This post was created in partnership with GroundTruth
Audio has always been a trust-driven medium. Now, brands are looking for proof that trust can drive measurable business outcomes. During an ADWEEK House Possible panel, ADWEEK CEO Will Lee spoke with Rosie O’Meara, CEO at GroundTruth, and Lisa Coffey, chief business officer at iHeart Media, about how audio is regaining influence through trust—and how measurement is evolving to support it.
Solving for the trust deficit
As AI-generated content becomes more widespread, consumer trust has become harder to maintain.
“Consumers don’t know what videos are real, what messages are real that they’re receiving, what news is obviously fake news, and so much of that is related to those three factors,” Coffey explained.
The answer to this distrust is the “guaranteed human story” element found in broadcast radio and podcasting.
“We discovered that 93% of consumers want their news from a human,” Coffey said, and “80% of consumers consider their radio host a trusted friend.”
Audio as a performance driver
While audio is often seen as a tool for awareness, O’Meara highlighted its role in driving measurable outcomes. She noted that when brands move away from siloed channels and add audio to their media mix, the results are quantifiable.
“When you add audio to an omnichannel campaign, performance goes up, and it drives visits and outcomes,” O’Meara said.
She shared an example from a GroundTruth client, Gary’s QuickSteak, noting that while connected TV and mobile drove a 20% increase in sales, the numbers climbed higher—to 30%—with audio. “It really is that accelerator,” O’Meara explained
Closing the loop with attribution
Coffey also pointed to a gap between how much time consumers spend with audio and how much of that inventory is available through modern buying systems.
“One-third of a consumer’s media consumption every day is audio,” she said. “Furthermore, 63% of addressable audio isn’t in the programmatic ecosystem and isn’t a digital equivalent. With the measurement, with GroundTruth and other partners, it certainly is now.”
AI’s role in the next era of measurement
Looking ahead, the speakers pointed to AI as the next frontier, but with a focus on value over efficiency.
