IAB Austria gathered industry leaders in Vienna on June 18, 2026 to examine the state of audio as an advertising channel, and the data presented made a pointed case that radio - far from fading - continues to command audiences and commercial credibility that digital platforms have not yet matched.

IAB Austria's audio event brings industry data into focus

The interactive advertising bureau Austria held its "The Power of Audio" event on the morning of June 18, 2026, a gathering that brought together researchers, broadcasters, media planners, and technology providers to examine how radio, podcasts, and digital audio fit into Austrian media strategy. The event was organised by IAB Austria's AG Digital Audio working group and took place in Vienna. According to IAB Austria's event report published on June 19, 2026, participants included Stefan Gensasz of RMS Austria, Corinna Drumm of the VOP (Verband Osterreichischer Privatsender), Lukas Brandle of Audiosation, Rudiger Landgraf of kronehit, Sarah Schwarzinger of Mediaplus Austria, and Katrin Steiner-Deditz of Content Link.

Josip Cukic, founder of the AG Digital Audio working group and himself from RMS Austria, set the tone in opening remarks. "It is no secret that audio is among the most important advertising channels - yet the medium continues to be underestimated in the Austrian media market," according to Cukic. "Our goal is therefore to anchor audio more firmly and make its potential more visible."

That premise - that audio is undervalued despite solid numbers - ran through the entire morning.

Six million daily listeners, three hours per session

The keynote was delivered by Stefan Gensasz, Head of Market and Media Research at RMS Austria, under the title "Hear to stay - why radio will remain 'on' in the future." The figures he presented came from the Radiotest 2025_4 full-year dataset, which tracks Austrian radio consumption on a continuous rolling basis.

According to RMS Austria, more than six million Austrians tune into radio every day. The daily reach figure for the population aged ten and above stands at 74.7%, equivalent to 6,096,000 daily listeners. Among the commercially important 14-to-49-year-old cohort, the daily reach sits at 71.6%, equivalent to 2,891,000 listeners. Average daily listening duration is 195 minutes for the 10+ group and 194 minutes for the 14-49 cohort - both figures rounding to just over three hours.

What gives these numbers particular weight is their stability over time. According to the Radiotest series going back to 2015, total daily reach has not dropped below 74.7% in any year of that eleven-year run. The 10+ reach line has moved between 74.7% and 77.3% across 2015 to 2025, with no clear downward trajectory. The 14-49 line has been more volatile - it dipped to 69.5% in 2020 and 69.7% in 2021, likely reflecting the disruption of commuting patterns during the pandemic - but recovered to 73.4% in 2023 before settling at 71.6% in 2025. The broader picture is one of relative resilience across a decade that saw smartphones, streaming services, and podcasting all mature as competing audio formats.

Digital audio growth runs alongside, not instead of, radio

One of the more technically interesting elements of the presentation was the digital listening data. Far from framing digital audio and radio as substitutes, the RMS data shows them growing in parallel - and with radio remaining dominant within the digital audio stack.

According to RMS Austria's analysis of Radiotest annual data from 2015 to 2025, the share of Austrians who listen to radio via internet, smartphone, or smart speaker has risen from 33% in 2015 to 59% in 2025 for the 10+ group. Among 14-to-49-year-olds, the figure climbed from 44% in 2015 to 69% in 2025. In absolute terms, 4.8 million Austrians now consume radio across at least one digital delivery path.

The categorisation of what constitutes "digital audio" matters here. According to the RTR Online Audio Monitor Austria 2025, a nationally representative survey of 4,000 Austrians aged 15 and above conducted via CAWI methodology, webradio leads all digital audio formats in daily usage. Thirty-one percent of Austrian digital audio users listen to webradio on a daily or near-daily basis. Music streaming follows at 26%, podcasts and catch-up radio at 10%, and audiobooks and audio plays at 6%.

That ordering is important for advertisers. Webradio - internet-delivered radio streams - is effectively radio content consumed through a digital pipe. Its 31% daily reach places it ahead of Spotify and other streaming services in terms of habitual daily consumption among Austrian adults. The data challenges a common assumption in media planning circles that streaming services have overtaken radio as the default audio companion for the working day.

The Spotify picture is nuanced. According to RMS Austria's own Digital Audio Studie 2026, which surveyed 5,412 Austrians aged 14 to 65 on their audio behaviour in the preceding four weeks, 44% of respondents use Spotify. Of those, 69% hold a premium subscription - meaning they are ad-free. When the premium users are removed from the reachable pool, only 14% of the survey population is addressable through Spotify advertising. By contrast, 63% of the same population is reachable through RMS Digital Audio inventory, which spans webradio and other digital audio formats that retain advertising slots. The gap between platform reach and advertising reach is substantial, and it has direct implications for any media plan that assumes Spotify's user numbers translate into equivalent advertising scale.

According to a separate Generation Audio study by Mediaplus and Media1, conducted in November and December 2023 among 3,185 Austrians aged 14 to 69, 83% of that demographic use radio or webradio at least occasionally. Fifty percent use music streaming services. Thirty-four percent consume podcasts. Among people who listen to music via streaming every day, 77% also listen to radio or webradio daily - suggesting that heavy streaming users are not replacing radio but consuming it alongside digital formats.

The attention problem and where radio sits within it

Gensasz framed the advertising context with a historical perspective on message volume. According to RMS Austria's presentation, an average person encountered roughly 100 advertising messages per day in 1920. That figure climbed to approximately 1,000 by 1960, and to around 3,000 by the year 2000. Today's estimate sits at 6,000 or more messages daily. The volume has expanded by a factor of sixty within a single century, creating what the presentation described as sensory overload and advertising fatigue.

Against that backdrop, the performance data for radio advertising stands out. According to a joint RMS and ORF-E Werbeakzeptanzstudie (advertising acceptance study) conducted between September 24 and October 2, 2025, with a sample of 2,047 Austrians aged 14 to 69, radio and online radio leads all measured channels on ad perception frequency. When respondents were asked whether they had perceived advertising at least several times in the past week, 66.5% confirmed this for radio and online radio. The figure for TV and broadcaster video-on-demand sits at 65.2%, social media at 62.3%, websites at 61.1%, print at 51.9%, and YouTube at 48.8%.

Radio's lead over YouTube is 17.7 percentage points on this metric. That is not a minor difference. It reflects a structural property of audio consumption: radio plays in the background during commutes, household routines, and work, meaning advertising messages reach listeners even without active attention-seeking behaviour on their part.

Where radio's advantage becomes most commercially relevant is in acceptance. According to the same RMS and ORF-E study, when asked whether advertising in a given medium is perceived as bothersome, only 18.7% of respondents indicated that radio or online radio advertising disturbs them. YouTube scores 44.5% on this measure, websites 43.2%, TV and BVOD 36.0%, and social media 32.3%. Radio is the second-least bothersome channel measured, with only print (7.1%) scoring lower on disturbance.

On the question of whether advertising in a medium is simply accepted as part of the experience, 34.8% of respondents agreed that radio advertising "just belongs" - ranking second behind print (41.4%) and ahead of TV/BVOD (32.7%), social media (25.0%), websites (19.9%), and YouTube (18.7%). The sympathy measure follows a similar hierarchy: 23.3% consider radio advertising "likeable," placing it second behind print (26.5%).

Active ad avoidance behaviour compounds these findings. According to the RMS and ORF-E study, 58.9% of all respondents take active steps to avoid advertising. Among 14-to-29-year-olds, that figure climbs to 80.7%. The most common avoidance behaviour is skipping video ads as soon as possible, reported by 77.6% of respondents. Leaving websites with excessive advertising is the second behaviour at 58.6%. Selecting "do not show this ad again" on social media follows at 52.9%. Switching channels when TV advertising runs happens for 48.6% of respondents. Flipping past print ads is reported by 44.5%. Switching channels when radio advertising runs is the least common avoidance behaviour, at 34.1%. Radio delivers a lower active-avoidance rate than every other channel in the study.

Trust and credibility data

One dimension that distinguishes radio from most digital channels is institutional trust. According to the Eurobarometer 104, the European Commission's biannual media trust survey published in autumn 2025, 68% of respondents trust radio. TV follows at 61%, print at 59%, websites at 42%, and social media at 29%.

The Austrian-specific data from the RMS and ORF-E study shows a parallel hierarchy. When asked whether the content of a given medium is very or rather credible, 55.5% of Austrian respondents endorsed radio and online radio - the highest figure across all channels measured. TV and BVOD sits at 47.9%, print at 46.4%, websites at 21.2%, and social media at 11.7%.

Credibility of advertising content, as distinct from editorial content, follows a different order - print leads here at 32.6%, followed by radio and online radio at 29.5%, then TV/BVOD at 26.8%, YouTube at 18.1%, social media at 17.0%, and websites at 15.9%. Even on advertising credibility, radio outperforms every digital channel by a material margin.

According to Gensasz in his summary remarks as quoted by IAB Austria: "We live in a world of visual sensory overload. Radio advertising, on the other hand, appears to be the most present in people's minds - and is not just heard, but also accepted. In addition, the advertising environment plays a decisive role: radio enjoys a high degree of trust and credibility, which has a direct impact on the perception of brands."

Podcast development and the AI question

The panel discussion that followed Gensasz's keynote, moderated by Corinna Drumm, touched on the maturation of the podcast medium and the implications of AI for audio production.

Sarah Schwarzinger, Senior Strategy and Business Innovation Manager at Mediaplus Austria, described radio as an indispensable reach medium that digital audio complements productively. According to IAB Austria's report, she acknowledged that podcasts have established themselves particularly among 30-to-49-year-olds, while noting that programmatic advertising and artificial intelligence are entering media planning workflows. "Artificial intelligence can support many processes, but does not replace human expertise," Schwarzinger was quoted as saying. "Our clients value advice from real people who provide orientation and help them reach the right decision in the end."

Katrin Steiner-Deditz of Content Link addressed the podcast format directly, describing its trajectory from niche product to mass medium and noting the particular trust relationship that develops between hosts and audiences - a relationship that also benefits advertisers. She expressed scepticism about fully AI-generated audio futures. According to IAB Austria, Steiner-Deditz said: "It makes no sense to me to have a medium that is characterised precisely by its authenticity not spoken by humans. People like it when there is a human quality to things - and not a machine quality."

Lukas Brandle, managing director of Audiosation, acknowledged the fragmentation of the online audio landscape - many platforms, many measurement approaches - while framing the moment as one of openness rather than consolidation. According to IAB Austria, Brandle said: "Online audio is not competition to existing media, but a charming addition to the planning options already established."

Rüdiger Landgraf, Chief Digital Officer at kronehit, offered a sharp formulation of radio's particular social function. "Radio brings people together, social media separates people through echo chambers or filter bubbles," Landgraf was quoted as saying by IAB Austria. He also noted that kronehit already uses artificial intelligence in its news operations - specifically to process wire agency material automatically - while keeping final presentation in human hands.

The event concluded with the announcement of a new podcast titled "The Voice of Audio," launched by IAB Austria as an ongoing platform for discussion within the Austrian audio and digital sector. The first episode was published before the event. IAB Austria provided links to both the podcast and the Gensasz keynote download from its event report.

Why this data matters for the marketing community

The Austrian radio data sits within a broader European and global debate about audio advertising investment that PPC Land has been tracking for several years. Audio consistently represents roughly 31% of consumer media time globally but receives only around 9% of advertising budgets - a 22-percentage-point gap that represents one of the more persistent structural imbalances in the industry.

Austria's figures add national-level granularity to that macro picture. With 74.7% of the population aged 10 and above listening to radio daily, and with the channel leading or placing second on every attitudinal metric in the acceptance study, the case for underinvestment is not abstract. There is a measurable audience present, consuming audio content, and demonstrating lower avoidance and higher trust than audiences on platforms that currently receive greater advertising investment.

The Spotify data point is particularly striking for any team running pan-European programmatic audio plans. The finding that only 14% of Austrians aged 14 to 65 are reachable through Spotify advertising - because 69% of Austrian Spotify users hold premium, ad-free subscriptions - represents a significant constraint on the reachability assumptions embedded in many programmatic audio strategies. The comparable RMS Digital Audio figure of 63% reachable is nearly four and a half times larger.

Triton Digital's Chief Revenue Officer predicted in December 2025 that audio would move toward omnichannel identity-powered buying in 2026, with streaming, podcasts, and broadcast radio all becoming programmatically addressable through enterprise DSPs. The Austrian market data suggests that broadcast and webradio inventory - not just podcasts - has the audience depth and the advertiser-friendliness to justify inclusion in those omnichannel plans.

SiriusXM's April 2026 deal with Google to become the exclusive audio advertising representative for YouTube in the United States accelerated the convergence between audio and video platform infrastructures. No comparable Austrian-market infrastructure deal of that scale has been announced, but the underlying audience and trust dynamics described in the RMS data provide the commercial rationale for such consolidation. Spain's IAB recently published a parallel audio study showing strong digital audio adoption, suggesting the Austrian findings are broadly consistent with wider European trends.

The broader European context is also relevant. Austria's digital advertising market as a whole grew 9.2% in 2025, but as PPC Land has previously reported, 86% of that spend flows to international platforms. The local broadcast and webradio ecosystem is one of the few channels where Austrian publishers retain a direct commercial relationship with the advertiser and where a national audience measurement infrastructure - the Radiotest - provides standardised, audited data. That combination of reach, trust, and measurement accountability is not easily replicated by imported digital channels.

For media planners reviewing Austrian or German-language market allocations, the June 18 event's data offers several specific facts worth testing against current budget models: the 6,096,000 daily listeners figure, the 66.5% weekly ad perception rate that exceeds every digital channel, the 18.7% disturbance rate that sits well below YouTube's 44.5%, and the 63% advertising addressability through RMS Digital Audio versus 14% through Spotify's free tier. Each of those numbers has a direct implication for reach, frequency, and cost-per-thousand calculations that are not visible in aggregate digital audio statistics.

Timeline

  • November/December 2023: Generation Audio Mediaplus/Media1 study conducted among 3,185 Austrians aged 14-69, finding 83% use radio or webradio, 50% use music streaming, 34% use podcasts, and only 13% of 14-to-69-year-olds reachable via Spotify advertising.
  • September 24 - October 2, 2025: RMS Austria and ORF-E conduct the Werbeakzeptanzstudie among 2,047 Austrians aged 14-69, measuring advertising perception, acceptance, disturbance, and avoidance across radio, TV, social media, websites, print, and YouTube.
  • Autumn 2025: Eurobarometer 104 published, showing 68% of European respondents trust radio - the highest trust figure of any media type measured.
  • December 5, 2025: Triton Digital's Sharon Taylor predicts programmatic audio will prioritise curated supply and omnichannel identity integration in 2026.
  • Early 2026: RMS Digital Audio Studie 2026 conducted among 5,412 Austrians aged 14-65, finding 63% reachable via RMS Digital Audio versus 14% via Spotify advertising.
  • 2025 annual figure: RTR Online Audio Monitor Austria 2025 published, showing webradio leads all digital audio formats on daily usage at 31%, ahead of music streaming at 26%.
  • 2025 (full year): Radiotest 2025_4 annual data published, confirming 74.7% daily radio reach (10+) and 71.6% reach among 14-49 year-olds in Austria, with average listening time of 195 and 194 minutes respectively.
  • April 22, 2026: SiriusXM Media and Google announce exclusive US audio advertising partnership for YouTube inventory, pointing to accelerating convergence of audio and video platform advertising infrastructure globally.
  • June 9, 2026: IAB Spain publishes Estudio de Audio Digital 2026, showing 58% online audio penetration and podcast leading professional ad investment intentions - providing European context for the Austrian findings.
  • June 18, 2026: IAB Austria holds "The Power of Audio" event in Vienna. Stefan Gensasz of RMS Austria delivers keynote, presenting Radiotest and Digital Audio Studie 2026 data. Panel discussion with Corinna Drumm, Sarah Schwarzinger, Katrin Steiner-Deditz, Lukas Brandle, and Rudiger Landgraf. IAB Austria announces "The Voice of Audio" podcast.
  • June 19, 2026: IAB Austria publishes event report at iab-austria.at summarising the keynote data, panel quotes, and podcast announcement.

Summary

Who: IAB Austria's AG Digital Audio working group, together with Stefan Gensasz (RMS Austria), Corinna Drumm (VOP), Sarah Schwarzinger (Mediaplus Austria), Katrin Steiner-Deditz (Content Link), Lukas Brandle (Audiosation), Rudiger Landgraf (kronehit), and Josip Cukic (RMS Austria, AG Digital Audio founder).

What: A morning event titled "The Power of Audio" at which RMS Austria presented Radiotest 2025_4 data showing 6,096,000 daily Austrian radio listeners at 74.7% daily reach, alongside an acceptance study demonstrating that radio leads every major digital channel on advertising perception (66.5%), disturbance (18.7% find it bothersome), and media credibility (55.5% of Austrians rate radio content as credible). A new working group podcast, "The Voice of Audio," was also announced.

When: The event took place on June 18, 2026. IAB Austria's event report was published on June 19, 2026.

Where: Vienna, Austria. The data covers the Austrian population and is drawn from the Radiotest national radio measurement series, the RTR Online Audio Monitor Austria, the RMS and ORF-E Werbeakzeptanzstudie, the RMS Digital Audio Studie 2026, and the European Commission's Eurobarometer 104.

Why: The event addressed a persistent gap between radio's documented audience scale and its representation in Austrian advertising budgets - a pattern consistent with the global audio investment gap PPC Land has tracked, where audio accounts for around 31% of media consumption time but receives approximately 9% of advertising spending. The data presented provides quantitative grounding for media planning decisions in the Austrian and German-language markets.