Audio spend is rising fast. Are indie agencies behind the shift?

1-800 Contacts is leaning into audio after seeing addressable podcast and streaming audio ads outperform programmatic guaranteed (PG) buys for quick prescription refills. The direct-to-consumer retailer plans to make audio a formal part of its 2026 media strategy — and it’s doing so with indie agencies.

That’s the story playing out across the industry: Independent agencies are quietly driving a surge in audio ad spend.

Rain the Growth Agency, Wpromote and Ovative all told The Current that audio performance is strong and client demand is climbing, especially through programmatic.

Nearly 1,200 brands bought podcast ads for the first time in the second quarter of 2025, up 17% from Q1, according to a report from Magellan AI. SiriusXM Media reports programmatic revenue from indies is up more than 50% this year.

Indies become the growth engine

This momentum reflects a bigger shift: Publishers and platforms are now courting indies more aggressively.

Spotify and iHeart Media have increased their focus on indie agencies in recent years, moving beyond their historical reliance on holding companies, said Deanna Cullen, Wpromote’s head of media investment. She added that the number of clients interested in activating audio has doubled this year.

SiriusXM Media is also reporting a “significant” bump in indie-driven ad spend, said Steven Kritzman, the company’s senior vice president of sales. “It’ll be a growth area for the next handful of years because there’s just so much growth still left in it,” Kritzman told The Current. “It’s got a lot of runway.”

SiriusXM has beefed up its audience dramatically, doubling it over the past four years to 160 million monthly listeners across satellite, streaming and podcasts. In the last year, it’s bet big on podcast stars by signing Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy and Smartless from Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes.

Programmatic opens the door to new advertisers

One of the virtues of tapping the indie agency pipeline, Cullen said, is publishers’ ability to onboard emerging or mid-market advertisers that holding companies sometimes overlook. And programmatic is the great unlock.

“[Programmatic] opens up the opportunity for smaller brands to at least test audio and see how it goes,” said Lauren Tsevis, senior manager of video and programmatic for the indie agency Ovative. Smaller brands generally buy audio programmatically more than directly, she added. “They may not have done that [before] because of specific direct IO [insertion order] requirements.”

Ovative sends most of its audio spend through Spotify, with SiriusXM close behind. Both reach massive audiences. SiriusXM Media says it now serves 160 million monthly listeners across satellite, streaming and podcasts — the largest ad-supported digital audio audience in North America.

That reach matters. Audio makes up 25% of U.S. ad-supported media consumption but just 8% of ad spend. That imbalance is striking, considering how ubiquitous audio is in our everyday lives. Indie agencies stepping in with programmatic pipelines is one way the gap may close.

For Wpromote, the clearest trend is attention scarcity. As consumers juggle screens, brands are turning to formats that capture attention outside the visual battlefield.

“Brands need more breakthrough moments through the course of somebody’s day, especially as consumers are more and more distracted,” Cullen said. “And so it’s not just a reliance on the TV screen, but also, where else can you capture that attention?”

Indie agencies — more nimble, experimental and closer to challenger brands — are often the ones ushering clients into audio first.

Around 30% of digital audio is now bought programmatically, according to EMarketer, up nearly 10% since 2022. And for the first time this year, programmatic audio spend in the U.S. is projected to climb to over $2 billion.

Indie agencies are helping fuel this growth trajectory. It seems brands are ready to turn up the volume.