Turn It Up: Why Is Streaming Audio Important For Marketers?

The task that marketers have is simple: get your product or service in front of as many qualified prospects as possible. The way marketers do this is the hard part.

The good and the bad news of this digital-first world that we live in is that it comes with new advancements, channels, and ways to connect with your ideal audience. While this allows for marketers to get more creative and find more opportunities to generate connections, the noise has increased to an almost insurmountable level, making it a lot harder to be heard.

However, we have also entered into an era where, more often than not, people are listening through their earbuds on their way to work, during their morning run, or even while doing homework. This “Earbud Era” has led to a rise not only in music consumption (listening on Pandora grew to 5.40 billion hours¹ in just the past quarter alone), but also with other forms of streaming audio such as podcasts. In fact, podcast listenership is on the rise, with research stating that over 21% of Americans 12+ have listened to a podcast² in the past 12 months (up from just 12% in 2010).

Wanting to get a better understanding of the importance of streaming audio for brands, we interviewed a few thought leaders that joined us for our Turn It Up event in Chicago last week. These audio experts explain why they feel streaming audio is an important channel for marketers as a strategic investment.

Tracy Kalfas, Client Director of Strategy & Investment at Initiative Media, says that audio is something that immediately garners a reaction from your audience. The data that you can collect and analyze from your streaming audio ads also helps you to better understand how to target someone’s mood. Hear more from her:

 

 

As opposed to traditional radio, streaming audio provides more accountability for how your ads perform. Marcos Resendez, VP of Sales at Malone Media Group, explains that streaming audio also allows marketers to have a 1:1 delivery vs. a one-to-many approach. Hear more from him:

 

 

Marketers have the responsibility to follow trends, says Tiffany Kirk, SVP & Managing Director of West Coast Media Investments for Horizon Media. Streaming audio allows you to go beyond the standard demographics, with more in-depth targeting. Hear more from her:

 

 

Seth Lind, Director of Operations of This American Life and Serial podcasts, believes that audio makes it so much easier for people to get and digest content. Hear more from him:

 

 

For brands, streaming audio is an important and powerful tool for connecting not only with a more targeted audience, but allows brands to connect on an emotional level as well. Is your brand using streaming audio ads today?

To learn how to create engaging audio ads, CLICK HERE

^{1 Pandora Internal Metrics, Q3 2016 2 Edison Research, The Infinite Dial, 2016}