Digital audio consumption has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years, both in volume and duration of listening. For advertisers, the audio world represents a historic opportunity to reach a perfectly identified audience. There are numerous advantages.
1/ Personal and intimate media
Listening to audio content – whether it be music, debates, stories – has always been the most personal and intimate form of media relationship. This proximity is naturally strengthened through the predominant use of headphones. The immersive experience, facilitated by technological advances in terms of quality and listening comfort, naturally creates engagement and a stronger response to the content.
2/ Audio ubiquity
As was previously the case with radio, digital audio is now available anywhere and any time. Listeners can effectively listen to digital content on numerous devices (speakers, cars, smartphones), while doing other things (driving, working, playing sport). The special feature of audio, notably unlike social networks: it is also available during offline periods or screen-free times.
3/ A multitude of genres and formats
Digital audio is not limited to music streaming services or internet radio stations. Today there are a multitude of digital audio formats, and therefore of targeting opportunities. A few examples: the explosion in podcast consumption, pureplay or even video games (notably on mobile devices).
4/ A wide variety of publishers available
Just as the digital audio receiver is multifaceted, the number of content publishers available enjoys a wide variety: apart from radio and video (where audio ads are increasing), podcasting, video games and even speaker manufacturers have space available for brands.
5/ No ad blocker
Audio advertising remains to this day one of the last forms of commercial communication without adblock, unlike web browsing. The listener naturally accepts a form of compromise between the content they want to listen to and targeted adverts (location, demographics, time of day, history).
6/ High precision targeting
The data available on users today is information that has always been missing from broadcast radio (FM, AM, DAB+), due to the anonymous nature of listeners. Digital audio makes it possible to target the right people at the right time: age, gender, location, hobbies, weather data etc.
7/ More accurate measuring tools
New targeting opportunities are futile without solid measuring tools. Digital audio is the only form of distribution that is directly measurable, thanks to dashboards displaying campaign reports and results in real time, via the brand and advertiser trading technology.
8/ Safety guaranteed for the brand
The commercialisation of advertising messages on digital audio is transparent, both in terms of traffic as well as insertion destinations, notably thanks to user-friendly control and management tools for placements.
9/ Innovation channel
Brands can now track an increasingly connected audience by being present on their preferred digital audio environments, all enjoying rapid growth. The opportunities to create a relationship with the listener are strengthened thanks to contextualisation and personalisation of messages, that is to say an opportunity to create different, contextualised versions of audio messages.
10/ Direct sale or programmatic
Digital audio offers unparalleled accessibility of inventory: effectively it is available both for direct sale as well as programmatic. Advantage of programmatic audio: it allows advertisers to reach a specific audience, by using the same targeting criteria as traditional online campaigns.
