AdsWizz secures exclusive audio ad rights for SoundCloud and Sonos

These renewals solidify SiriusXM-owned AdsWizz as the primary bottleneck for programmatic audio buyers in Europe, reducing inventory fragmentation in a sector where reach is heavily distributed across hardware and software. By locking in SoundCloud’s 50 million global users and Sonos’s high-income listener base, AdsWizz forces agencies to maintain its tech stack for specialized pan-European buys. This strategy aligns with parent company SiriusXM's broader push for exclusivity, mirroring its recent April 2026 deal to become the sole U.S. audio ad representative for YouTube. Watch for whether these renewals eventually integrate RampID for unified cross-platform identification, a move AdsWizz signaled in early 2026.

The renewal arrives as the gap between audio consumption and advertising investment remains a central focus for European media buyers. Per Bauer Media Audio's 'Sound Check Europe 2026' report released in April 2026, while audio accounts for roughly 20% of media time in Europe, it attracts only 5% of total ad spend. Despite this disparity, 96% of surveyed European advertisers plan to maintain or increase their audio budgets, citing trust and high audience attention as key drivers for scaling the channel.

Industry technical shifts are supporting this move toward higher investment. According to a May 2026 report from VAUNET, in-stream audio advertising revenue in Germany is projected to grow by 8% to €144 million in 2026, outperforming traditional radio. This growth is increasingly funneled through global ad-tech intermediaries; VAUNET estimates that major tech platforms now capture nearly 50% of the overall German advertising market. To counter this dominance, companies like AdsWizz and SiriusXM have moved toward standardizing measurement. Per Quartz, SiriusXM Media’s April 2026 deal with YouTube is specifically designed to offer 'guaranteed' audio impressions, a standard previously difficult to achieve at scale in the fragmented audio-first environment.

Consolidation of sales rights also helps address a persistent attribution hurdle. Only 13% of European advertisers currently feel confident in their audio attribution tools, according to the same Bauer Media study. By acting as the sole gateway for disparate inventory sources like SoundCloud's mobile app and Sonos's hardware-based radio service, AdsWizz is positioned to offer more cohesive tracking and measurement data than fragmented independent sales houses. This approach reflects the 'identifiable audience' trend highlighted by SiriusXM and AdsWizz in May 2026, when they expanded their partnership with LiveRamp to deploy RampID across programmatic audio inventory at scale.