Top 5 Reasons Digital Audio Is a Must-Buy in 2019
It’s official, audio is having a major moment. Americans now spend four hours a day with audio1 on average. Let’s let that sink in. That’s a quarter of our awake time being spent with audio. Do you remember when people used to ask: What are you watching?” Now the conversation includes “What are you listening to?”
With the advancements in technology and new content available, a majority of that time is spent with digital formats. Digital audio is the perfect opportunity to reach them here and now. Here are the top five reasons you should incorporate digital audio into your 2019 strategy:
1. Streaming is Mainstream
Imagine your day listening on your smart speaker at home, listening to your headphones at the gym, listening to a podcast on your commute or listening to music at work. This all adds up to a whole lot of listening time. In fact, 160 million people listened to digital audio in the last week alone.1 In fact, people spend more time with digital audio than they do on social media.2
2. More Moments with Digital Audio
The digital revolution has liberated listeners from the bonds of 'one-size-fits-all' broadcast content and returns control of what they want to hear back to them, throughout the day, on mobile, connected car and on smart speakers and other connected home devices. Through the combination of device, time of day and content choice, advertisers can target 'life's moments,' and not just generic ages and genders.
Yes, AM/FM still has a substantial audience, but it's based on a very narrow relevance. Most AM/FM radio is consumed in the car, and most (60%) of listeners don't even listen to the broadcast radio outside of their cars.3
Sharing your message with your audience wherever they are is a huge advantage that digital audio has not only over AM/FM, but also other more visually focused experiences. Whether they are listening at home from a smart speaker, driving, listening while at work, cooking, rocking out on mobile or in front of a screen at all.
As mobile and on-the-go listening become more pervasive, digital audio impressions do not need a screen to impact the consumer. Additionally, ads play even if the device screen is off. In some cases, digital audio is the only opportunity an advertiser has to get in front of their audience.
3. Personalized Experiences
People don’t want to hear just any ad between songs – 80% of consumers are more likely to do business with a company if it offers a personalized experience.5 With our proprietary algorithm, The Music Genome Project, we tailor each station to the listener’s specific preferences. That means we have more than 78 million Drake stations, each hyper-personalized based on listeners’ preferences and behavioral signals – no two stations are the same.
We ensure the ads our listeners hear are equally personalized to their interests with our proprietary Intelligent Ad Delivery platform. This leverages information such as listeners’ locations and times, as well as when they’ve proven to be most receptive to ads, so as to provide the optimal listening and ad serving experience.
4. Complements Your Search & Social Efforts
Search and social engagement works best when consumers are familiar with your brand. It's easy to get lost in these environments when search queries pull up a laundry list results and social feeds go on and on with a mixed bag of posts.
The challenge as an SMB advertiser is having your brand stand out in these environments amongst “Goliath” competitors. Audio can be the spark that amplifies your other marketing efforts by building brand awareness and keeping your brand top-of-mind. When it comes time to choose a product or service, consumers are much more likely to remember your brand when it’s reinforced with a multi-media marketing strategy.
5. Quality Matters
In today’s landscape, the company you keep is crucial and the content that surrounds your brand is more important than ever. Digital audio has recently been recognized by the IAB6 as a safe haven for advertisers to feel confident that their brand is in an environment they can trust.
Marketers are taking advantage of the control they have to align their messaging with audio programming tailored to a moment that matters to their audience and avoid an unsavory alignment that can happen with placement in other media environments.
Audio advertising is a powerful ad medium, but it thrives on a clean environment. Unlike with AM/FM, all Pandora audio ads run immediately adjacent to music and podcast content, personalized for each listener, with no more than two ads per break.
So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of the amazing opportunities audio advertising presents and make 2019 your best year yet. Reach out to us today.
Sources: 1 Edison Research Share of Ear Study, Q3, 2018 2 eMarketer Oct. 2018, Average Time Spent Per Day on Select Digital Activities by US Adult Users of Each Medium 2016-2020 3 Edison Research Share of Ear Study, Q3, 2018 Persons 13-54 4 Activate analysis, Activate 2016 Consumer Tech & Media Research Study (N=1,003) Respondents could select more than one activity 5 Epsilon “The power of me: The impact of personalization on marketing performance.” 6 IAB Digital Audio’s Role in the Brand Safety Conversation: Protecting Marketers’ Investments