In 2025, the digital world increasingly speaks with a voice. The Ipsos Digital Audio Survey 2025 captures a shift that has quietly become structural: listening to news in real time is no longer a niche habit, nor a sign of impatience or distraction. It has become a systematic way of staying informed — a new form of media behavior that happens while scrolling through headlines on a smartphone or catching up with the day’s stories during a commute.
The latest Ipsos report revealed what initially appeared to be a marginal data point — but it is, in fact, a sign of a major cultural transformation. For the first time, the study measured awareness and real usage of text-to-speech technologies in Italy: how well people know them, and how many actually use them. The result is striking. Just three years after their early introduction, 53% of Italians say they know these tools and 33% already use them to listen to articles and interviews in audio form on news websites. That’s roughly 10 million people.
When compared with the 41% of Italians who listen to podcasts, a behavior already considered established and mature, it becomes clear how fast the spoken word has entered everyday information habits. What seemed like a secondary metric turns out to be a cultural clue: reading has quietly become listening, and the act of staying informed has found a new, spoken rhythm.
This isn’t just about convenience. It’s a deeper change in the way audiences interact with information. Voice has become the new interface — natural, immediate, and emotional. And as the boundaries between podcasts, streaming, and spoken articles begin to blur, publishers are discovering that audiences now move seamlessly between channels that once seemed separate. The era of “audio-first information” has begun.
From Spoken Word to a Culture of Listening
The text-to-speech revolution marks a turning point. Audio is no longer confined to podcasts or music; it has become a natural way of experiencing information — a daily gesture that merges reading, learning, and multitasking. We are witnessing the rise of what sociologists might call a listening society: knowledge is not read anymore, it is heard.
Artificial voice does not replace the human one; it amplifies it. It extends accessibility, personalization, and on-demand availability to new audiences. From people with visual impairments to those navigating busy days between screens, spoken word builds a bridge between content and real life.
This is where the social value of text-to-speech lies. It is not just a technical innovation, but a democratic one — capable of expanding the reach of quality information, making it easier to access, easier to understand, and easier to remember. The ear becomes the new gateway to awareness.
Artificial Intelligence Leading the Audio Revolution
In this evolving landscape, Audioboost stands at the forefront as Europe’s first AI Audio Martech Company, merging patented technology and editorial strategy to give voice to digital publishing.
Its proprietary platform, Speakup-Article™, automatically converts written articles into accessible, multilingual audio experiences — but the real breakthrough lies in the AI engine that powers it. Audioboost’s semantic AI analyzes every piece of content, understands its meaning, and places it in the most appropriate “container”: a network of playlists, editorial verticals, and audience clusters.
This process ensures that every spoken article reaches the most relevant listener, enhancing the user experience while maximizing the value for publishers. For brands, it means something new: advertising becomes part of an authentic listening flow, seamlessly integrated into the narrative context. The result is greater attention, higher recall, and a more organic connection with the audience.
Audioboost’s technology doesn’t just generate sound — it interprets meaning, tone, and intent. It applies contextual targeting and dynamic distribution to deliver each piece of content, and its corresponding ad message, in the right format and at the right moment. In doing so, it redefines the concept of media orchestration: a new cognitive infrastructure for the web, where every voice — human or artificial — finds its purpose, its place, and its listener.
Audio as the New Information Infrastructure
The 2025 Ipsos research confirms what many in the industry had sensed: audio is no longer a format — it is an infrastructure. The way people consume information is becoming more fluid, more intuitive, and more connected to everyday life.
Audioboost embodies this transformation. It leads publishers and brands into the era of intelligent listening, where technology does not replace human expression but expands its resonance.
In this new paradigm, the voice is not just a medium — it is the language of information itself.