5 Reasons to Add Streaming Audio Campaigns to Your Holiday Wishlist
There is an ongoing debate within CI’s team as to when it’s socially acceptable to start listening to holiday music. We have staunch supporters on either side of the spectrum, and it has even been debated on an episode of CI to Eye.
Regardless of when you press play on your favorite seasonal songs – whether that’s Mariah Carey’s holiday hits, a wintery soundtrack while lighting the menorah, or a New Year’s Eve countdown playlist—now is the time to prep your digital advertising strategies for end-of-year programming. And just like the best playlists do, mix in a few unexpected tracks. Adding streaming audio can be a fresh way to make your campaigns resonate.
Grab your headphones—here’s OUR five-track playlist of reasons to include streaming audio in your 2025 holiday marketing.
Editor’s note: Results cited in this blog post refer to the 2024 holiday season. The landscape is of course always changing (ah, the pain and the joy of digital channels!), so as always, we advocate for testing channels and pivoting if need be!
#1: Here We Come A’Caroling (and Listening)
Spotify has reported that some of their listeners have started turning on the holiday music as early as July. As summer turns to fall, the numbers only grow, with October being a tipping point where holiday playlists are being dusted off at an exponential rate.
Although your concert, production, or event might be months away, these early listeners are also primed to be early buyers. In fact, SirusXM found that approximately 71% of Pandora listeners took an action after seeing or hearing a holiday ad last year.
So don’t let those last few heat waves hold you back from starting your streaming audio campaigns early this year, because your audience is here, ready to save their seats for the most wonderful time of the year.
#2: Deck the Halls (with Existing Assets)
If you’ve never run a streaming audio campaign before, the process of creating a whole new set of ads might feel overwhelming, but we are here to tell you a secret: you probably already have everything you need.
If you are interested in running audio ads, there are a lot of ways to use existing assets. For the image component, which serves where an album cover normally appears, all you need is a beautiful production image from past years or even a simple graphic that is probably already designed for an upcoming newsletter.
For the actual audio, if you run traditional radio spots, as long as it’s 30 seconds or less, drop that audio right into Spotify and you’re ready to go. If you don’t have a pre-recorded voiceover, both Spotify and SirusXM have free recording services that will create professional-level ad spots in a matter of a couple of hours. Spotify will even help you come up with the script itself, if you need help getting off the ground quickly.
Within Spotify, you also have the opportunity to run video ads, which show to people in active listening mode. They also need to be under 30 seconds and require some type of voiceover to be included, but for the most part, they can look and feel like most other social media ads.
Here’s a video ad example that ran in American Conservatory Theater’s Meta and Spotify campaigns last year while promoting their production of A Whynot Christmas Carol.
For a more detailed look at the assets required to run streaming audio ads, check out our Social Media Ad Dimensions resource.
#3: It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (To Diversify your Channel Mix)
Channel diversification is an incredibly powerful tool when it comes to broadening your reach to a more diverse group of people. Streaming audio is one of the few ways we can reach audiences who aren’t regularly on social media, and when there are so many seats to be filled, you don’t want to leave any prospective patrons on the table.
Streaming audio campaigns also pair well with other channels because they require a relatively low spend to get started, and still see comparably efficient metrics to the likes of Meta and Google.
One ballet company we work with ran Spotify campaigns as part of their Nutcracker marketing mix in 2023 and 2024, and saw great results incorporating the channel. Last year, this client’s Spotify campaign ran with a budget under $5K (a small slice of the media mix pie) and drove over 1,500 website clicks and over 200 estimated purchases. The Spotify campaign also ended with a CPM (cost per million impressions) of $8.99, which was extremely similar to the Meta campaign’s CRM of $8.74. So when it comes to reaching eyes, and ears, this holiday season, running campaigns on both platforms is bound to be twice as sweet.
#4: Do You Hear What I Hear? (It’s Holiday-Specific Targeting)
From Kwanzaa to Hanukkah to Lunar New Year, many seasonal celebrations include music as a central part of the experience. Be a part of those celebrations with holiday-specific targeting options unique to streaming audio platforms.
Spotify in particular has targeting options for the Holiday Music Genre, Holiday-Themed Playlists, Holiday Music Interests, and even top-streamed holiday artists like Mariah Carey, Pentatonix, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Additionally, there are quite a few seasonal targeting signals that are suited to the cozy winter season, like targeting winter-related playlists,
General events and celebrations, and even listeners who have a particular interest in winter spots.
And although it may feel like the Christmas jingles are dominating the airwaves, streaming audio is a great way to speak to families celebrating all sorts of seasonal holidays. Multicultural consumers hold a whopping $7 trillion in purchasing power and digital audio is often an important part of their holiday traditions as well. If you are interested in learning more about how to authentically show up in these spaces, check out SirusXM’s guide to Holiday Advertising to Reach Multicultural Consumers.
#5: All I Want for Christmas Is You (& Purchase Tracking)
Earlier this year we received a special gift from Spotify, the ability to fully track purchases and revenue! Prior to January of 2025, the purchase data available for Spotify campaigns was primarily modeled and didn’t provide any information about revenue. This year, your holiday campaigns will benefit from a new and improved attribution model with improved data resolution, and most importantly, the ability to see purchases and revenue driven by your streaming audio ads.
We know better tracking was on many marketers’ wish lists last year, and now Santa has delivered! If you were curious about running streaming audio campaigns during the holidays but wanted more insight into purchases and revenue, this season is the perfect time to give it a try.
Jingle Bells, Streaming Sells
From tree decorating, to candle lightings, to midnight countdowns, the season has a soundtrack all its own. Streaming audio gives you the chance to be part of those moments whether audiences are turning up a holiday playlist, setting the mood for family gatherings, or just finding some joy in the middle of a busy season.
So as you’re fine-tuning your end-of-year strategy, consider adding streaming audio to the mix. It’s a channel that can help your campaigns not only be heard, but truly resonate.
