Advancing Brand Safety in Podcast Advertising

From March 26th – 29th, AdsWizz took on a key sponsorship role at Podcast Movement Evolutions 2024. Podcast Movement Evolutions is the leading conference brand for podcasters and industry experts, aimed at fostering growth in individual shows, the podcasting community, and the industry. 

Our private meeting space served as a hub for insightful discussions, highlighting our commitment to elevating podcast advertising through our cutting-edge technology solutions.

AdsWizz Technology Spotlighted at Podcast Movement Evolutions

Targeted Podcast Advertising Solutions

Our targeted podcast advertising solutions offer a wide range of premium and niche podcasts through partnerships with top publishers, enabling broad reach and precise targeting for advertisers with features like automated host-read ads and second-screen retargeting. For example, AdsWizz’s Predictive Audiences, a cookie-free targeting capability, utilizes podcast content consumption to identify over 300 audience personas, ensuring ads connect with the intended audience.

Brand Safety Solutions

AdsWizz enhances brand safety by providing advertisers control over ad placements to match suitable content and audiences. This technology ensures ads align with audience interests and brand values using advanced tools to analyze podcast content for relevant keywords, topics, and sentiments. The platform integrates Comscore data for precision and has partnered with HUMAN Security for Invalid Traffic Filtering (IVT), preventing ad fraud by ensuring ads reach real people, protecting investment, and optimizing ROI.

“At Podcast Movement Evolutions, building buyers trust and balancing brand suitability were top of mind for presenters and attendees. Podcasters understand that these are no longer nice to haves, but rather table stakes for a show or network to grow and succeed in today’s modern podcast ecosystem.”

-Justine Benjamin, Head of Global Marketing

The Power of Context: Brand Safety, Measurement, and Verification in Podcasting

Our very own Maria Breza joined industry leaders for a panel to discuss how the industry can bring more transparency to podcasting with brand safety and suitability verification solutions and, with them, help bring the audio ad marketplace into parity with video and display.

Panelists included:

• Bryan Barletta – Partner at Sounds Profitable (Moderator)
• Caleb Mansfield – VP, Partner Success at ArtsAI
• Tamara Zubatiy – Co-Founder and CEO at Barometer
• Maria Breza – VP of Ad Quality Measurement & Audience Data Operations at AdsWizz and SiriusXM Media

Top Takeaways from the Panel

Opportunity Gap in Podcast Advertising

Although podcasting accounts for 31% of media consumption, it attracts less than 9% of advertising dollars, revealing a vast area for expansion. Our industry should frame this discrepancy not as a grievance but as a pivotal opportunity for strategic investment.

From Show Sponsorships to Sophisticated Audience Targeting

The podcast advertising industry faces scalability and brand safety challenges. Large brands are moving towards audience-based buying rather than specific show sponsorships, necessitating content verification for safety. This shift toward advanced audience targeting leverages cutting-edge content analysis tools and integrates CRM tools for precise targeting, moving beyond traditional sponsorships toward scalable and efficient advertising strategies.

Nuances of Brand Safety and Brand Suitability

The panelists differentiated between brand safety (content unsuitable for any advertiser) and brand suitability (content that may or may not align with specific advertiser preferences), underscoring the importance of tools and standards that allow for nuanced content alignment and advertiser-specific targeting.

Real-Time Verification and Campaign Adjustment

The discussion highlighted the critical role of real-time data in making campaign adjustments, underscoring that instant feedback mechanisms allow advertisers to refine their strategies according to performance metrics and content suitability, fostering a more dynamic and effective approach to podcast advertising.

Maria Breza on the Evolving Issue of Brand Safety and Content Suitability

“Part of the pleasure of podcasting is feeling like you’re having a conversation with a friend instead of consuming mass-produced content. It is a powerful environment for an advertiser to meet the consumer with their message. But if the advertiser insists on having perfectly clean content with no profanity of any kind, they’re really cutting off a whole bunch of reach. So my question to them would be: have you truly thought about the podcast medium, and is that what you want to be doing? It comes up a lot as well with true crime and violence. So many brands often say no violence, no guns, no arms, no ammunition…and then they don’t run on any true crime, and that may not have been their intent..”

Looking Ahead

Podcast Movement Evolutions 2024 was an exceptional opportunity that allowed us to deepen our connections within the podcasting community and further empower brands to succeed in their podcast advertising endeavors.

Did you miss us at Podcast Movement Evolutions? Contact us today to learn more about our offerings or to schedule a meeting with our team. 

The post Podcast Movement Evolutions 2024 Recap appeared first on AdsWizz.

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The AdsWizz team started the new year with a bang at CES 2024 with an exclusive meeting space within the luxurious Sky Suites at ARIA Resort & Casino Hotel, where we showcased our innovative solutions shaping the audio advertising landscape.

“At CES, I observed a compelling trend where marketers and agencies are realizing the changing landscape of media allocation, sparking crucial discussions on integrating audio into the broader media mix. The role of audio is expanding continuously, particularly in addressing critical topics like attribution, privacy, and automation. Drawing parallels with historical shifts, such as the transition from time spent online to time spent in mobile/app environments, emphasizes the urgency and opportunity to address the current shortfall in media spend allocated to audio. As an industry, we must persist in finding innovative solutions to bridge this gap in the dynamically evolving audio advertising landscape.”

 

-Brian Gilbert, Vice President, Programmatic Operations 

AdsWizz Audio Advertising Solutions Featured at CES 2024

Mood Targeting

AdsWizz’s new privacy-focused contextual solution creates intimate connections with audiences by strategically placing ads within the listener’s context. It targets individuals enjoying mood-specific music, allowing marketers to craft impactful experiences in Content Mood segments like Love, Relaxed, Soothing, Angsty, Celebratory, Chill, Energetic, Focused, and Happy. These segments are precisely assigned to songs through a meticulous process involving machine learning and human analysis.

Multicultural Engagement in Digital Audio

With a rising trend in digital audio consumption among multicultural audiences, brands can tap into a $3.2 trillion spending power. AdsWizz’s Custom Audience Segments can be leveraged for large-scale engagement with enthusiastic, diverse listeners in the booming digital audio space.

• Enhanced Targeting with AudioMatic – Reaches valuable, highly engaged audiences by Geo, Content Language (Spanish), Music Genre (Latin, Hip Hop, Reggae), Podcast Genre (Culture & Society), and Behavioral Targeting.
• Predictive Audiences for Precise Targeting – Innovative cookie-free podcast feature reaching 300+ audience personas based on real content consumption, with segment selection options like TV viewership, OTT consumption, and behaviors such as location, B2B, financial, and automotive data. It also facilitates targeting multicultural audiences, including Asians, Black/African-Americans, and Hispanics.

Brand Safety

While reaching the right audience may seem just a short ride away, the journey is not without its risks. Even the most effective ads can risk becoming entangled in fraudulent domains and negative topics. To navigate the audio landscape securely, AdsWizz offers brands dependable safeguards against potential hazards of harmful content.

• Brand Suitability by Comscore – Surpasses basic keyword blocking, ensuring risk mitigation without compromising scale. Powered by AdsWizz AI Transcription Technology, it categorizes podcast episodes for brand suitability, offering a comprehensive safety map.
• IVT Filtering for Marketplace Security – AdsWizz has bolstered the security of its global Audio Marketplace with an additional layer of protection aimed at preventing invalid traffic. Utilizing the latest technologies from Human Security, this proactive solution safeguards investments, saving you time, money, and effort while optimizing campaign results.
  

“Our industry is continuously pushing itself forward in transparency and measurement spaces. At CES, numerous brands expressed the need for features like show-level reporting in the DSP and programmatically supported brand suitability filters in podcasts – all of which are now a reality. We are thrilled about the anticipated growth in podcast advertising this year, and our commitment to these advancements underscores our dedication to providing comprehensive solutions. AdsWizz partners, like global media measurement and analytics leader, Comscore, are now seamlessly integrated into our platform to support the specific needs of brands. Additionally, AdsWizz is actively investing in attribution to ensure that brands can effectively measure their omnichannel lower-funnel efforts when leveraging audio ads.”

 

–Robyn Meyers, Vice President, Programmatic and Marketplace Partnerships

Automated Host-Read Ads

Combines the distinctive benefits of host-read advertising with robust audience targeting, reporting, innovation, and control inherent in programmatic advertising. This scalable podcast solution enables brands to launch a script straight from the AdsWizz platform, seamlessly deliver it across multiple podcasts, and reach millions of listeners effortlessly.

Podcast Contextual Targeting

Utilizes speech-to-text transcription technology to enhance transparency in podcast content for advertisers. Podcast Contextual Targeting goes beyond conventional parameters by delving into the core strength of podcasts—their content. Furthermore, Comscore’s Predictive Audiences, in partnership with AdsWizz AI Transcription Technology, allows advertisers to develop privacy-forward and future-proof audience targeting on podcasts.

Forging Ahead – 2024 and Beyond

At CES, AdsWizz demonstrated an unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of audio advertising, and we will remain steadfast in our dedication to advancing technological innovation in 2024 and beyond.

“This year at CES, I observed technology providers, data providers, and audio publishers working behind the scenes to meet the market demand for solutions related to audience IDs. These solutions are designed to be cookieless and ID-less, emphasizing a significant reliance on probabilistic data to provide buyers with the necessary data to run successful campaigns in the audio space, capitalizing on its inherent advantages. The advantage lies in the close connection between audio content and specific audiences. It is crucial to delve into podcast content that speaks about the audience or leans into the music genre, which also reflects the audience. Utilizing this approach facilitates the provision of audience identifiers in a privacy-friendly manner. This objective is number one on many people’s lists, and it’s great to see collaboration among industry players to deliver robust solutions that will make a substantial difference this year.”

 

-Justine Benjamin, Head of Global Marketing

If you missed us at CES 2024 but want to know more about our audio advertising technology solutions, contact us now!

The post CES 2024 Recap appeared first on AdsWizz.

In 2022, a Mediaocean report surveyed over 600 leaders in media providers, advertising agencies, and tech companies. It revealed that 40% of respondents anticipated an increase in brand safety concerns for 2023. Only a small percentage expected these concerns to decrease, while slightly over half expected them to remain the same. Similarly, a recent report by IAB Europe revealed that 67% of advertisers stated brand safety was critical to their future success. 

AdsWizz understands these concerns and offers a wide set of Ad Quality Controls that meet the increasing demands of safeguarding brands and campaign requirements for both programmatic and direct sales, all while prioritizing the best listener experience.

These controls help publishers to uphold their brand promise, align with advertiser needs, and maintain listener trust. As programmatic audio expands, AdsWizz gives publishers the oversight required to keep their brands safe. But how? 

Block Unwanted Ads

Complete visibility into audio and display creatives is critical to our clients, so we offer a platform that enables publishers to maintain control over the quality of all programmatic and non-programmatic ads delivered to their listeners. Publishers can set granular blocking rules to avoid inappropriate advertisers or ad categories. Rules can be applied globally across your platform or targeted to specific shows. For example, block certain products, industries, or brand names from being served. Flexible blocking gives publishers oversight to protect their brand.

Ensure Access to Premium Inventory

Ad Quality Controls help publishers block specific advertisers and ad categories from particular supply sources. So, for instance, reserve a morning radio show for family-friendly advertisers only. Exclusive access rules ensure premium inventory matches the right ads and audience. They can also create exceptions and provide exclusive access to their targeted inventory, adding an extra layer of brand protection. Publishers can exercise greater scrutiny over IAB categories they might find questionable.

Accurate Inventory Forecasts

AdsWizz’s advanced Ad Quality rules also offer another crucial advantage, enabling accurate inventory forecasts based on Ad Quality rules. Blocked categories and advertisers are excluded from inventory predictions, helping publishers plan ad sales and provide transparency to buyers.

Frequency Capping

Improving the listener experience is a priority for AdsWizz. Frequency capping is a powerful tool for achieving this goal. Why? Because it limits ad repeats to enhance the listener’s experience. Capping reduces fatigue and balances ad demand across inventory.

Prioritize Your Brand’s Reputation by Integrating Ad Quality Controls

With AdsWizz’s Ad Quality Controls, audio publishers can align advertising with their brand promise. Advanced blocking, exclusive access, forecasting, pre-review, and capping provide the oversight needed to put their audience first in the growing audio advertising market.

• If you are an AdsWizz partner and want to learn more about Ad Quality Controls, please click here.
• If you are not an AdsWizz partner and would like to get in touch with us, please visit the Contact Us page.
  

by Jerome Camerlynck, Director of Product Management at AdsWizz

The post Enriching the Listener Experience with Ad Quality Controls appeared first on AdsWizz.

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.

Audio brand safety for publishers is particularly relevant to protect them from being associated with ads that could harm or negatively impact their reputations. For example, highly objectionable political ads in today’s polarized environment could damage publishers of all stripes. 

That said, when publishers arm themselves with the right technology and tools, they can implement audio brand safety more securely and efficiently.

Audio Brand Safety Tactics for Publishers

Manage IAB Categories

Publishers can define guidelines around IAB classifications by blocking, trusting, and untrusting a category for specific publishers or across all inventory.

Supervise Advertiser Domains

With an advertiser domain solution, publishers can oversee ads from undesirable domains at a detailed level, guaranteeing that a brand name stays protected.

Drive Listener Experience with Frequency Capping

Hearing the same type of ads can lead to a disruptive listening experience. With a frequency capping solution, publishers can specify multi-capping rules at a global tier or for each advertiser domain to provide the most suitable layer of protection. 

This is particularly important because publishers can set controversial topics like politics as untrusted and manually approve or reject all political ads within this category and even specific subcategories as untrusted if they want to apply brand guidelines at a more granular level.

In Closing

Audio brand safety has become an increasingly significant concern for publishers. Best practices and the right technology ensure publishers safeguard their reputations by setting clear measures and keeping brand-value top-of-mind.

Questions? Please visit the Contact Us page.

by Daniel Einhorn, Senior Manager, Content Marketing

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

Check out this byline by Garrison Dua, VP of Demand, North America!

Brand marketers and advertisers are seeing tremendous growth in podcasts globally and want to scale their investments, but they are increasingly concerned their messages could become associated with programs and content not aligned with their brands.

Today’s advertisers are operating in a market with more opportunities than ever to amplify their brand, but they also have greater expectations of certain guarantees, such as brand safety, for their coveted ad spend.

You can understand why when you look at the size of the podcast advertising market: eMarketer predicts that US marketers will spend nearly $3 billion on podcast advertising by 2026, accounting for a third of all digital audio services ad spending.

The post How Can We Achieve Brand Safety In Podcasting? appeared first on AdsWizz.

AdsWizz has two exciting upcoming opportunities – to secure speaking panels at SXSW 2023 and a nomination for AdWeek's Reader's Choice "Best in Tech" Partner Awards. Cast a vote for your favorite Audio Advertising Technology provider, and help AdsWizz make waves.

 

About SXSW 2023

SXSW is one of the largest leading conferences in the tech, film, and music industries, attracting global professionals from around the globe to discover, learn, and network. This presents an exciting opportunity for AdsWizz, Simplecast, and SXM Media to stand front and center among a highly relevant and engaged audience. We submitted multiple panels for consideration, and winning panels will be based on the number of upvotes on SXSW’s PanelPicker platform. You can easily vote right now by clicking the links at lnk.bio/adswizz and casting your vote. Don’t forget to vote on SXM Media’s panels as well using their links which can be found here.

 

About AdWeek's Reader's Choice "Best in Tech" Partner Awards

AdsWizz has been nominated for AdWeek’s Reader’s Choice “Best in Tech” Partner Awards. AdsWizz has historically been recognized by leading publications in the industry, but this would be our first from AdWeek. The award serves to recognize the top advertising and marketing technology providers in the industry – a well-aligned award for AdsWizz. You can cast your vote on AdWeek’s website by signing up for free, and the great thing is, you can vote multiple times as long as your votes are 24 hours apart.

 

Chip in and cast your vote for AdsWizz, Simplecast, and SXM Media!

The post Vote for AdsWizz in Two Major Categories appeared first on AdsWizz.