AM/FM Radio And Podcast Advertising Can Help AI Firms Build Their Brands And Grow Sales, According To New Oxford Road Studies
Click here to view a 14-minute video of the key findings.
Click here to download a PDF of the slides.
A series of new studies jointly commissioned by Oxford Road, the world’s largest podcast advertising agency, and the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group®, find heavy audio listeners are much more likely to be familiar, interested in, and use AI for personal and work purposes. The studies also uncovered a “tale of two cities”: significant differences in AI attitudes among those in the marketing bubble (marketers and media agencies) and everyday Americans.
Key findings:
- AI brands need to market themselves: Americans are vaguely aware and modestly interested in AI services. Weekly AI use (50%) is at the same levels of internet use in 2001.
- There is a huge opportunity to market AI applications for the workplace: Most Americans use AI for primarily for personal use. The emotional benefits and use cases of AI services for the workplace need to be articulated.
- Audio should be a centerpiece of AI media plans: Heavy podcast and AM/FM radio listeners significantly over-index on AI usage, awareness, and interest.
- AI ad creative must be sensitive to consumer apprehensions: Average Americans are guarded about AI. Creative strategy should be mindful of these anxieties. While brands and media agencies are very positive and excited about AI, average Americans are much more concerned.
- AI creative should be designed with four distinct generational targets in mind: Idil Cakim’s research reveals AI brands should adapt marketing to four different audiences (Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers).
- Ad creative should depict AI “as the tool in your hand, not the mind in control”: Build trust and belief in AI by positioning it as a collaborator, not a replacement.
- AI ad creative must prioritize emotion and creating positive memories over rational features and benefits: Focusing solely on speed, cost savings, and ROI misses the emotional impact on consumers. Emotional impact is what directly influences brand trust and purchase motivation. Beware “the cost of dull.” Boring ads require twice as much media investment to generate the same effect as interesting and emotion-based ads.
- Pre-test creative and messaging: Brands must rigorously pre-test the creative effectiveness of both AI-generated and traditional content before launch to understand their specific audience’s tolerance and sentiment toward AI.
How the studies were conducted
Three Quantilope national consumer studies were fielded in November 2025 (2,000 respondents), February 2026 (1,000 respondents), and July 2026 (300 workers). Marketer and media agency AI sentiments were measured by Advertiser Perceptions in November 2025 (303 advertisers and media agencies).
In addition, national AI tracking studies from IPSOS and Gallup were examined. A new book on AI for marketing was consulted. Idil Cakim, founder of Iris Flex, the audience intelligence firm, and the former Chief Research Officer at Audacy, recently published a useful book called AI for Marketing: The Consumer Perspective (CRC Press, Taylor & Francis).
Weekly AI usage levels are like weekly internet usage in 2001
Quantilope reports half of the U.S. say they use AI weekly, which is where internet use was in 2001. As of April 2026, IPSOS indicates 24% of Americans say they use AI “frequently” and 35% use AI “sometimes.”
Americans mostly use AI for personal reasons rather than on the job
There are big differences in AI usage among marketers and media agencies versus everyday Americans
Tale of two cities: Inside the marketing bubble (media agencies and marketers), AI sentiments are super positive; It is a different story among average Americans
A November 2025 Advertiser Perceptions study of 303 media agencies and marketers reveals exceptionally positive attributes towards AI.
In contrast, the Quantilope study of average Americans finds caution and concern lead consumer perceptions.
Brands and agencies should temper their AI euphoria when crafting copy points and creative. It is crucial to pre-test creative to ensure the attitude, emotions, and assumptions resonate.
Creative recommendation: Sell the tool in hand, not mind control
In Idil Cakim’s book AI for Marketing: The Consumer Perspective, she cites LinkedIn researcher Derek Yueh who “cautions against portraying AI as the sole creator in advertising.” He advises, “If your ad shows AI doing all the work from start to finish, it might be sending the wrong message. To make GenAI feel more human, depict it as the tool in our hand, not the mind in control. That’s how you build trust. That’s how your spark belief.”
AI ad creative should prioritize emotion and creating positive memories over a focus on rational features and benefits
Idil Cakim explains that focusing solely on rational factors like speed, cost savings, and ROI misses the emotional impact on consumers. Emotional impact is what directly influences brand trust and purchase motivation.
Legendary advertising researchers Les Binet and Peter Field, dubbed the “godfathers of marketing effectiveness,” report that emotional ads cause people to believe that a brand’s products are higher quality on important rational metrics. Ads are that are light on product claims and features but strong on emotion creation cause strong brand linkage to the positive attributes.
Binet and Field indicate, “Emotional campaigns generate much stronger effects, even though they tend to say much less about product performance or benefits than rational campaigns. Consumers cannot help but believe better of brands that they feel emotionally closer to.”
Beware “the cost of dull ads”
A major watch out for creative heavy with rational, product claims? “The cost of dull.” In their study The Extraordinary Cost of Dull, Peter Field, legendary marketing effectiveness savant, and Adam Morgan from the challenger ad agency eatbigfish, report that dull campaigns require twice as much media investment to achieve the same impact as interesting campaigns that generate positive memories.
One AI product, four different generational pitches
Idil Cakim’s research reveals, “Age-based differences in AI adoption are structural realities based on when people formed their relationship with technology, what professional identities they’ve built, and what threats they perceive from new tools.”
She continues, “You cannot market AI the same way to Gen Z and boomers. Gen Z needs speed and social proof. Millennials need evidence of actual value and ROI. Gen X needs practical use cases that do not threaten expertise. Boomers need simplicity and trust signals from authoritative sources.”
Over half of all U.S. employees now use AI
AI use is consistent among businesses of various sizes; A third use it daily and 40% infrequently/never use
Quantilope’s July 2026 study of workers found similar levels of AI use among small, medium, and large businesses.
Specific AI usage and application vary by size of firm
Job elimination is the greatest AI concern among U.S. workers
The bigger the firm, the greater the fear that AI will reduce creativity.
Time savings and making the job easier are leading AI benefits among U.S. workers
Audio is an ideal media platform for AI companies to use to build their brands
Among all users of audio, there is much greater interest in AI than among other media users.
Compared to average Americans, heavy audio consumers are much more frequent users of AI for work and personal uses.
Iris Flex: Podcast audiences are open to wide array of AI use cases
Idil Cakim’s Iris Flex research of 1,000 Americans reveals a high degree of comfort among podcast listeners for a large variety of AI applications. This is further evidence that audio is an ideal media platform to advertise AI applications for consumers and businesses.
Sports audio content (AM/FM radio sports stations and play-by-play and sports podcasts) is a strong environment for AI brands
Compared to the total U.S., sports audio listeners are far more interested in AI and significant more likely to use AI personally and at work.
AI brand scorecard: AI firms have modest brand equity among Americans
AI firms are in the early days of building their awareness. Some leaders have emerged but the category has much work to do in building brand equity and associations.
Key findings:
- AI brands need to market themselves: Americans are vaguely aware and modestly interested in AI services. Weekly AI use (50%) is at the same levels of internet use in 2001.
- There is a huge opportunity to market AI applications for the workplace: Most Americans use AI for primarily for personal use. The emotional benefits and use cases of AI services for the workplace need to be articulated.
- Audio should be a centerpiece of AI media plans: Heavy podcast and AM/FM radio listeners significantly over-index on AI usage, awareness, and interest.
- AI ad creative must be sensitive to consumer apprehensions: Average Americans are guarded about AI. Creative strategy should be mindful of these anxieties. While brands and media agencies are very positive and excited about AI, average Americans are much more concerned.
- AI creative should be designed with four distinct generational targets in mind: Idil Cakim’s research reveals AI brands should adapt marketing to four different audiences (Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers).
- Ad creative should depict AI “as the tool in your hand, not the mind in control”: Build trust and belief in AI by positioning it as a collaborator, not a replacement.
- AI ad creative must prioritize emotion and creating positive memories over rational features and benefits: Focusing solely on speed, cost savings, and ROI misses the emotional impact on consumers. Emotional impact is what directly influences brand trust and purchase motivation. Beware “the cost of dull.” Boring ads require twice as much media investment to generate the same effect as interesting and emotion-based ads.
- Pre-test creative and messaging: Brands must rigorously pre-test the creative effectiveness of both AI-generated and traditional content before launch to understand their specific audience’s tolerance and sentiment toward AI.
Click here to view a 14-minute video of the key findings.
Pierre Bouvard is Chief Insights Officer of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group®.
Neal Lucey is the EVP, Strategy & Planning at Oxford Road.
Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.