For most of its history, audio's job was awareness. Brands bought it by environment: a station, a show, a platform. The audience came with it, and success was measured in reach.
Both of those things are changing fast. The buying is moving first, and the results are following. In March 2026, 82% of marketers and media agencies said they buy audio programmatically, up from 65% a year earlier, according to Advertiser Perceptions.
In July, Amazon DSP added programmatic podcasts alongside streaming audio, so buyers can plan and measure audio in the same platform as display, video and streaming TV. In my conversations with agencies and brands, I see the same thing: audio is being planned and bought alongside the rest of the plan, not apart from it.
When audio becomes an audience buy, the questions change. Buyers ask less about which outlet they are in and more about who they are reaching and what it delivers.
Start with the audience and the map of where audio can run gets bigger. According to the Entertainment Software Association's 2026 Essential Facts report, 67% of Americans play video games for at least an hour a week, and the average player is 37. That is a large share of the audience most audio plans are already built to reach.
Mobile is where that audience spends its everyday moments: on the commute, on a break, winding down at night. The audience is the main play. The apps on their phones are where we meet them, and in-app audio plays alongside what they are doing instead of interrupting it. That respect for the moment is a big part of why it performs.
It also means in-app doesn't need a separate team or buying process. Odeeo's in-app audio is available through Amazon DSP and Walmart DSP, so it can sit inside the audio line teams already run, with the audiences, measurement and reporting they already use.
The results are what make the case. In-app is where audio proves it can drive action, not just awareness.
At the top of the funnel, Costa Coffee lifted awareness by 15 percentage points (case study). Orders, intent and awareness, all from one format. That is a full-funnel channel, and it deserves to be judged on the same business goals as every other line in the plan.
Most conversations right now are about 2027. But Q4 is still live, and it is one of the best quarters to act in.
Programmatic budgets stay flexible through the quarter. If a brand is already running audio or display through a DSP, adding in-app is a change to a live campaign rather than a new buying process.
During the holiday stretch, it is a simple way to reach the same audience in more of the moments they spend on their phones.
And every campaign that runs in November and December adds results to bring into 2027 planning.
My advice for next year is simple. Plan in-app in from the start, wherever your audience is. Measure it like the rest of the audio line. And let the results set the budget.
Audio has always been good at reaching people in the moments that matter to them. Today, many of those moments happen in the apps on their phones. The brands that plan for that, starting this quarter, will go into 2027 with results already in hand.
Zack Weiss is Head of Agencies & Brands at Odeeo, a mobile advertising company working across apps and games with in-app audio and display formats.