Digital audio advertising is predicted to grow significantly this year with 80% of media buyers having already bought streaming digital audio advertising and half planning to buy programmatic inventory, an IAB study has found.
The industry report, Digital Audio Advertising: State of the Nation, looked at how agencies and marketers are using different forms of audio advertising, including broadcast radio, DAB+, streaming digital audio and podcasts, as well as their plans for 2017.
It shows high levels of agency satisfaction with how well audio advertising meets objectives and it being cost effective. However, buyers want to see improvement in audience measurement systems and guidance in measuring effectiveness.
The most common objective of audio advertising is to raise brand awareness followed by support for promotions.
IAB CEO Vijay Solanki believes 2017 is an inflection point for audio in Australia.
“With over 12 million Australians now consuming music and other audio content on their devices every month, this is an increasingly important channel for marketers to reach consumers in a wide range of locations and moods,” Solanki says.
The study also provided evidence that podcasts are growing in popularity as a platform for advertising.
Podcast usage is expected to increase this year, with three in 10 respondents planning to trial podcast advertising on top of the 38% who have already incorporated it into their buys.
“The importance, seen in the strength and growth, of audio streaming is evident in these findings,” GroupM head of mobile Venessa Hunt says.
“With audio streaming in our pockets, consumers enable the opportunity to have a sound track to their lives all the time.
“The increase in accountability and measurement of these advertising environments, those brands without an audio streaming strategy will miss out on those moments in our lives. The cost of inaction will be felt as competitors take advantage of this space in a personal and highly targeted environment.”
It was commissioned by the IAB Audio Council in collaboration with Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) and carried out by independent research firm Hoop Group. It was sponsored by ARN, Eardrum, Nova, Pandora, Southern Cross Austereo and Spotify.
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