The number of marketers who plan to ramp up spending on radio remains steady in the latest survey by the ad-buying service Mediaocean. Three-quarters of nearly 700 marketing professionals it surveyed say they expect to increase or maintain audio advertising levels in 2025. That includes nearly one in four who predict they will direct more money into audio, while a majority 52% predict they will hold budgets steady. Those results are on par with what marketers said about audio advertising a year ago.
“They are prioritizing digital, but they’re still maintaining traditional channels, and so this is in a situation of throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” said Mediaocean CMO Aaron Goldman. “All these channels have more people maintaining spend than decreasing it. So, the picture is actually pretty healthy.” He also pointed out on a recent webinar that their universe of ad buyers skews more heavily toward larger brands, so the results may not track the same for small and medium-sized advertisers that are more likely to buy AM/FM radio ads.
The survey finds social media and digital display/video are likely to be the fastest-growing channels this year, with two-thirds of marketers planning to invest more in those options. And 55% predict more of their ad dollars will go to Connected TV.
Looking at the numbers by industry vertical, Mediaocean’s report says more than half of the sectors it surveyed identified social platforms as the primary channel for increased ad spending. Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) and Travel were outliers in selecting CTV as their top channel for increased ad spending.
“I’m not surprised to see the social platforms as the highest amount of growth, but I think there will be an enormous amount of flux,” said Mediaocean board member Deborah Wahl. If TikTok is knocked out of the US market, she says, marketers will need to be nimble and follow creators to the next big social sharing app.
Brian Wieser, Principal of Madison and Wall, said the gains by CTV are masking the ongoing decline of television as an advertising medium overall. “Eventually, so too will CTV,” he predicted. In the meantime, he says there has been a “significant overspend” in CTV that could be pulled back as marketers better “rationalize” their budgets. Wieser says current spending patterns also fly in the face of media share, equating to the amount of time consumers spend with it. He says radio continues to get less money than it should based on how much time Americans still spend listening.
The annual advertising outlook is the seventh in Mediaocean’s series of bi-annual market analyses. It synthesizes perspectives from brands, agencies, media companies, measurement firms, and tech platforms. Among some of the other trends it’s seeing in 2025 are consumers shifting more of their focus onto artificial intelligence. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of marketers identify it as critical, overtaking their previous top concern, Connected TV.
“Generative AI is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s a cornerstone of today’s advertising strategies,” says Wahl, a former global CMO of General Motors. “The moment we’re in reminds me of the electric vehicle transformation in the auto industry — marketers had to reimagine their business strategies and marketing programs. The same goes for AI, and the brands that embrace it now will see outsized returns.”
The survey also finds automation has become the fastest-growing investment area, with a 17% increase in adoption since mid-2024, as marketers seek to improve their workflow across media formats. Advertisers are also adopting multiple approaches to improve campaign measurement and attribution. Almost half cite that as a top concern for 2025. And despite slight improvements, 86% of advertisers report a lack of synchronization between creative and media processes.
“This year’s outlook report underscores the profound shifts already underway and intensifying across the advertising industry,” Goldman says.