Podcasting and Streaming Audio

Podcasting and Streaming Audio in general has grown 30% year over year since 2018 and is expected to grow at this pace over the next decade. This week we will focus on the creative and analytics that can help brands scale within this channel.

Audio is one of those channels that old but yet new again. For decades, radio was only available on your AM/FM radio and the SiriusXM changes the game with digital audio and eventually streaming digital. Now we have players like Spotify, iHeart, and Pandora putting their own spin on digital audio. The race now is for podcast content. If you are just entering this channel from an advertising perspective, it can be difficult and confusing. But fear not, Frequency can help. I like to compare the audio channel to display so follow me for a second.
In the early days of display (mid-late 90’s), we purchased display ads directly from publishers. In the beginning, no one had an ad server and then DoubleClick came along. In the 2000’s, ad networks came on to the scene and made it easier for buyers to consolidate their budgets and IO’s wit one network that could target a specific genre of websites. Then in 2009-10, ad exchanges really started to take off, making programmatic buying the choice of buyers. However, it wasn’t easy to understand, buyers and agencies learned how to do it well and now almost all media is bought programmatically.
With audio, many advertisers started with buying a single host-read podcast or made a network buy from iHeart or Spotify. Starting with one of these platforms can make a lot of sense as you are in the learning phase. The rate at which we evolve is much faster now. Today, a buyer can place an audio buy via The Trade Desk or other exchange and target their audiences with data or based on content. You will pay a premium for Spotify and Pandora, no doubt and they may be worth it for your brand and strategy. However, if you want to find the same or similar audiences and save 50-100% on your CPM’s there are many other networks and exchanges you can buy from. The perceived challenge is that measurement, tracking, and analytics will be challenging to stitch together, but this is where Frequency comes in.
Frequency helps advertisers personalize and contextualize audio creative with built in workflows and partnerships. Then, Frequency can serve your ads to the right people and/or along with the right content just like you serve video ads with a 3rd party (VAST). This allows all your analytics and measurement to be aggregated in one place so you can optimize media and creative with ease, even with Spotify, iHeart, and Pandora. Given all the challenges with tracking cookies and IDFA, why not try an old but new channel withs scale and ease, before your competition does?
Let us know what your experience has been with audio or if you want to learn more. We can always help make connections.