Over eight in ten Americans now listen to online audio, and 167 million listen to podcasts every month, according to Infinite Dial 2026. With attention completely bifurcated—second-screening, social media, etc.,—the leaned-in engagement happening on audio becomes more attractive than ever.
So, what exactly is possible when you combine the uninterrupted attention, the most popular listening platforms, and one of the most powerful adtech platforms in the industry?
That question was answered—and proven—throughout the night at SiriusXM Media’s second annual Built with Audio event that took place in downtown NYC during Advertising Week.
Sherene Hilal, Senior Vice President and Chief Advertising Product Officer, SiriusXM, boldly reiterated the power of our tech.
“There is an operating system that brings them together. This operating system is called AdsWizz, which after today, will no longer be the best-kept secret in the advertising ecosystem.”
AdsWizz is so large and so dominant, that it represents one in four audio ads in the open ecosystem. At that scale, it is much more than just an ad server; it is an entire infrastructure.
But scale alone does not move a campaign. What matters is reaching people wherever they listen, using a brand’s own data to guide decisions, and giving advertisers and publishers a clear view of results.
Access to listening everywhere it happens
Attention is moving and shifting so fast, it’s hard to keep up. But what makes AdsWizz different; we work so closely with our publisher and creator partners, we are on the ground floor of where listening is happening next. Because we follow the trends as they happen, we are building with them. As new formats appear, we aren’t rushing to develop a solution—we’re already there.
For example, as Sherene explained at Built with Audio, when Apple was looking to expand its podcast capabilities into video, it came to SiriusXM Media & AdsWizz as an official launch partner.
The best in content and creator tech
This approach makes us so much more than ad technology; it’s also content and creator technology, all working together in one ecosystem. It’s what makes AdsWizz fundamentally different than other partners, and attracts the biggest and best publishers and creators.
Of course, we demonstrated this one stage: The Bald & the Beautiful, Stavvy’s World, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Casuals with Katie Nolan, The Mel Robbins Podcast, and so many more. It’s why we’re the #1 podcast network, and power the daily routines of 255 million listeners.
Our commitment to audio on every media plan
At last year’s event, we made a commitment to our northstar: Audio on Every Media Plan. To march toward a product roadmap that makes audio easier than ever to plan, buy, and measure, in the places our advertisers trust most. And here’s what we’ve done since then:
- Amazon DSP buyers now reach Pandora and the SiriusXM Podcast Network through the AdsWizz SSP, pairing Amazon’s shopping and streaming signals with premium audio inventory. Apple’s new format and Amazon’s buyers both come through the same connection, and no publisher had to build for either one.
- A deeper partnership with LiveRamp brought RampID into AdsWizz, so identity arrives in a form a DSP can match and act on at bid time.
- And Barometer brought brand suitability signals built for spoken word down to the podcast episode level, which protects advertisers without demonetizing a publisher over a show’s category.
Achieve measurable outcomes
We know none of this matters unless you can see real impact on your ROI. But unfortunately, many are still measuring audio incorrectly and being treated as a single investment bucket, especially within MMMs.
To discuss the common mistakes and true value of audio, Sherene brought CEO of IpsosMMA onto stage, Doug Brooks.
“Ipsos can independently measure the performance of different SiriusXM Media products — podcast, streaming and SiriusXM satellite — and even go deeper into formats like sponsorship and display. With that level of granularity, advertisers can see what’s driving performance, identify what’s working hardest and make smarter decisions about where to invest next.” –Doug Brooks, CEO of IpsosMMA
At AdsWizz, we’re making our campaign data available and interoperable through a privacy-safe proprietary application. This solution ensures we deliver our campaign data at a more precise level so clients can work with any independent modeler to accurately represent our products within their MMM.
That means aligning to your taxonomy, providing precise, model-ready data, and creating consistent reporting feeds that connect directly into their measurement ecosystem, so, instead of rebuilding a custom file for every study, we’re moving toward automated, repeatable feeds with consistent identifiers, definitions, and delivery requirements
Audio is only getting bigger
Which couldn’t be more evident by the reaction to the one and only Leon Bridges to close out the night. Fans swayed, cried, and watched in awe as the Grammy-winning artist performed tracks from his recently released album “Happiness Anytime” and longtime favorites like “Texas Sun.”
If there’s one thing we proved at the biggest night in advertising and technology, it’s this: Audio has become too big to be ignored.
Watch the full event here.
Wherever listening goes next, AdsWizz will be there. Ready to build on it? Let’s talk.
