The Powerful State of Audio in the New Normal

There has never been a better time for audio, especially integrated audio that incorporates over-the-air radio, digital audio and podcasts. Audacy has just released their State of Audio e-book that details integrated audio's power to track, reach and engage consumers that is backed up by advanced and cutting-edge research and data.

According to the book, Audio has the capacity to, "stir emotions like no other medium." It goes on to explain that "via podcasts, sports, news or music, the auditory-neuro sensory embrace draws us in, makes us feel --really feel! -- and drives us to action. Personal audio (the kind we enjoy alone through our earbuds, smart speakers and talkable tech) is a bigger part of our daily lives than ever before."

The result is increased usage by listeners and increased ad spend by advertisers.

The New Normal

The pandemic has changed the way consumers use media, leading to a new normal and boon for audio. According to the research, there was substantial year-to-year growth in listening at home (+44%), via smart speakers (+43%) and via podcasts (+26%). At the same time, screen fatigue became a stress factor as both work and school locked consumers in front of their various screens. Audio with its mobile fluidity offers consumers the opportunity to de-stress, "and, even briefly, shut out the outside world … Audio just puts us in a good mood," the e-book notes.

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The research and data bears this out. When compared to screens, audio listeners pay more attention, spending more time with audio than social media (+60%), broadcast TV (+54%), cable TV (+49%) and video streaming (+42%).

"In a world where screen time has reached a new and sometimes uncomfortable peak, it's the ears, not the eyes that have always connected most deeply," explained J.D. Crowley, Chief Digital Officer, Audacy. "It's the ears that are generating the most excitement and energy in media today."

The Opportunity for Advertisers

At the core of audio's benefits for advertisers are trust and immersion. The State of Audio guide explains that "Audiences trust the messages they hear from the voices they know. Host endorsements, whether live reads or as part of an ad, drive listeners to buy. A lot." Immersion is a blend of attention and emotional connection. Audio delivers on this behavior with the highest immersion index of any media -- whether AVOD, digital video, linear TV or social media.

Perhaps the most profound and valuable aspect of audio for advertisers is its ability to be accessed anywhere and at any time from a range of sources. Whether cleaning the house, walking the dog, driving the car or shopping, audio is everywhere. The study revealed a resurgence of radio listening in the home, facilitated by the new and growing technology of smart speakers, Bluetooth speakers and wireless headphones that makes it far more mobile than ever before.

The Audio Trifecta

The research revealed that all three audio platforms deliver for advertisers. The overall strength of broadcast radio (which commands an audience at least twice the size of pure-play services), along with the impressive growth of podcasting, especially among younger listeners (83% of whom say their favorite podcasters feel like friends), as well as innovative digital audio (which offers customized experiences), has engendered greater enthusiasm for audio content and, by extension, advertising messages.

Advertisers can take advantage of these attributes in a variety of ways. "Brands are embracing the speaker-as-touchpoint phenomenon, adding voice-triggered ads to their audio campaigns. That paves the way for some amazing new opportunities with shoppable audio interactions."

In addition, advertisers can access the power of audio influencers who can deeply engage their listeners. Audio campaigns have been proven to increase lift in sales conversions (+68%), lift in web visitation (+44%) and lift in in-store visitations (+45%).

Getting Started in Audio

While the opportunity is there for advertisers across audio platforms, it is equally important to have compelling creative and optimized audience targeting. According to the e-book, creative needs to drive recall, intent, engagement and emotional response -- and ad placement needs to occur at the right moment, in the right content for the right audience.

To that end, Audacy offers insights into producing the most compelling creative and accessing over 16,000 attributes to profile listeners and create custom audience segments for advertisers. It also offers a range of measurement opportunities including trackable pixel-based measurement. And depending on the KPI, Audacy offers measurement on foot traffic, brick-and-mortar visits with geofencing, web conversion, sales conversion, brand lift, app downloads and ad-to-app conversions and downloads in near real-time.

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Audacy's e-book offers a step-by-step guide that provides insight into the power and value of each audio platform, the most impactful way to develop and launch the ad message, and the best ways to measure campaign impact through first party data.

Ken Lagana, Audacy's EVP, Digital Sales and Strategy, believes "Audio is the most engaging impression you can buy in media. Period. People are more receptive to receiving a message from someone they know and someone they trust. Only Audio can build these kinds of relationships."

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Getting the Most Impact From Your Audio Strategy. An Interview with Audacy’s Sergei Peysakhov

Audio, like other forms of media, is fragmenting with both digital and over-the-air offerings coupled with fresh entrants such as podcasting and smart speakers. How can advertisers best leverage all of these popular formats? Sergei Peysakhov, Senior Director, Measurement and Insights, Audacy embarked on a new research study to better understand the power of audio in its many incarnations.

“Audacy is a leading national publisher with a focus on audio content,” Peysakhov explained, and has existed for over 50 years as a pioneer in FM radio. About three and a half years ago, Entercom and CBS Radio merged and a few months ago that merged company was renamed Audacy which consists of all facets of their audio business, “including our B2B media company and B2C brands.”

Total Audience Amplifies Study

Audacy’s Total Audience study was designed to offer advertisers insights into how to best meet their marketing goals by examining the synergies between the audio formats. The study examined the dynamics of digital audio and over-the-air radio when advertising messages are run on both platforms. “Do they work better together? Is there any sort of synergy to running digital and traditional radio?” he asked. These are important questions.

“A lot of times advertisers tend to fall into one of the two buckets. They have either been on the radio for many, many years and love it. But they might be a little nervous or skittish about digital audio because it feels different. Then there are marketers that are newer, born in the digital age, direct response marketers who love the digital stuff but they are worried about over-the-air. It’s funny because that distinction is really a marketing distinction. It is not a consumer distinction,” he noted. To a consumer, it is all audio and very fluid and as such, there is no reason that these two distinct formats cannot work together to drive a cogent call to action.

For marketers with these clear distinctions, it was important to understand the total audience of audio to better understand the optimal mix of audio formats from digital to over-the-air to podcasts and everything else.

Study Takeaways

Peysakhov and his team examined those time periods where digital audio advertising was running alongside over-the-air advertising and times when digital ran on its own, “and then we compared these two periods across different campaigns and we saw a very clear signal, pretty much without exception across all campaigns that the digital audio worked much harder when over-the-air was present. Digital in itself was converting at a much higher rate driving people to the website or to make a purchase,” when you are also messaging on over-the-air, he revealed.

There is considerable data available to help form insights. According to Peysakhov, the study used digital attribution that included traffic, conversion, “pixal tags that captures when the consumer makes a purchase or does some sort of low funnel transaction. We also pick up some sort of order ID … and purchase value for ROI calculation.”

The conclusions were impressive. “What we saw was the amount of traffic, the total amount of visitation to the site after exposure to an ad doubled when over-the-air was present and lower funnel conversion was about fifty percent stronger,” he revealed, demonstrating the stronger synergies to spur a call-to-action when both formats are used simultaneously.

Peysakhov added that, “one of the biggest surprises was how consistent the impact was. It was pretty much across the board where any time you had digital advertising running you add that over-the-air layer and digital works harder. It was universal across industries.”

Impact of the Pandemic

At a time when most media experienced a reset moment during the pandemic, one media form didn’t miss a beat. Audio, especially streaming digital and podcasting, continued to offer fresh content to a home-bound audience. What Peysakhov found was that, “while consumption habits of our listeners changed (during the pandemic) because of less commuting, we found that the total consumption of audio just became different. The composition became different.” He noted that, “We saw a huge spike in smart speaker audio. It was already growing and was already a large part of our listenership. It was relegated to the car for many years. But with smart speakers we’ve been saying that radio is back in the home and it just jumped.”

Interestingly, “There was actually an initial dip in podcast listening but it picked right back up. For listeners, the backlog of shows filled up and listeners found time for those shows,” doing household based activities. “I used to listen while I was commuting but now I listen to the shows while I am washing the dishes.”

Advertiser Reaction

As far as advertisers are concerned, the reaction to the study results, “has been very positive. It has led to a lot of conversations that help break down the wall. I think that a lot of advertisers mentally bucket those channels separately – a digital bucket versus over-the-air budget. Instead of thinking digital and traditional, think audio. Audio is an incredibly powerful medium,” he concluded.

 

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

 

 

Measuring The Power of Spoken Word Audio. An Interview with Edison Research’s Megan Lazovick

Audio has dramatically changed since the early days of radio. While we were once bound by schedules and limited subjects, there is now a dizzying array of choices that can be enjoyed wherever and whenever we want. Audio goes beyond music to what we call Spoken Word Audio which, according to Megan Lazovick, Vice President of Edison Research, “is broader than podcasting. It is news, sports, talk and personality and audio books. And sports can be play by play or sports talk.”

Lazovick knows spoken word audio well. Her company has recently released a comprehensive study on behalf of NPR on major trends and opportunities in the medium.

Methodology

The Spoken Word Audio full report, “draws from three different studies,” explained Lazovick. The first is a quarterly diary Share of Ear study that has been fielded since 2014 of 4000 people age 14 and older that tracks amount of time people spend with audio through devices and location. Through this study, “we knew right away about the growth of spoken word audio.” The next step was doing a qualitative study. “We identified those people who are spending more time with spoken word audio with qualitative interviews. And then we followed up with an additional 1000 qualitative online interviews with listeners who are 18 years of age and older.” The result was a massive amount of data that had to be collected and analyzed.

The combination of both quantitative and qualitative datasets offered greater insights. “We knew the Share of Ear study gave us the ‘what’ – what people are doing. Then we wanted to understand the ‘why’, what are all the reasons why people would possibly do it. And then we took all of those ‘whys’ and put it back into a survey and that helped us quantify the ‘whys’,” she explained.

Major Takeaways

“The major takeaway from the study is that the time spent with Spoken Word Audio has increase 30% over the past six years and in just the last year it has grown by 8%,” she stated and added, “When we looked closely at who is listening more, we saw from that same (Share) data set, that the highest levels of growth were coming from women, African Americans, Latinos and the younger age group age 13 to 34.” Notably, as spoken word has been increasing, music share of listening has been decreasing, “almost 8% over six years.” She added that 75% of all Americans listen to Spoken Word Audio each month with 43% tuning in daily.

I was curious to know if there were any surprises in the results for this somewhat unusual year. Lazovick paused and then noted that this year, in addition to historical advantages of convenience and multi-tasking capabilities, the standout reasons for increased consumption included personal growth, the availability of better content and a need to improve mental health.

In particular, she added, “Honestly, while it shouldn’t be too surprising, given that NPR has been focusing on reaching diverse audiences, I was impressed by the large gains among African American and Latino listeners.” These audiences gravitated to topics that include Identity and Religion and the reasons they gave for increasing their consumption was, she explained, “it’s easier to find content, it’s made for people like you, it makes you feel more connected.” Possibly as a sign of the stressful time we are in, “Mental health was among the top three reasons for (increased listening) among Hispanics and African Americans,” she added.

There were also significant differences between men and women. “Traditionally men have been spending more time with spoken word audio and that is still true today. But the gap is closing and there is a bigger gain in women. It is also true with young people with bigger gains this year,” she stated.

Looking Forward From an Unusual Year

Is this an outlier year? The pandemic has certainly impacted aspects of the study, including the methodology. “We typically conduct qualitative interviews in person and we had to pivot a little bit. We planned to do this study and then the pandemic happened so we decided to conduct zoom interviews,” she explained, “and that turned out to be a really great experience, actually.” Being able to place respondents within their home settings added context to their answers. “And of course, we saw changes in the data too,” she added. “We were able to see the shift in listening patterns through the Covid-19 disruption. Forty percent of spoken word audio listeners age 13 years and older say they are listening to more since quarantine restrictions.”

Despite the unusual nature of today’s media environment, Lazovick believes that this year’s study is predictive of the future. “One of my favorite things about spoken word audio is that people are finding content that appeals directly to them and the amount of material out there is so vast that if you are willing to look, you are going to find something that’s meaningful to you. I think more and more people are figuring that out,” she concluded.

This article first apeeared in www.MediaVillage.com

 

Podcasting Delivers a Highly Engaged, Youthful, Diverse Audience

Podcasting is a major force at work in audio; one that shows no signs of slowing down as it gains steam among the masses.  Everyone is talking about it.  With the recent announcement of the expansion of the podcasting portfolio at Vox Media, and all the announcements coming out of the IAB Podcast Upfront 2018, podcasting is on the verge of a breakout.  Audio isn’t just alive and well, it’s thriving and garnering major attention from content creators and advertisers.

What are they finding so attractive about podcasting?  It starts with the audience.  Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X, each desirable consumer targets, are seeing greater podcast use, attention and engagement than ever before.  Westwood One’s recent Audioscape 2018 report, featuring data primarily from Edison Research’s Share of Ear study found generational and behavioral podcast trends that should make advertisers pay particular attention.

According to Edison’s Infinite Dial 2018, podcast listening by all adults is on the rise.  One in four Americans listened to a podcast in the past month, and the growth has been exponential from 9% of the population in 2008 to 26% in 2018.  “Podcasting has been around for over 15 years, but the medium is seeing a surge in interest not just from listeners but from content creators and advertisers,” said Suzanne Grimes, President, Westwood One and Executive Vice President of Marketing, Cumulus Media.  “We need to better understand the podcast listener, and that’s why Westwood One Podcast Network is now focused on developing the kind of actionable insights found in the Audioscape report.”

How this audience of listeners breaks down by demographics, behaviors, purchasing and affinities is especially interesting.  Here are the takeaways:

Great Demographics
Podcast listening is young.  In the past four years, the percentage of persons 12-24 who listen to podcasts grew +50% while 25- to 54-year-olds grew +88%.  Almost one third of both age groups listen to a podcast in the average month.  This assures future growth for the format with generations that are consistently consuming media wherever and whenever they want.  Notably, the median age of podcast listeners overall is 34 compared to AM/FM radio listeners (46, according to Edison Research) and ABC/NBC/CBS viewers (56, according to GfK, MRI).


Podcasting audiences are also more diverse and female.  Twelve percent of women 18-34 listen to podcasts daily, growing +25% year-to-year, compared to 19% of men 18-34 (+11%).  African American 18-34 listeners (12%) grew +21%.

These listeners have more money to spend compared to total U.S. audio listeners as illustrated in high household income $50k+ (69% vs 55%).  They are also better educated (some college or graduated college 59% vs 54%) and are more likely to be employed (work full or part time 68% vs 51%).


Audio Centric Fans with Wide Interests
Digital audio (including podcasts) is attracting an engaged audience because it can travel with the consumer.  According to a recent IAB article, the multiple touchpoints along the consumer journey is one of the perks of digital audio.  “From waking up, going to the gym, commuting; at work, home or in social settings, digital audio is present,” the article explains.

That makes perfect sense when looking at podcast listeners.  They are avid fans of audio, spending 42% more time with audio daily than average listeners.  They spend the most time with podcasts (28%) followed by AM/FM radio (25%) and streaming (14%).

The range of interests among this audience is especially interesting.  Not only are they music fans, they are also heavy consumers of spoken word audio from news to personalities.  In fact, among podcast listeners, the share of time spent listening to talk/personalities has been growing quarter to quarter.

Big Spenders and Higher Engagement
Advertisers of all kinds will find a range of potential customers within the podcast audience.  According to GfK MRI, podcast listeners are more likely to purchase a range of products such as services from cell phones (227 index), camping equipment (162), sports clothing (159) and fine dining (157) to foreign vacations (151), video games (144), baby furniture and equipment (144).  For advertisers, this indicates a vibrant, youthful lifestyle among consumers making podcasting a part of their go-to media choices.

There is also a level of focus among podcast listeners that enables advertisers to make an impact.  IAB research shows 71% of podcast listeners report a high level of concentration; close to checking for news (76%) and weather (74%) and much higher than those watching shows and episodes (62%) or posting on social media (53%).  Notably, reported concentration with podcasts is more than 1.5 times the concentration on social media, which is such a personal interaction.

There is also higher engagement among podcasting (76%), close to news and weather levels (both 79%) and ahead of watching shows and episodes (56%) and posting on social media (50%).  While they seek a variety of experiences in their media choices, podcasting is the only format where learning and entertainment co-exist.

Interest from Advertisers Is Growing
Advertising on podcasts is poised to explode.  Investments in the format among marketers and agencies is now being discussed by 70% of those executives polled (up from 41% two-and-a-half-years ago) and 43% are considering investing within the next six months (up from 18%), according to a Westwood One commissioned study from Advertiser Perceptions.  Activation is growing, too.  Currently 32% of brands and agencies reported that they currently advertise in podcasts (up from 15%) and 36% will definitely advertise in the next six months (up from 10%).

“As important as it is to understand the consumer, for Westwood One it is equally as important to fully grasp advertiser sentiment,” said Grimes.  “The Advertiser Perceptions data included in this report is valuable.  We want to develop content that speaks to the listener, while at the same time piques the interest of media decision makers thinking about investing in podcasts.”

Advertisers need two things to make an impact: an audience comprised of their target demographic and a means of connecting with them on a one-to-one basis.  Westwood One’s Audioscape 2018 report makes it clear that podcasting provides both.  Not only has the medium tapped into a rich vein of young, upscale listeners, it also offers advertisers an opportunity to gain greater impact with their messaging among a group that is highly engaged.  Podcasting is where audio is evolving.  For maximum impact, advertisers and content creators should continue to evolve along with it.

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

Ad Week 2017: Communication Is Shifting from Words to Images to Sound

It is hard to wrap your head around the myriad events associated with Advertising Week.  This year the excitement ratcheted up for all things technology, specifically augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and especially audio communication.  All these efforts are currently impacting and will continue to impact the media industry, placing strains on traditional business models and enabling new cutting-edge companies.  But a simple overview of all these technological bells and whistles belies some crucial brand and media oriented trends on consumer behavior. Here are some takeaways:

Communication is Changing from Words to Images
Just like the early cave paintings, images today are taking on a major form of communication and storytelling.  We are moving from the word to the image to express ourselves in the forms of photos, videos and emojis.  In fact, according to Lydia Daley, Senior Vice President Social Media and Branded Content Strategy, Viacom, "Visual imaging is currently the major form of Millennial communication."  Millennials value experiences over material things and are seeking authenticity in their interactions with brands.  It is simply not enough to talk the talk.  Brands need to demonstrate that they are good citizens with a compelling story.

Audio Is Not Only Not Dead, It Is Poised to Rule
As technology advances and households continue to adopt voice activated appliances, audio is slated to become even more popular as a way to communicate.  Just as Millennials are gravitating toward images, Gen Z is moving to audio.  Why bother searching the Internet when you can simply request Alexa to find the content for you?  "Podcasts will explode," as part of this audio-ification of communication, said Susan Panico, Senior Vice President, Strategic Solutions, Pandora.  Marketers will have to consider how they can best leverage podcasts and other audio formats to reaffirm their branding and best reach their consumers.

Gina Garrubbo (pictured at top left), President and CEO, National Public Media, emphasized the importance of what she termed “host driven authenticity” as an essential ingredient in both the strong connection that listeners have for audio content and in turn the efficacy of program advertising.

Data Buzz Continues
Data and its related topics of measurement, attribution and blockchain technology were discussed at many panels because, as the old saying goes, if you can't measure it, you can't monetize it.  Simulmedia's CEO and Founder Dave Morgan believes that "the biggest advancements in advertising over the next two years will happen in measurement and attribution."  This is already happening "as advancements in matching media exposures and purchase data at real scale" are leading to "real ROI analysis at a tactical, per campaign level," he said.

But there is still some trepidation concerning data quality.  "Advertisers can buy an incredible array of very precise customer targets now, but no one really knows what they are buying," noted Scott McDonald, President and CEO of the ARF.  "We need much better standards around data quality to provide better guidance to the market.

"An unambiguous rating system that can offer an independent 'grade' on the quality of data sold for ad targeting," might be possible in the next two years, he optimistically added.

Viewing Patterns are Evolving
According to Cindy Davis, Executive Vice President, Consumer Experience, Disney | ABC Television Group, the multi-platform environment is evolving into a new way for families to co-view.  Her department launched a new research study called "Togetherish" that examines the evolving way that households watch, share and engage with content.  "Consumers are changing very rapidly," she noted.  "We must understand what viewers want and what motivates them.  We want to know where viewing is going across devices and platforms."

What the study revealed is that there are eight types of households each with their own viewing dynamic.  "All types watch over 20 hours per week and all types find value in ad-supported content," Davis explained.  While 57% of all of these homes watch TV alone, this is deceiving.  Because of the plethora of devices, no one really watches totally alone anymore.  In fact, of that 57%, 21% are actually communicating with others virtually while viewing, leading to the term convergent viewing.  "Convergent viewing heightens engagement," Davis noted.  "They watch virtually together. They watch more deeply and feel deeply connected to characters on an emotional level.  We also see higher brand metrics across the board with convergent-viewed shows."

This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com