Our very own Rowan Hamill, Director of Business Development for the UK and IE, gave a presentation about the growth of digital audio in listening habits and advertising spending by conducting a comprehensive analysis, comparing digital audio with other platforms in data and measurement. In the context of Media 3.0, focusing on relevance, interactivity, and privacy, Rowan also emphasized how digital audio provided marketers with advanced technology for enhanced targeting and real-time interaction measurement via innovative ad formats.

Check out the breakdown of Rowan’s presentation below!

Digital Audio in a Media 3.0 World – A Future of Data, Targeting, Measurement, and Innovation

Meeting Audiences Where They Are

Rowan kicked things off by summarizing how modern technology has empowered advertisers to connect with their audiences in new and innovative ways. With tools like Comscore’s Brand Suitability, podcast contextual targeting, dynamic creative versioning, motion-activated ads, second-screen retargeting, automated host-read ads, and attribution pixels, advertisers can tailor their messages to meet audiences precisely where they are in their daily routines.

She then highlighted the effectiveness of audio advertising. Engaging audiences with high Long-Term Recall, better recall than social media, and higher intent to purchase, audio advertising offers a unique way to connect with consumers. Additionally, programmatic advertising in the audio space provides enhanced targeting, brand safety, and efficient buys, reducing waste.

Audio Consumption vs. Investment

Despite the increasing popularity of audio content, Rowan pointed out a significant discrepancy. While audio consumption is rising, audio advertising investment needs to catch up. She noted a 32% increase in podcast advertising investment year-over-year. However, she emphasized that there’s still tremendous untapped potential, with audio advertising accounting for only a fraction of the UK’s total digital advertising spend in 2022.

Dispelling Audio Advertising Myths

Rowan debunked several common myths about audio advertising:

• Myth 1: Audio is Only for Brand Awareness Campaigns – Audio actually drives results at every marketing funnel stage. Through a case study involving Mustard Insurance’s use of Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO), she showcased how personalized ads could affect brand awareness, favorability, website traffic, and purchase intent.
  

• Myth 2: You Can’t Track Audio Campaigns – Rowan countered the myth by presenting the Mazda case study, which utilized Audio Pixel and Second Screen Retargeting to drive brand awareness, recall, and consumer purchasing decisions.
  

• Myth 3: Podcasts Aren’t Brand-Safe – Modern podcast contextual targeting solutions, in fact, protect against invalid traffic and fraudulent opportunities. Solutions like Invalid Traffic (IVT) Filtering from HUMAN and Brand Suitability from Comscore ensure brand safety in the podcast space.
  

• Myth 4: Podcasts Can’t Scale – Rowan dispelled this myth by highlighting the existence of premium podcast marketplaces in top European regions. Advertisers can now target and forecast using various podcast content verticals, making scalability a reality.

Want to Learn More?

• Questions about digital audio or audio advertising? Visit our Contact Us page to connect with us.
• For access to Rowan’s presentation, click here.
  

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Advertisers who run on invalid inventory are paying for a service they are not actually receiving, which can result in a waste of resources and negatively impact their ROI. Being the leader in digital audio, AdsWizz knows the importance of staying ahead of these bots and has the tools and subject matter expertise to address the uniqueness of the audio environment. 

With invalid traffic filtering, we are taking proactive steps to build comprehensive safeguards to ensure our clients’ audio advertising campaigns are bot-free.

Invalid Traffic (IVT) Filtering on the Marketplace

Our clients expect to have their ads served to genuine human customers rather than bots or automated scripts. They want to buy with confidence and trust, knowing their campaign will be free of IVT.

To provide this confidence, AdsWizz partnered with Human Security, a Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited cybersecurity company that stops digital fraud across the buyer’s journey, to detect and mitigate IVT. The partnership involves integrating HUMAN’s Programmatic Ad Fraud Defense solution to provide pre-bid mitigation for marketplace inventory, enabling the SSP to prevent invalid opportunities from being presented to buyers while protecting working media dollars. 

The solution employs 2,500 dynamic network, device, and behavioral signals, parsing them through 350 technical, statistical, and machine-learning algorithms. These are regularly updated based on the traffic patterns HUMAN observes via AdsWizz and the internet. HUMAN’s validation loop marries pre and post-bid data to ensure accuracy by constantly strengthening detection to stay one step ahead of fraudsters.

General Controls and Inventory Quality Reviews 

Risky environments can be detrimental to audio investments. The AdsWizz Audio Marketplace, a digital exchange for advertisers and publishers to buy and sell audio advertising, is continuously curated to offset these risks. Along with automated filtering technologies, AdsWizz has transparent processes to vet, certify, and manage publishers with ongoing monitoring.

AdsWizz has implemented an inventory qualification process, allowing buyers to select from a large pool of premium streaming and podcast publishers. Our teams carefully qualify each publisher and perform advanced automated checks and technical verification on privacy and addressability. Following certification, ongoing marketplace monitoring gets carried out to ensure campaign normalcy.

Empowering Secure and Effective Digital Audio Advertising

Our platform and marketplace have brand safety capabilities that allow users to exclude specific audience categories and topics. This provides better control over the path of their ads. Our blocklisting powers can also easily intercept fraudulent domains, malicious IPs, and user agents. For Second Screen retargeting campaigns, we have integrated with various security partners to embed a blocklist of up to 40,000 domains. These URLs are frequently updated to ensure they catch the latest threats.

Recognized by the Trustworthy Accountability Group and awarded the TAG Certified Against Fraud Seal, we are deeply committed to combating fraud and invalid traffic by promoting greater transparency in the digital advertising supply chain.

As the world of digital audio advertising continues to grow, so do the challenges of combating IVT. Fortunately, AdsWizz is at the forefront of this battle, offering robust capabilities, including AI-driven resources to detect invalid traffic, verification of the “audibility” of audio ads, a continuously curated marketplace, advanced inventory qualification processes, and blocklisting tools. These measures help ensure that ad campaigns are effective, safe, and secure.

Stay Tuned for More AdsWizz Content!

• Follow our tech blog for more news about our products and solutions.
• Want to learn more about how to fight ad fraud? Check out A 4-Step Plan to Fight Ad Fraud by Brendan Kelly, Director of Ad Quality Measurement at SXM Media.
• Visit the Contact Us page if you are not an AdsWizz partner and want to get in touch with us.

by Maria Breza

Vice President, Audience Data Operations & Ad Quality Measurement at SXM Media and AdsWizz

and

Vice President, Customer Success at AdsWizz

The post Combating the Threat of Fraud in Digital Audio with Invalid Traffic Filtering appeared first on AdsWizz.

What is Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI)?

Have you ever noticed how the ads you get while streaming audio or listening to a podcast differ from what your friend hears? The reason: DAI lets brands deliver personalized ads to listeners based on data insights like their location, time of day, and even the weather.

DAI can swap out ads in real-time while listeners stream a podcast, one benefit being the same ads don’t deliver repeatedly. For downloaded podcasts, dynamic ad insertion can also be a great way to make ads more relevant to the listener and create data-rich targeted ads, causing a massive difference in how ads resonate with consumers. And podcasts enable advertisers to implement highly targeted and contextually relevant strategies, leveraging specific targeting parameters, such as location, weather, time of day, and more, to fine-tune their advertising efforts.

DAI also provides a wealth of analytics that offer valuable insights into ad performance and audience engagement allowing for informed decision-making and optimization of ad campaigns. In comparison, traditional download-based models need more real-time analytics and detailed performance data, making tracking ad effectiveness and optimizing targeting strategies harder.

Why DAI is a Game-Changer

Advertisers increasingly leverage DAI to deliver seamless and automated digital ads, which has helped podcasting become one of the fastest-growing digital media channels. This growth is due to the increased revenue generated by targeting via DAI. The figures are clear: podcast ad revenue in the US exceeded $1 billion for the first time in 2021, and DAI played a significant role in that growth. In fact, over the past two years, DAI has seen remarkable growth, now accounting for 84% of ad revenue, nearly doubling its market share. DAI’s widespread adoption substantially benefits advertisers, offering increased scale, flexibility, and targetability in their advertising campaigns. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) predicts that podcast ad revenue will continue to grow, reaching over $4 billion by 2024.

But DAI’s potential extends far beyond podcasts. Audio consumption is rapidly rising, with an impressive nine out of ten US radio listeners now streaming AM/FM radio content. That’s a whopping fifteen thousand radio stations now available on streaming platforms! And the revenue projections for the music streaming market are nothing to put on mute either, with a staggering $25.71 billion expected in 2023. DAI is poised to be a key player in the future of audio content consumption, too.

Unlocking the Benefits of DAI

With DAI, brands can deliver revenue-generating content across various streaming devices. Plus, DAI enables targeting ads to specific criteria, making them more relevant and memorable for listeners and improving the listening experience by eliminating those annoying gaps and buffering that can happen between the content and ads. DAI also provides data-focused targeting, which can lead to better consumer interactions with advertisers and brands. And let’s not forget about monetizing back-catalog podcast episodes—this is essential because new listeners tend to go back and binge a podcast’s older content. 

DAI is essential for scalable podcasting, revenue growth, and seamless listening. It enables smaller publishers to diversify monetization, access more advertisers, and generate revenue comparable to larger publishers. DAI works alongside the baked-in model, repurposing inventory for ad delivery. It offers real-time ad performance insights, empowering advertisers to optimize campaigns. A/B testing of ad formats, placements, and messaging enhances effectiveness. With various vendors offering solutions, DAI has matured as a technology, providing advertisers with a broad range of options.

The Case for DAI for Podcasts and Streaming

One of the most compelling attributes of DAI is that ads can change over time, so listeners will only hear timely and relevant ads, meaning no more hearing about offers that have already expired, events that have already happened, or outdated information and techniques. 

DAI also gives creators and advertisers more control. Podcast creators have more oversight in the listening experience, even long after publishing an episode. As for advertisers, DAI offers them the benefits of running host-read ads but with much more flexibility around audience targeting, campaign timing, and impression delivery, making them perfect for time-based events, news updates, or anything else designed to drive tune-in.

What Makes DAI So Different from Standard Scheduling?

Ads served via an ad server can be customized based on variables such as demographics, or historical listening, providing a more personalized experience than standard scheduling. This customization resembles a tailor-made suit, while traditional scheduling resembles a store-bought one. In a recent campaign with Mustard, a car insurance comparison tool, dynamic creative versioning was implemented to enhance brand awareness and favorability. The campaign targeted Mustard users in key UK locations, delivering tailored messaging based on age and location. The results showed significant improvements in awareness (+14ppt), relevance (+14ppt), and intent (+5ppt) among the targeted audience, with a substantial increase in favorability and purchase intent for all listeners, highlighting the effectiveness of dynamically targeted creative in connecting with specific audiences.

What You Should Take from DAI

DAI is a game-changing technology that has revolutionized advertising on podcasts and streaming platforms. Its ability to deliver personalized, targeted ads benefits marketers, podcast producers, and streaming publishers. It enhances audience engagement, increases revenue, and caters to the evolving needs of the digital advertising ecosystem. 

How could your brand leverage the power of DAI?

Visit the Contact Us page if you want to get in touch with us to learn more about our DAI solutions, and don’t forget to follow our blog for more platform updates.

by Adrian Hospodar, Product Owner at SXM Media and AdsWizz

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The Future of Audio Europe 2023 – The Great Debate: The Number One Action That Will Ignite Audio

During the 45-minute panel, audio leaders Omar Oakes, Rak Patel, Michelle Sarpong, our very own Ollie Chadwick, and Jackie Lyons discussed the three steps to enhance audio’s presence on media plans by addressing key industry challenges. The conversation highlighted the opportunities and obstacles within the audio industry, setting the stage for future collaborations and advancements that would benefit media plans.

The topics covered encompassed simplifying and standardizing audio buying, cross-media measurement potential, programmatic trustworthiness in digital audio, discoverability in the streaming age, environmental and social impact considerations, the influence of the cost-of-living crisis, preserving broadcaster-audience relationships, transitioning to DAB for advertising sales and improved listener experience, consistent media spend decisions across Europe, and fostering industry growth.

The Future of Audio Europe 2023 – Brand Safety Considerations for Digital Audio

Ella Sagar from The Media Leader and our own Brieuc Verwilghen discussed strategies for building connections with loyal podcast listeners, emphasizing high-quality content, authenticity, and community-building. They also highlighted the importance of engaging with listeners to cultivate loyalty and strengthen the listener-host relationship.

Additionally, they outlined the need for brands to navigate the digital audio landscape confidently, promoting products while maintaining brand safety and integrity. By prioritizing transparency, authenticity, accountability for content, and partnering with creators whose values align with their target audience, brands can establish and maintain consumer trust, leveraging podcasting’s potential to reach a highly targeted audience.

Want to learn more about audio, podcasting, or brand safety? Visit the Contact Us page.

The post Insights From The Future of Audio Europe 2023 appeared first on AdsWizz.

One of the most innovative ways for brands to engage audiences is through the widespread consumer adoption of voice assistants.

• 62% of Americans 18+ use a voice assistant on any device, including smart speakers, smartphones, in-car systems, and more.
• 57% of US voice command users use voice commands daily. 
• This year (2022), it’s estimated that 142 million people in the US (42.1%) will use a voice assistant. By 2026, more than half of internet users in the US will utilize a voice assistant.

Voice Ads can transform how brands interact with people. Carefully crafted to immerse qualified leads, Voice Ads lift ad engagement and attention by delivering brand content to the right audience with more immersive yet organic interactions.

So, What Are Voice Ads?

Voice Ads are an interactive ad format that facilitates engagement with your audience by starting a conversation they would use to interact with their digital assistant or smart speaker.

A Voice Ad includes a portion that prompts the listener to utter a particular reply to trigger a specific action (e.g., “Want to find out more about our offer? Say ‘Yes’ after the beep to visit our website”). If a listener says any predefined set of words/phrases during a time interval (the silence period) after the beep, one of four actions will are triggered visit a website, buy a coupon, call a phone number or play the second part of the Voice Ad.

Voice Ads make it possible to engage in a direct conversation with the listener and to target messages according to several criteria, such as time of day, weather, and geographical area. This format creates a memorable experience for listeners and conveys an effective way for advertisers to address multiple advertising objectives.

Voice Interaction is gaining more traction and incorporating into the programmatic audio space. When a digital dialogue starts, a genuine individual relationship with the listeners allows them to choose what transpires next, be it an audio message with more info or a redirect to an offer’s landing page.

What are the Benefits of Voice Ads for Publishers?

Improve eCPM and Revenue

Increase eCPM by attracting more advertisers and brands with innovative ad experiences that shorten the path to conversion.

Safeguard the Listener Experience

Create a positive, personalized user listening experience, improving engagement and attention factors.

Measure and Optimize on a Single Platform

Monetize, measure, and optimize innovative ads on a unified platform with real-time reporting and forecasting.

Check Out This Voice Ad Sample

What Are Some Best Practices for Me and Advertising Partners?

Build a Clear Opening Statement and Concrete Call-To-Action For Audio Creative

A compelling voice ad opens on a theme that grabs the listener’s attention, introduces the problem, presents the solution, and ends with an irresistible call-to-action.

Prepare Listeners to Interact With Their Phones or Watches

Create expectations and do not deliver the entire creative until the listener’s interest has been confirmed (once they say “yes”). The listener controls the delivery of the Voice Ad or whether the ad will come to a trimmed stop.

Craft Your Voice Ads Campaign With Mobile Audiences in Mind

Voice Ads enhance audio ad interactivity and target audiences who interact with their mobile and wearable devices. Making creatives and call-to-action mobile-specific is critical to using the right tools.

Keep In Mind the Extended Configurable Listening Response Time and Input Words or Phrases

Listeners can start replying within the configurable response time window upon hearing a “beep” sound. The creative can contain a “beep” sound and a silence period (Fixed listening window) or not.

Trigger Call-To-Actions on the Supported Mobile Devices

Voice Ad interactions with mobile devices depend on the actions the listener can take as a result of a voice reply. Multiple words or phrases can be configured, separated by commas, and any of them will trigger the action if uttered. 

Use the “Place a Call” Action Thoughtfully

If a campaign guides listeners toward placing a call, keep in mind the ring will not be automatically set. The phone/watch voice reply will lead to a prefill of the number, and listeners will have the option to call or cancel. 

In Conclusion 

Whether publishers want to reach listeners on their favorite players, Voice Ads deliver the right messages to the right audiences with persuasive and relevant conversations through advanced tools and tech that enrich the audio experience. Improve interaction rates, engagement, and attention factors now!

• Click here if you are an AdsWizz partner and want to learn more about voice ads.
  
• Visit the Contact Us page if you are not an AdsWizz partner and want to get in touch with us.
  

by Daniel Einhorn, Senior Manager, Content Marketing

The post Voice Ads, a Primer for Publishers appeared first on AdsWizz.

On Monday, October 17, and Tuesday, October 18, 2022, Programmatic I/O returned to New York City! AdsWizz joined the other data-driven programmatic leaders, publishers, advertisers, innovators, researchers, and analysts. The event hosted insightful presentations, informative panels, in-depth workshops, and invaluable networking for updates on privacy, the cookieless future, retail media, CTV trends, and much more.

The presence of AdsWizz at Programmatic I/O encompassed exclusive branding during breakfast and networking breaks, a Live Exchange Zone booth, and two AdExchanger Awards nominations.

AdsWizz Receives Two AdExchanger Awards

A special congratulations and thanks to our campaign partners at National Public Radio (NPR) and Carnival Cruise Lines for their partnerships!

Best Use Of Technology By A Publisher

NPR leverages AI Transcription Technology to Steer Brands Clear of Ukraine War Content

Innovation In Audio Advertising

Carnival Cruise Line Drives +24% Brand Awareness Uplift Correlating to On-site Conversions and Trip Bookings

Did You Miss AdsWizz at Programmatic IO New York? 

Want to see us at more upcoming events? Visit our Events page for more information.

We would also love to hear from you. Contact us!

 

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SCA has announced its agreement with AdsWizz to exclusively represent the ad inventory of select Stitcher and SiriusXM podcasts in Australia through SCA’s LiSTNR app and other podcast listening platforms.

AdsWizz’s audio advertising technology, combined with SCA’s media sales, is expected to streamline podcast inventory connections, making Stitcher and SiriusXM’s content more easily accessible to advertisers. Both Stitcher and AdsWizz are subsidiaries of Sirius XM Radio Inc.

 

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For audio advertisers, brand safety consists of strategies in streaming audio and podcasts that protect brands from toxic environments when advertising, saving their integrity and reputation. It works just like a guide that assures a brand’s ad reaches its destination at the right time. Brand Safety ensures that advertisers can attain more control, optimize their investments, and achieve more trust with audiences.

Brand Safety Tactics for Advertisers

Block Malicious Threats

Blocklisting capabilities easily thwart fraudulent domains, malicious IPs, and user agents on audio and second-screen retargeting. By incorporating a variety of security partners, brands can block less desirable domains to counter the latest fraudulent threats. 

Secure Audio Ads

When setting up new campaigns, brands can enable specific parameters to fend off harmful or unsuitable content. For example, building a tailored audio segment for each campaign and targeting away from particular genres, types of publishers, language, or inventory.

Fine-Tune the Advertising Journey

Brands can activate brand suitability protections that offer greater precision to determine what content is safe and contextually relevant. For instance, hate speech segments can be tweaked based on risk tolerance. High-risk averts actual acts of hate speech, while low-risk avoids educational content on the matter.

Build a Safety Map

To help get more scale and make it easier to find brand-safe, appropriate content, brands can utilize AI Transcription Technology to transcribe and categorize podcast episodes. This tool verifies all podcast content with Comscore to extract the contextual essence of each podcast – down to episode level – providing a unique pattern profile that is more accurate than simply identifying the overall topic of the episode.

Access Brand-Safe Premium Inventory

Brands can access technology that employs an inventory qualification process to select from a large pool of premium streaming and podcast publishers. For example, AdsWizz’s supply experts qualify each publisher and perform advanced automated checks and technical verification on privacy and addressability. Certification facilitates monitoring of publishers and AudioMatic (AdWizz’s digital audio demand-side platform) campaign health.

In Closing

Creating a unified, holistic approach to audio brand safety by leveraging the right technology solutions is essential to ensuring advertising messages are in the right places, contextually relevant, and up to the highest standards of excellence. Brands are responsible for building consumer trust and need to undergo these measures to secure their ad alignment with content that does right by consumer sentiment. These steps will allow brands safe harbor without compromising their reach and frequency goals.

Questions? Please visit the Contact Us page.

by Daniel Einhorn, Senior Manager, Content Marketing

The post Adsplaining Audio Brand Safety for Advertisers appeared first on AdsWizz.