Brands have been largely in the dark when it comes to understanding how audio is consumed and have been essentially "gambling" with their marketing budgets, according to Adobe.
At the Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, the software giant revealed how it has upped the level of audio insights for podcasts, streaming audio and digital books.
The new audio analytics means brands can better understand listeners by measuring if a listener finished the podcast or audiobook, if an ad was skipped, when drop-off is occurring and how errors like buffering impact the experience, regardless of if the audio was downloaded, or live streamed.
Brands can also measure audio content regardless of the device and if a podcast or audiobook is listened to across different devices.
"With a crowded marketplace and the ability to listen whenever and wherever, brands have been largely in the dark when it comes to understanding how audio is consumed," Adobe Analytics Cloud's senior director product marketing, Jeff Allen, said.
"Marketers have been essentially gambling with their budget."
Entertainment brands such as Spotify, Time Warner, Viacom, CBS Interactive and Pandora Adobe Analytics Cloud are all on board.
Allen, who said no other analytics solution gives access to this level of insights for podcasts, streaming audio and digital books, explained how audio comes with a multitude of challenges: high churn, increased competition with a rapidly expanding market size, multiple touchpoints and no way to accurately measure engagement both online and offline.
The new tools also mean brands can connect to second and third-party data sources to understand user behaviour across partner brands or to measure their audience's location, demographics or psychographics.
Adobe's AI and machine learning framework can also alert a brand when an anomaly is occurring, such as excessive buffering, and tracks the amount of time it takes between clicking play and the audio starting.
Adobe says brands can measure the ads that listeners have started and completed, if a dropout occurs, and where the audio ad "sweet spots" are within a piece of content.
It is also advancing tools related to the increase in connected cars to deliver in-car experiences. This includes personalised playlists, en route recommendations and audio ads. Brands can also be alerted instantly if an in-car voice interaction failed.
*AdNews traveled to the Adobe Summit as a guest of Adobe.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.