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Take a look around. The next time you’re at a red light, count the number of earbud-wearing drivers you see. The next time the dog needs a walk, try to spot the elusive media-less runner. What type of content are busy parents consuming while they make dinner? What is everyone listening to these days? What’s the latest trend?
More and more, the answer is: streaming radio stations, music, and podcasts. “Background TV” has given way to purposeful multitasking content, with podcasts hitting the ears of 25% of Americans weekly and streaming music hitting 900 billion songs–with a “b”–in the past 12 months.
Why you should add audio to your advertising arsenal
While video still reigns supreme in the advertising world, audio has its place, as well. The more places you meet your audience and the more senses you tap into, the better your campaign will do. In this multitasking millennium, when we’re not watching something, we’re usually listening to something else.
These days, in a world of streaming entertainment, video and audio consumers have your full attention. They’ve picked out their favorite program with intention and care. They’re usually directly plugged in–or Bluetoothed in, as the case may be–to their media. In other words, they’re a captive audience. In the case of music specifically, they’re also an emotional one.
We know that shopping is also an emotional experience, albeit subconsciously. In fact, one Harvard professor claims that subconscious emotions account for 95% of all purchasing decisions! By providing relevant, targeted ads to an audio consumer, you’re accessing that natural emotional response and increasing your conversion rates.
Right Place, Right Time for Programmatic Audio
Now is a great time to invest in programmatic audio. Economics 101 teaches us about the relationship between supply and demand. Previously, the supply of programmatic audio was higher than the demand. Even so, podcasts still made programmatic audio a whopping $220 million in 2017–an 85% increase over the previous year.
In 2018, the scales began to balance. Big players, like Pandora, got wise to the advantages of programmatic radio and started selling their inventory. With others doing the same, the audio marketplace is rapidly scaling. And since this new wave of programmatic is just barely hitting its upswing, this prime audio real estate is being offered at a great rate. Right now is the right time to capitalize on the next big trend in programmatic advertising.
Leaping Over Programmatic Audio Hurdles
Previously, programmatic wasn’t able to take advantage of this exploding demographic due to the mediums not opening to the programmatic system of integration. A brand new infrastructure for audio had to be built in order to ensure a seamless user experience, primarily because programmatic ads have been traditionally visual. Attribution tracking also posed some challenges in the audio arena.
Genius Monkey, however, rose to the challenge. Just like with our display and video tracking, we can help you gain insights and take measurable actions on your audio campaign, with not only metrics like impressions and cost-per-click, but actual conversions and KPI (Key Performance Indicators) goals. We track from the impression to the conversion with full attribution. Now that the demand matches the supply, real-time bidding (RTB) with Genius Monkey opens the floodgates to a new level of personalized programmatic. Typical audience demographics and behaviors can be layered in–but it gets even better.
For example, if a listener is enjoying a Christmas song in July, a unique opportunity for a highly-targeted ad arises. Perhaps a listener has been tuned into the “Breakup Songs” Pandora station for the past 12 hours. Enter: Haagen-Dazs.
The goldmine resulting from the podcast boom and streaming audio has yet to be fully tapped, leaving this new advertising frontier at the bleeding edge of opportunity. By adding audio to your omnichannel advertising campaigns, you’re plugging into a primal sense and taking advantage of its unique human response.
Next up: programmatic smell-o-vision?
