the right mood and mindset. That’s where contextual targeting comes in.

Our mood targeting solutions allow you to tap into moods like celebratory, chill, focus, and more. Imagine a sneaker brand reaching listeners when they’re in an energetic mood. And with activity targeting, that brand can also reach audiences when they’re likely to be working out. Putting your ads in context increases their resonance with consumers.

Music Is Ever-Present

Headphones and earbuds, smart speakers and connected devices, car stereos and personal sound systems, in-store playlists and overhead speakers—music is everywhere, all the time. People turn to music to define the mundane, transform the moment, or augment everyday life. 

• Listening throughout the day. 9 in 10 of our listeners tune in to streaming audio weekly or more often—and 55% tune in every day.

• Audiences love the anytime, anywhere access. 85% want the audio content they enjoy whenever, wherever.

• Music is a constant companion. 60% of listeners say music is a companion to other daily activities.

• It makes life more interesting. 58% say listening to music helps them pass the time.

• Audio is more engaging than other media. 47% say audio content keeps them more engaged than other media.

Connect with Consumers Consistently

Streaming audio platforms like Pandora open up music access to the masses. Rather than hoping a terrestrial DJ will play a certain song or saving up for another cache of CDs and MP3s, audiences have easy and free access to a nearly infinite catalog of artists, albums, and songs. And they appreciate it—87% of our listeners say they appreciate that there is so much free audio content available today.

Advertising on music is your in with ad-receptive audiences. With the SiriusXM Streaming Network’s largely ad-supported listener base, you can reach your consumers consistently, no matter what they’re doing. 

Build Consumer Relationships with Audio

We are the pioneers of streaming music. We do more than simply place artists and songs on stations and playlists and hope for the best—we actively invest time, resources, and innovation into developing curated listing experiences. By blending fresh discovery with nostalgic favorites, we’ve created an environment where fans find what they didn’t even know they needed—and keep coming back for more. 

For advertisers, this means reaching audiences who are deeply engaged, emotionally invested, and ready to connect with the brands that are part of their listening experience.

Let’s talk.

Build Your Next Success with Audio