Selling the digital elements of your audio gives you more options to offer advertisers, and improves radio’s marketing proposition according to Frank Bacher from the German advertising bureau RMS.
Speaking at Radio Days Europe, Bacher listed the virtues of using the digital environment to give radio more reasons for advertisers to buy radio.
Unlike banner ads on websites and other advertising sold programmatically on the internet, radio’s content is much more accountable.
There is no bot traffic artificially inflating the numbers when people listen to radio on the internet and radio offers some “unique touchpoints” for advertisers.
There are no ad-blockers on radio either.
“When listeners are listening to radio in headphones they are having a very personal experience with radio,” said Bacher.
Connected cars and smart homes are allowing radio to make use of the back channel of the internet to gather more information on listener demographics and customer habits, which they can use to give advertisers better information about their target audiences.
Acknowledging that the majority of radio listening is still done on free to air radio, Bacher, however, said that things learnt about the online audiences can be extrapolated to the wider general listening audience.
The use of programmatic buying is increasing, so radio companies should use it to their best advantage, according to Bacher.
He also highlighted a new trend, voice control of audio. It is a new technical trend that sits well in radio’s audio environment. You listen to the radio and now you can talk back to your radio, giving radio advertisers new backchannels to reach their target audience.
Imaging hearing an ad and then saying ‘tell me more’ and your radio plays additional information or sends you an email with details and product features. If you’re driving, there is no need to take your hands off the wheel. Bacher sees new potential in the latest speech controlled audio devices, and notes that an increasing number of people are aware of speech control and plan to use it at some time in the near future.
