Schindler Parent > Blog > Trend: Online Audio
Radio advertising is more popular than ever. Also, and maybe especially, due to the new digital era. One of the reasons is that radio almost represents the last remaining local mass medium since the regional daily newspapers are less and less able to take on this part. And honestly, people also get up, take a shower, and have breakfast in the digital age. Check out my previous blog post “Radio Works.” (link to the post). It shows what exactly makes radio advertising so successful.
Another reason why radio advertising continues to thrive is due to the new possibilities of online audio – a term which entails all kinds of radio and music offered on the internet. And the range of offers is extremely versatile. There is everything the ear desires, from the familiar FM transmitters to internet streams, to innovative, to pure online audio channels and streaming services, down to customizable music platforms. Long story short: Online radio can cater to any taste of music at any time and place. Now, of course, advertisers are especially interested in those specific options that make reaching and addressing target groups more effective and efficient. The reason for that is that online audio creates points of contact of which others can only dream. Whether people are at home, at work, on the road, doing sports, travelling, and especially when they are directly at the POS – the target group tunes in everywhere.
Another perk of online audio is the fact that it merges the best of both worlds: Radio and online advertising. The high range and the impulse power of conventional radio advertising are combined with online features such as targeting, frequency capping, and reporting – I will get to the details in a bit. This enables approaching target groups in a much more differentiated way – thereby significantly increasing the efficiency and impact of a campaign. Also, online audio spots are far more accepted by listeners than other types of internet advertising, such as banners, video ads, overlay advertising, or pop-ups.
The possibilities to present advertising messages are just as multifaceted as the range of online radio offered:
– Pre-stream Audio ads – These spots are run immediately before a sound stream starts. They are one of the most exclusive advertising formats digitally, as usually only one pre-stream audio ad is run before each stream, which ensures that it gets the listener’s full attention.
– In-stream audio ads – These spots are placed somewhere mid-stream. They can either be run as single ads, i.e. as a standalone spot, or with other spots in an advertising block. The AdServer also guarantees an exact measurement of the range achieved.
– Audio Sync Display – This is the combination of an online audio spot and a display ad run in parallel. This type of ad has an increased activation capacity as it is an optimal synergy between listening and seeing. Whichever way one wants to address target groups, the innovative AdServer technology permits a transparent and, most importantly, flexible marketing of ads. This makes it possible to precisely control the targeting of an audio campaign. To be exact: The following targeting types are currently possible:
Socio-targeting
This makes it possible to address target groups by age and gender.
Device targeting
This can be used to determine on which device or devices users are to be addressed. In this way, touch points can be optimised, and the target group is addressed in an appropriate environment.
Geo targeting
To avoid scatter losses, the target group can be narrowed down to a post code accuracy of five digits.
Mood targeting
The target group can also be addressed according to its mood. Whether people are doing sports, partying, relaxing, or celebrating Christmas, there are countless choices when it comes to moods.
If you want to address people even more individually, Dynamic Creative is just what you’re looking for. Instead of using a campaign that addresses all listeners through one spot, you can create individual spots for specific target groups and play them in real time. Considering all information that can be gathered about a user, such as location, time, weather, activity, frequency, or program selection, several parts of a spot can be dynamically generated and mixed, so that personalised audio ads can be played in many different combinations. Badly timed spots that try to sell summer fashion in periods of lousy weather, or spots that annoy listeners by running too frequently, are history.
Especially when it comes to innovative technologies and possibilities, future trends that will greatly influence the use of mobile and digital audio can already be predicted. Radio.de’s recently launched Alexa Skill by is only the beginning, but it already offers first approaches that allow listening to advertising and swiftly moving on to ordering a product via voice command. These developments will be broached in a later blog post. See, visiting my blog again soon will be worthwhile.
In addition to the online features, the target group is also particularly attractive as the listeners are young (20–49 years), slightly more often men, and very well educated, or still in training. They have high incomes, and, what is particularly interesting, a pronounced consumer behaviour. They are open to new technologies and developments, and are regarded as trendsetters. By increasing the use of online audio in the evenings, one can especially reach people who do not watch TV. A special part of the target group is the so-called “generation headphones”, which I am planning to address in one of my next blog posts.
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the download file offered here. In it, I present a practical example that shows which extraordinarily positive effects are inherent in online audio advertising. It focuses on the merger campaign of FlixBus and MeinFernbus and its effect on the listeners. Does that sound interesting to you? Then I look forward to having an exciting discussion, or to reading your questions.
It hasn’t sparked yet? I’m happy to answer your questions:
David Bumiller
Copywriter
david.bumiller@schindlerparent.de
