BY Kathy Crosett
Are your clients spending enough on audio advertising? They may be convinced that video ads are the only way to capture consumer attention. But new research shows audio ads cost effectively drive revenue.
How does audio fare in the ad market?
Experts consistently contend that marketers are not investing enough in audio. Specifically, there’s an imbalance between the amount of time consumers spend with audio content and what marketers are willing to invest.
Around 21% of consumer media time is spent on audio. But marketers only allocate around 4.5% of their ad budgets to audio.
In our recent State of Media Sales survey, around 67% of radio sales managers noted their optimism for higher radio sales this year in the health care services sector. And around 77% expect they’ll see more revenue from home improvement services vendors. Those are just two verticals where you can sell more audio advertising this year.
What does the data say?
If your accounts are hesitating about spending more on audio advertising, show them the latest data. Researchers point out that audio ads often make a big impression on consumers.
This finding is based on consumer attentiveness. If consumers pay more attention to an ad and the content in a media format, they’ll be more likely to recall the product or service being touted.
In a listening-only situation, some studies show the audience as being more engaged than when they view content. This engagement was measured through physiological indicators like heart rate and body temperature.
Analysts point out, “Video narratives require less of the audience, resulting in passive engagement.” One attention measurement firm points out that on a scale of 1 to 100, Facebook scores 16.7. At the other end of the scale, YouTube scores 63. Streaming audio is not far behind at 44.7 and podcasts rank at 49.1.
Another attention measurement firm, Lumen, also studied the differences between audio and video advertising. In this study, analysts compared brand recall from ads and gauged the results against “Dentsu norms.”
Audio ads resulted in higher attention scores and lower costs per “attention” CPM than other formats. Specifically, they reported a typical podcast ad at $2.80 per CPM versus a display ad at $9.70.
The study’s authors also conclude that to get the same impact from $1,000 in audio ad spending, a marketer would need to invest over $2,600 on Facebook ads. These are important data points to share with your accounts who are considering audio.
Reaching the audio audience
Marketers can also improve their ROI on audio advertising by targeting consumers who are most likely to respond to these messages. Powersports retailers should add radio advertising to their media mix. Their target customers are more likely than average to notice radio ads.
In fact, AudienceSCAN survey data reveals that 32% of powersports vehicle shoppers listen to the radio between one and three hours a day. Comedy and sports talk are among the favorite programs for this audience.
Podcast ads can also deliver an effective ROI for your accounts. The Advertising Response data from AdMall indicates that real estate agents can benefit from these ads. Around 45% of house shoppers have taken action as a result of hearing a podcast ad in the past 30 days. Nearly 28% of this audience listens to between one and three hours of podcasts daily.
As your accounts design ads, remind them that the messaging remains critical in order to make an impact. House shoppers, for example, are motivated to purchase when messages help them feel successful, secure and proud.
The power of the B2B audience
If your accounts are trying to reach business decision-makers, audio advertising can deliver. The B2B BuyerSCAN data indicates that over 30% of senior business decision-makers regularly listen to podcasts related to their profession. And hearing ads on podcasts leads 52% of these audience members to further explore what they heard by doing an online search.
Remind your accounts about the importance of audio advertising. When you share audience data, they’ll have even more reason to buy media space from you.
Image by Gustavo Fring on Pexels.
