America's Next Move: Arthur Larrey on Audio, AI and the U.S. Market
Originally featured on the Life in Digital podcast.
London, Cannes, and now New York. For the third stop of their conversation series, Life in Digital sat down with Arthur Larrey, co-founder and CEO of Audion, just one month after he relocated to the U.S. to lead the company's American expansion.
Eight years after its launch in France, Audion has become one of Europe's leading audio solutions. A $15 million Series B later, the next chapter is being written on the other side of the Atlantic. In this episode, Arthur shares why the U.S. is the natural next step, how audiences are redefining what audio means, and why performance is no longer optional for anyone selling media today.
From European fragmentation to the American bet
Europe was never an easy playground for audio. Every market speaks its own language, which makes every podcaster almost unique. For Audion, that fragmentation was the opportunity: a market waiting to be consolidated. In about six years, the company did exactly that across its European footprint.
The next question was obvious. The American market is the largest by far, and with what the team had built with Audion AI, the timing felt right. Arthur relocated to New York in roughly six months. The reason is simple: the European business is structured, profitable and ready to run without him.
For investors, the bet rested on two pillars. First, a proven, replicable playbook: opening new markets and building a business consistently, again and again. In a bigger, more competitive market, that experience is decisive. Second, an advanced AI product that stands apart from what the market can access today. As Arthur puts it, it is still a bet and still early days, but the combination gives Audion a real edge.
Audiences follow the conversation, not the format
Arthur's first week in New York delivered a telling story. He set up his new TV, connected Netflix, and the very first category on the homepage was podcasts. Later that day, out for a run in Brooklyn, he opened Apple Podcasts. The first thing it promoted was video.
The number one video streaming platform pushes podcasts. The number one podcast app pushes video. For Arthur, this is the new normal of audio. People no longer engage with a format. They engage with content and conversations, wherever they happen to be.
His own routine proves the point. He starts an episode on his bike with headphones on, continues it on YouTube during lunch, and finishes it at home. Same conversation, three screens, two senses. Video recording used to be reserved for the biggest shows because of its cost. Today, almost every podcast can be video too, and that changes how marketers and the whole ad tech ecosystem must think about audio.
Far from a threat, Arthur sees video as another distribution layer: new audiences, more ad impressions, and snippets that travel across social media, where serendipity and reach are built. Audio is stepping out of audio apps to spread across every platform.
Accountable or forgotten: why performance comes first
Audion AI relies on agents that contextualize every new episode on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, generates personalized audio ads at scale, and covers the funnel from Drive to Store to online conversion. For Arthur, one rule stands above the rest: every channel now competes with Meta, Amazon and Google, and has to prove its ROI.
That is why around 25 to 30 independent measurement partners are plugged into the platform, tracking everything from brand recognition to visits, purchases and new customers. The goal is to make digital audio a channel that sits alongside display, CTV and online video, and to deliver the basics of a good ad: the right user, at the right time, with the right creative.
Adapting to America, one category at a time
Beyond switching to dollars, Audion had to build new categories into its product, since political advertising and pharma weigh heavily in the U.S. while barely existing in European audio. The bigger shift was in the data: its proprietary contextual engine had to start almost from scratch to transcribe the entire American podcast landscape.
Ahead lie open questions on AI generated content and how much creative control brands want to keep. For Arthur, the land of opportunities is massive, which is exactly why Audion keeps investing in AI.
Hear the full conversation
From a TV in Brooklyn to 25 measurement partners plugged into one platform, this conversation captures where audio is heading and why Audion is taking its playbook to America. There is much more in the full episode, including Arthur's take on market adaptation and the future of AI creators. Listen to the full episode of Life in Digital and hear it straight from the source, on your commute, on your run, or on your screen.
{{CTA-BANNER}}
About Audion
Founded in 2018 by Arthur Larrey and Kamel El Hadef, Audion has established itself as the go-to partner for digital audio solutions for brands and their media agencies. With a technology-driven and AI-powered approach, Audion transforms audio into a high-performing, controllable, and measurable media lever across the entire marketing funnel.
Leveraging proprietary technologies integrated with artificial intelligence, Audion designs, activates, and optimizes results-oriented audio campaigns capable of delivering tangible outcomes - from brand awareness to business performance.
With offices in Paris, New York, London, Milan, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Hamburg, Audion brings together a team of 50 experts dedicated to helping advertisers unlock the full strategic and operational potential of digital audio.
Website: www.audion.ai
