How SiriusXM and Snowflake are using AI to power personalized media experiences

Artificial intelligence and audio audience intelligence are reshaping how media companies understand consumers and deliver personalized experiences. As organizations move beyond traditional search and targeting, the focus is shifting toward contextual intelligence and more seamless interactions across channels.

As advertising shifts its focus from channels to audiences, audio is becoming an increasingly valuable source of consumer insight. With people spending hours each day listening across different contexts, companies are looking to better structure and activate audio data to enable more precise targeting and personalized experiences, according to Sherene Hilal (pictured, right), chief ad product and technology officer of SiriusXM Holdings Inc.

“As we’ve been starting to figure out how to make audio more modern, data and technology has been the recipe for that success,” Hilal said. “Specifically, how to get the context of audio, so the mood and moment of what you’re listening to, the transcript from a podcast, and really making that data available so that it’s a very tailored experience for the listener.”

Hilal and Dennis Buchheim (left), global head of marketing, technology, media and entertainment at Snowflake Inc., spoke with theCUBE’s Dave Vellante and Rebecca Knight at Snowflake Summit 2026, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the growing role of AI in media and the emergence of audio audience intelligence as a driver of personalized audience experiences. (* Disclosure below.)

Audio audience intelligence in focus

Expanding audience reach is not just about scale, but also about using audio audience intelligence to connect niche content with the people most likely to value it. By understanding the overlapping interests and listening behaviors that shape individual preferences, media companies can deliver more relevant experiences across a wide range of audiences, according to Hilal.

“I think the big heavy hitters in the mainstream media piece can often underestimate the value of that long tail data,” Hilal said. “Part of what we partner with together is how to make all signal available because you don’t want to eliminate even one person from how your media is able to reach them.”

A well-structured data taxonomy that captures contextual signals enables more personalized media experiences by helping companies understand and respond to consumers’ changing preferences throughout the day. There’s growing importance of ontology and semantic understanding in AI, which involves Snowflake’s newly announced Cortex Sense, according to Buchheim.

“We actually just announced Cortex Sense,” Buchheim said. “There’s an intelligence in just defining the semantics of what do all of these words ultimately mean for your business, and then building on top of that.”

Effective personalization begins with a comprehensive understanding of customer interactions across the business, combined with data from trusted third-party sources. By building a Customer 360 view on top of that foundation, organizations can improve audience targeting, content personalization and measurement, according to Buchheim.

“Understanding everything you can about your customers from the data you have, and from third-party data that can be connected to the data you have, and then building on top of that to really essentially fully get to personalization, to get to ad targeting and personalization of content to get to measurement,” he said. “It’s all of these. You keep stacking these blocks, basically, to build that out.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Snowflake Summit 2026:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Snowflake Summit event. Neither Snowflake, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE