From sold-out concerts to championship games, live events bring audiences together around the things they care about most: the artists, teams, speakers, communities, and cultural moments they actively choose to follow.
For advertisers, that audience context is valuable. Audio advertising can help brands reach people in the moments around live events, when interest and attention are already active.
Live Events Are Part of a Larger Audience Journey
A live event extends beyond the moment someone is in their seat or on-site. People listen before, during, and after live events. They may stream an artist’s catalogue before a concert, listen to sports coverage before a game, follow a performer through podcast interviews, or engage with industry commentary around a conference.
Audio also helps audiences stay connected when they cannot attend in person or watch on a screen. A fan may follow live play-by-play on the radio while driving. A conference audience may listen to related interviews while traveling or working. A music fan may follow tour-related content before or after a show.
For advertisers, these moments create valuable listening environments. The audience is already engaged with a topic, occasion, community, or cultural moment. A brand does not need to be connected to the event itself to benefit from that context. The opportunity is to reach listeners when their interest and attention are already active.
From Event Context to Audience Connection
Audio allows brands to connect with audiences through the content, environments, and listening behaviours that surround live events. This could include broadcast radio, streaming audio, podcasts, digital radio, satellite radio, live coverage, playlists, interviews, recaps, or local programming.
A brand looking to reach music fans may align with playlists, artist interviews, or festival-related listening habits. A brand looking to reach sports fans may connect through live radio broadcasts, pre- and post-game coverage, sports podcasts, or digital audio tied to teams, leagues, and fan communities. A brand looking to reach business decision-makers may align with industry podcasts or conference-related programming.
For advertisers, the strength of audio is its ability to combine reach with relevance. Messaging can be shaped by timing, geography, format, audience interest, or content environment. That flexibility is especially useful around live events, where audience mindset can shift before, during, and after the moment itself.
The Role of Local and Cultural Context
Many live events are closely connected to place and community. A hockey game, music festival, film screening, cultural celebration, comedy show, or business event can each have a distinct local audience and tone.
Audio can help advertisers reflect that context. Local radio, regional podcasts, multicultural audio platforms, community-based programming, and Canadian audio publishers can all help brands speak to audiences in ways that feel more relevant.
Live and local events can also create opportunities for brands to build deeper connections through on-site remotes, event hosting, and partnerships with local broadcasters or personalities who are already known and trusted in the community.
For live-event scenarios, this mix of local, live, and on-demand audio can help advertisers connect with audiences across sports, music, news, culture, and community.
Measurement and Planning
Audio can support measurable campaign outcomes.
Digital audio can help advertisers understand reach, frequency, completion rates, engagement, and, in some cases, actions such as site visits, app downloads, store traffic, or other campaign outcomes. In markets where passive PPM measurement is available, audiences can also be evaluated minute by minute. When audio is planned alongside social, video, out-of-home, retail media, sponsorship, or broadcast, it can contribute to a broader view of performance.
Campaigns connected to live event moments can have different objectives. A brand may want to increase awareness, build consideration, drive traffic, support a seasonal campaign, reach a specific audience segment, or connect with consumers around a passion point.
Audio can be planned against each of these goals, with messaging that reflects timing, audience behaviour, and context.
Research Supports the Opportunity
The opportunity around live event audiences is supported by broader audio trends.
Podcasting continues to show strong audience engagement. Triton Digital’s 2025 Canadian Podcast Report found that nearly 4 in 10 Canadian adults now listen to podcasts each month. Engagement also deepened among listeners, with the average number of podcasts consumed weekly increasing from 3.5 to 3.9, and average weekly episodes rising from 8.2 to 8.4. These shifts point to stronger content affinity and more frequent listening habits.
Acast’s research found that 64% of people pay full attention to podcasts, while AudioVelocity cites more than 13 million monthly Canadian listeners across streamed AM/FM radio, music streaming, and podcasts.
Radio Connects From Hear to Here recent research conducted with the Angus Reid Forum panel highlights how Canadians engage with ad-supported audio across AM/FM radio, streaming, and podcasting.
SiriusXM Media Canada’s partnership with TuneIn expands access to live sports, news, music, podcasts, and radio content.
Audio should not be planned as a single format or a single moment. It works across different listening environments, helping advertisers reach audiences through interest, context, location, and behaviour.
Resources:
RADIO CONNECTS
From HEAR to HERE - Understanding Audio Behaviours in Canada and Why Radio Drives Impact
SIRIUSXM
SiriusXM Media Canada becomes exclusive advertising sales representative for TuneIn in Canada
A Practical Role for Audio
Live events give advertisers a way to understand what audiences care about in a particular moment. Audio helps brands reach those audiences through the listening behaviours, content choices, and cultural contexts that surround the event.
For IAB Canada members focused on audio, this is an important story to tell. Live event scenarios show how audio can connect brands with audiences based on interest, timing, location, and mindset.
As advertisers look for more relevant ways to connect with audiences, live event scenarios should be part of the audio conversation. They offer a practical use case for the role audio can play in reaching people through the interests, communities, and moments that matter to them.This article was written with the support of the IAB Canada Audio Advertising Committee. Interested in helping shape the conversation around audio advertising in Canada? Join the IAB Canada Audio Advertising Committee to connect with industry peers, contribute to education and thought leadership, and support the continued growth of audio advertising across the Canadian market.