IAB Research Director Natalie Stanbury told attendees at today’s Audio Summit that about 70% of media advertising agencies are now regularly using audio streaming ads and about 60% of agencies are actively considering advertising in podcasts.
“Despite the turbulent times use of audio advertising has not been very affected by covid,” she said.
At the Summit, a panel of audio advertising specialists reinforced that it is worth putting in the extra effort to adapt your ads to an audio environment.
An audio identifier or a sonic logo is the most used audio technique by agencies, with about 50% of advertisers utilising this technique. “Before you’ve even said a word your audio is communicating your personality,” said Ralph van Dijk during his featured session, which highlighted Tennis Australia’s use of audio during the recent Australian Open.
Jonathan Mandel from SCA spoke about the growth of audio consumption, making the point that “there is more audio content being consumed than ever before, there is no need to cannibalise some other form of audio to advertise on the new platforms, people are simply consuming more audio so there are more ways to reach them.”
Smart speakers have brought audio back into the home and when you look around the street there are plenty of people walking around with headphones, reinforcing Mandel’s point about increased consumption.
ARN’s Corey Layton busted the myth that you can’t measure ads in podcasts. “You can. There are vast changes with measurement,” he said, mentioning Brand Studies, Campaign Measurement, Attribution and Footfall studies as effective ways to enhance the data that already comes from the podcast platforms.
Combining digital audio advertising with digital display and out of home advertising seems to be a successful combination for many agencies, according to the latest research, released during the summit.
“Intention to buy audio advertising programmatically has increased,” said Stanbury. “Flexible buying and operational efficiency are the reasons why agencies use programmatic to buy audio.”
“Supporting sales during lockdowns” has emerged as a new reason why advertisers have increased their online audio advertising during the pandemic.
Audio advertising enhances brand building and is one of the most important reasons why agencies undertake audio advertising, according to the study.
Client produced spots were the most common form of audio ads. Voice activated and shake-me activations have not increased, but agencies seem to be interested in experimenting with these forms of interaction if the opportunity and the audio product are right for it.
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