For those who haven’t heard, Spotify recently announced a podcast ads marketplace.
Their official blog stated, “over the last year, Spotify has made significant moves to modernize audio advertising. From the launch of Streaming Ad Insertion to the expansion of our self-serve ad platform, Ad Studio, to the acquisition of Megaphone, we’re committed to ensuring this industry reaches its full potential.
“Today, we announced an exciting leap forward for audio advertising, creating a path for creators to earn more for their work while delivering greater impact for advertisers.”
Their announcement couldn’t have come at a better time. As people worldwide continue to deal with life under quarantine, they’ve turned to digital companionship. In 2020 alone, over 155 million people listened to a podcast each week. Data shows that number remaining stable as well. Podcasts enjoy an average 7-week retention rate of 55%.
So, did video really kill the radio star? Nope! It looks like radio stars are still alive and kicking. They’ve just passed the torch to their younger, hipper counterparts.
So, what kind of ad agency would we be if we didn’t bring you some more info on why you might want to consider hopping on the audio advertising train?
1. Podcasts Are On The Up and Up
Every Tom, Dick, and Harry has a podcast (and they’re often working together). Podcasts are so common that they’re starting to replace classic cars as the new “in vogue” midlife crisis activity.
We think that’s great! The popularity has done a lot of work to legitimize Podcasts as a viable source of entertainment. Listeners get to connect with Podcast hosts in a surprisingly intimate way as they listen in on friendly banter, or get sucked into urban legends, business success stories, lengthy interviews, and D&D adventures.
This relationship has made podcasts so popular that, according to eMarketer, Podcast listeners in the U.S. are engaging more with podcasts than they are with games, video, and social media.
2. Audio Advertisements for Podcasts are Easy to Run
So back to Spotify. As one of the largest podcast hosting services globally, their new audio advertising marketplace allows pre-recorded ads to be run in the middle of your (or your customer’s) favorite podcasts.
To tap into the latent potential of podcast advertising, you used to have to “know a guy.” You would have to reach out to a creator directly or wait for them to reach out to you. You wouldn’t have much control over the voice the creator used to endorse your product, etc… Podcast advertising was just a challenging world to enter. Also known as a “crapshoot.”
With Spotify’s new service, the Spotify Audience Network, pretty much anyone can get their product onto the most popular podcasts—all you need is money to spend.
Spotify’s move will revolutionize the whole ecosystem, and we suggest you hop on their train before it leaves the station.
3. Podcast Ads Build Trust
More than any other medium, the presenter’s likeability determines the success of a podcast. If the host can build a following of like-minded fans, then they’re bound for radio stardom.
The trust listeners have toward their favorite presenters naturally extends to the advertisers who are running ads on their favorite shows via proxy. So, if you make a genuine, focused ad and run it after or before the host starts talking, then you’ll be earning some serious social clout.
The next step is a direct endorsement. Once you figure out a little bit about what your demographic looks like in the Spotify ad space, you can start buying direct podcast ad reads from your best-performing presenters.
4. Podcast Ads Aren’t Affected by AdBlockers or Click Farms
Tens of thousands in ad spend is wasted each year because adblockers prevent your ad from showing, and click farms cause false conversions.
Audio advertising, like Spotify has proposed, is new and not affected by adblockers. Even better, click farms have a more challenging time operating in a mobile app.
According to Statista, the yearly cost of adblocking was close to $12.12 billion in 2020. That’s up from $3.89 billion in 2016.
If you care about brand awareness (and about not wasting money), you should care about podcast advertising.
We’re On Board, Are You?
We’ve spent a decade polishing voice-overs and working with audio to make our videos pop. After all, sound and audio design is the secret sauce you need to add excitement, build drama, and sell.
Want to make an audio ad to take advantage of Spotify’s new network? We want to work with you, so reach out and start talking to us now about how you can use podcast ads to market your business.