The problem

Ad Results Media approached us after hearing the same pushback from advertisers:

“My audience isn't listening to streaming audio.”
“I can reach the exact same people through podcast and terrestrial radio.”
“We already buy streaming programmatically. Why bother going direct?”

These assumptions overlook how the channel actually performs. ARM asked us to dig into the data to bring clarity to the conversation. The goal was simple: Show whether streaming and podcasts reach the same households — or whether advertisers expand reach when they use both.

Methodology

We reviewed Q3 2025 delivery from two major audio networks measured by Magellan AI:

• iHeartMedia podcast and streaming
• SiriusXM podcast and streaming

We used the Experian device graph to identify households that were served podcast ads and households that were served streaming ads, then compared the two groups to understand overlap and unique reach. Only aggregated results are shown.

Key takeaway

How unique is my podcast audience?

How unique is my streaming audience?

Recapping key learnings

• Diversifying channels by adding a new audio channel — even when you're already advertising in audio — expands total reach
• For every 1,000 streaming audio impressions added to a podcast plan, advertisers could reach an additional 101 households