What Can Programmatic Audio Do
Management Summary
Numbers, data & facts about programmatic audio ads
At the beginning we would like to explain why this could be relevant at all. The following information (Source: Google/DoubleClick):
“25% of mobile time is listening to audio”
When I first read this I thought “whow – impossible!” – but in fact I immediately have my headphones in my ears when I leave the office or my apartment to… listen to music, streamed of course. Or podcasts!
“40% of audio is already heard digitally.”
This means that we are getting more and more potential inventory and therefore reach for programmatic booking.
In addition to the known effectsBrand awarenessandinterestfound through audioNielsenfound that every USD 1 invested by Top Brands brought → USD 6 in sales.
These facts are reason enough to use this new channel today rather than tomorrow.
Formats of programmatic audio ads
As things stand today, we can generally assume that audio spots have the following properties:
- Length: 15 or 30 seconds
- unskippable!!!
- User controls pause
- optional companion ad in the player, clickable
Benefits of Programmatic Audio Advertising
In addition to the fact that with this format we can often reach the target group directly from the headphones through the ear, the biggest advantage is: targeting, targeting, targeting!
Programmatic Audio targeting options include:
- Geographic targeting
- Demographic targeting (age, gender)
- Environment, topic, sponsored playlists
This shows its advantages over classic radio advertising quite clearly: while with radio you still estimate the target group based on hope, I can precisely target young men. And the geographical orientation also leaves a lot to be desired: how many channels would you have to book to reasonably cover Vienna – and then it’s also scattered due to high channel ranges and cable distribution…
Evaluation and billing
Exclusive real playouts are billed for each individual user using CPM (cpm), similar to what we know from all digital channels. Since it runs programmatically, we get a precise evaluation of the draws.
In my opinion, programmatic audio booking must replace classic radio booking!
Programmatic Audio Inventory
Where can I place these ads and reach my target group? The pioneer here is Spotify, but SoundCloud and Google Play Music *) also already offer their inventory. The trend is rising sharply. *) initially in the USA.
reach
The objection that advertising is not shown on premium accounts on Spotify and Play Music, for example, can be refuted by the following two facts:
- At Spotify, around 80% use the free account – with advertising!
- You then only pay for the real range (unlike the radio extrapolation…)
Where in the funnel we rely on programmatic audio
In the customer journey, this channel is clearly in the area of awareness: we “only” have the opportunity to get directly into the ear and – with the exception of the companion ad – not to trigger a direct response. It should be noted that this allows us to reach auditory people optimally, in contrast to our other digital channels.
How to book in? With the DSP!
As always, we need a DSP – Demand Side Platform in RTB to book and manage campaigns and advertising materials. (Note: you can of course also book the campaign directly with the publisher/marketer, then from my point of view it is no longer really programmatic, even if the provider manages the campaign.) There are specialized onesDSPs for audio, but more and more classic DSPs also enable the audio channel (similar tovideo) to book, manage and, above all, optimize. We use the DBM fromDoubleClickor AdForm.
Conclusion
With programmatic audio, a new channel is opened up to us “onliners” and all the technical possibilities as well as targeting and billing have enormous strengths compared to classic audio booking – the budget will therefore shift very quickly here.
At the beginning we won’t have full reach in all target groups, but that will change very quickly.
