Unwrapping Your Holiday Advertising Opportunities With Audio

The holiday season is almost here, and If you’re an advertiser, you know that means consumers are getting ready to kick holiday spending into gear. But with the typical over-saturation of brand messaging that comes during the holidays, how can advertisers make sure their ads stand out? That’s easy: by partnering with the SiriusXM Streaming Network.

Pandora, SiriusXM, SoundCloud, and our partner platforms reach 97M listeners each month.1 To make things even better, these listeners are 87% addressable,2 meaning your ads go even further with us. We’re here to help you “sleigh” your advertising goals. 

Holiday Listening Starts Earlier than You Think

What were you listening to on the 4th of July as you soaked up some sun? If you’re anything like hundreds of thousands of our listeners, the Pandora Christmas station was playing. Some people just can’t get enough of the sounds of the winter holiday season, and millions of listeners are joining them as summer turns to fall.

Advertisers can tap into this early holiday excitement to influence spending with themed stations. We see steady traffic to our holiday stations throughout the year, but listening really takes off in the 90-day period leading up to December 25th. For example, weekly holiday genre listening started increasing the first week of September and didn’t stop increasing until post-Christmas, adding up to 729% increase compared to the previous period last year.

Popularity peaks during the week of Christmas. In addition to the Pandora Christmas station rising in popularity, here are two more of our top trending stations:

• Chill Holiday

  • 82% increase in listeners (compared to the previous week)

  • 98% increase in engagements (compared to the previous week)

• Navidad Latina

  • 69% increase in listeners (compared to the previous week)

  • 120% increase in engagements (compared to the previous week)

Friends and family will be hanging around the Christmas tree or a cozy fire while hearing your ads when you advertise on the SiriusXM Streaming Network.  

Influence Spending Before, During, and After the Holidays

It’s safe to say that Black Friday is considered the unofficial kickoff for holiday shopping. But the week after Thanksgiving isn’t the only time consumers are leaned in and ready to shop. Instead, they’re fully engaged for weeks after Black Friday as they search for last-minute gifts. 

To make the most of this timing, brands can ramp up holiday campaigns in the weeks and even days before Christmas to entice last-minute shoppers and influence post-Black-Friday spending. 

Once Christmas Eve is here, brands can continue to tag along in the listener journey. To get in the festive spirit, listeners tune in on Christmas Eve to set the mood—Our Christmas Eve Day station had the third most engagements on Pandora than any other day in 2022. And the entire week of Christmas was 2022’s number one week for connected home traffic, listening, and time spent listening. These dramatic upswings in listening and engagement are an opportunity for brands to reach audiences as they celebrate with family and friends. 

Don’t forget—holiday shopping isn’t just about purchasing gifts for others. We all know that grandparent or uncle who gives the simplest, easiest gift there is: cash (or gift cards)—which means many people are in the market to shop for themselves the week leading to the new year. Your brand can be in their ear well before they start shopping, down to the moment they’re opening gifts and beyond.

Be a Part of Their “New Year New Me” Plans

We know, Christmas is big. But if you’re not planning on connecting with your audiences all the way through New Year’s Day, you’re missing out big time—67% of Americans say it’s their favorite holiday,4 and we’ve got the stats to prove it: NYE received the third highest total listening time out of any Saturday in 2022 plus 21% more engagement than the entire year's daily average. 

Here’s why this time of year is so special and impactful for the consumer-advertiser relationship. The New Year represents new beginnings. It’s a time for resolutions, and for people to plan for real changes in their lives. Whether that’s eating healthier, hitting the gym, or spending more time traveling, consumers are keeping their eyes and ears open for the best deals and opportunities to help them reach their goals. 

So, how do brands know when to pivot to New Years branding? New Year’s holiday listening picks up promptly after Christmas ends. And our New Year’s Eve Party station saw some of Pandora’s highest engagements on 12/26 and accounted for 39% of all station adds on New Year’s Day. And with consumers traveling home after the holidays, in-car listening increased 25% on New Year’s week compared to last year. With our streaming network, your brand messages can be heard far and wide, whether that’s in the car, through headphones, or maybe even connected to a smart speaker at home. 

Get in on the Sound of Celebration

You get it, NYE is big. So, naturally, you need the right opportunity. To give you a little inspo on how to capitalize during this special time, we’ve got you covered. SoundCloud is offering a three-day takeover leading up to NYE. Your brand can be the first full-page ad users see when they come into SoundCloud for three days in a row! This is a chance to reach young, diverse, and influential consumers at scale. SoundCloud’s takeover allows you to insert your brand within editorial environments not available anywhere else—creating an opportunity to capture user attention as soon as they open the app, and leaving a lasting impression with continuous daily presence.

Give Your Brand Messages the Gift of Podcasts

Streaming audio isn’t the only thing keeping listeners entertained throughout the holiday season, consumers have the chance to connect with their favorite hosts and brands on The SiriusXM Podcast Network.

Daily podcast listening has seen a 290% increase since 2015.7 The on-the-go, listen-anywhere nature of podcasts is what keeps listeners hooked. And people are craving the authenticity and connection podcasts offer, that includes your ads. With 120M listeners tuning in to the SiriusXM Podcast Network each month,8 we’ve got opportunities on top of opportunities for you to get in their ears. 

Reach Influential Girl Bosses, Mom’s, Besties, and Aunties 

And did we mention the SiriusXM Podcast Network ranks #1 with women?3 These are smart, hardworking, decision making women with strong purchasing power that want to hear your ads and act on compelling messages. And about 50% of female podcast listeners respond more favorably to ads on shows hosted by women.9 That means, you can influence holiday spending with this valuable demographic by supporting women in podcasting with your brand messages. 

Baked-in Brand Messages Get Better with Podcast Sponsorships

We put together an opportunity for podcast fans, comedy enthusiasts, and satellite lovers to unite in the holiday spirit. Get into listeners' ears as they listen to their favorite duo. Andy Cohen and Amy Sedaris are continuing their annual on-air tradition with the Holiday Hangout—a live, caller advice show with hilarious stories, hosting hacks, gift advice, and more. 

Your brand can be a part of the satellite sponsorship that lives on as a fully baked-in message in a bonus podcast episode. The promotion includes branded touch points across our platforms, your brand logo on the show tile’s art, and special shoutouts through Andy Cohen’s Instagram page. 

This live studio broadcast will be syndicated as a bonus episode of Andy Cohen’s Deep & Shallow Podcast. It’s the perfect way to kick off the 2023 holiday season and your brand’s chance to align with premium content that fans can’t get enough of. 

Hurry Down the (Advertising) Chimney Tonight

It’s never too early to start wrapping your brand campaigns in digital audio opportunities, and consumers are ready to hear what you’ve got. Send us a chat, and your brand is guaranteed to be on the nice list. 

Before we say farewell for now, don’t forget to snag our digital audio insights for the holiday season. It’s (almost) better than milk and cookies—check out The Advertisers Guide to the Holiday’s more brand opportunities. 

Source:

1. Comscore Media Metrix, December 2022; Nielsen SiriusXM Custom Study, Spring 2022/Fall 2022; Triton Podcast Metrics, November 2022; Edison Research December 2021 (National Telephone Survey, Podcast Consumer Tracker, Infinite Dial 2021

2. SiriusXM Internal Metrics Q4 2022 

3. Edison Research, Q4 2022 Podcast Metrics. SXM Media reach Includes Stitcher, NBC and Audiochuck Networks 

4. Pandora Internal Metrics, Q4-22

5. Edison Podcast Metrics Q2 2023

6. WalletHub Insights

7. Edison Research Share of Ear, Q4 2022, Daily Listening Figures

8. Edison Research, The Infinite Dial Q2 2023

9. Women’s Podcast Report, December 2022, Edison Research and SXM Media