• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, June 19, 2025

It would be sad indeed if people stopped reading news in text form and started accessing it only via audio. But we may be on our way to that situation, judging by a recent study by Audioboost: The State of Audio in Digital Publishing: Trends, Impact and Audience Behavior. 

Of the publishers surveyed, 47% reported an increase in time spent on pages featuring audio. And 53% saw an increase in engagement after introducing embedded audio. 

This includes “on-site audio features—from text-to-speech article playback to embedded podcasts,” the study states.   

Users who listened to audio stayed over five minutes on average, versus roughly one minute and 40 seconds for non-listeners. And they heard three articles per session, 45% hitting that mark. Another 23% listen to four or more.

Moreover, sessions with audio have a 97% lower bounce rate than those without. 

“We’ve known for a while that the way people consume content is changing, and this confirms it,” says Cristina Pianura, CEO and founder of Audioboost. “When users are listening to an average of three articles per session, it’s clear that embedded audio isn’t just a nice add-on—it’s reshaping how audiences engage.”  

One may be skeptical. As its name suggests, Audioboost is in the audio business—it describes itself as an AI audio martech company. That said, there is little doubt that audio use is growing.

Weekly return rates vary by vertical. Those studied include gaming (61%), news (53%), sports (51%) and automotive (33%).

What’s the takeaway? That we’re past the experimental stage.