Americans spend almost 20% of every day—more than four hours daily—with audio content these days.¹ On Spotify, people are also engaging with more visual content like video podcasts: Average daily streams of the format are up 39% year-over-year (Y/Y) from 2023 to 2024.²

To reach engaged audiences in both screenless and screen-based moments, marketers need to understand how audio advertising works. Step one is to learn the industry lingo.

If you're just getting started with digital audio advertising, we made a cheat sheet for you. This glossary of terms can help kickstart your digital audio education.

1. Streaming Ad Insertion

In traditional podcast ads, delivery is usually measured by the number of episodes downloaded. But once those downloads occur, the advertiser loses insight into listeners' engagement. People may not even listen to the whole episode, missing key ad spots.

That's why Spotify created Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI)—a proprietary technology that inserts podcast ads into episodes as they're streamed. This ensures that advertisers only pay to reach people who actually hear their ads in real time.

Learn how SAI powers Spotify's podcast advertising network.

2. Contextual targeting

Contextual audience targeting, a targeting technique unique to Spotify, is the process of delivering hyper-relevant ads that match each user's content experience. An ad for a new kitchen appliance might run while someone is listening to a playlist they use while cooking, for instance. Or, users might see a sneaker ad while they're curating a "gym beats" playlist.

By matching each moment with the right ad, advertisers can reach engaged audiences and help build positive connections with their brands.

3. Brand voice

Brand voice is the unique and consistent personality used throughout your marketing messaging. When building digital audio and video advertising into your brand marketing strategy, be sure to develop a clear voice—be it playful, assertive, edgy, or a combo of several different tones. This way, audiences recognize and associate a brand with a specific persona each time they hear an ad.

4. Call to action

A call to action (CTA) is the copy at the end of your ad that encourages audiences to take a specific step along the customer journey. You might want people to visit your website, tune into a branded podcast, redeem an offer code, or head to a store near them.

Whatever your end goal, it's important to include a clear CTA in your digital audio or video ads to help communicate your value and drive conversions.

5. Automatic Placement

When you select Automatic Placement in Ads Manager, your ads have the potential to run in podcasts and music based on where audiences are most likely to engage with them. This intelligent feature helps get your ads in front of the most receptive audiences possible.

6. Frequency cap

An ad's frequency cap is the maximum number of times it's delivered to a particular audience or user. Advertisers might set daily, weekly, or monthly frequency caps—so people receive an ad enough times to take action, but not so many times that they tune it out.

According to recent studies, frequent exposure helps campaigns stand out and drive awareness and messaging.³

7. Self-serve advertising

When brands purchase, create, and publish ads without the help of a sales rep, it's called self-serve advertising.

Businesses of all sizes—including small business advertisers, big brands, and everything in between—can harness the power of digital audio and video using Spotify Ads Manager.

With this self-serve platform, you can create campaigns quickly, choosing the budget, targeting, and delivery preferences that work best for your brand. Advertisers have control over their ads every step of the way—from creative direction to campaign management. Ads Manager even offers voiceover and production services to help you create bespoke digital audio ads quickly and seamlessly.