Programmatic I/O 2024 in New York highlighted various trends in digital advertising, including rising privacy regulations, tighter tracking restrictions, media fragmentation, declining engagement, and complex systems driven by vanity metrics. To offset these challenges, the event stressed the need for attention-grabbing strategies, greater transparency, supply chain optimization, and the growing role of AI. Reflecting on these discussions, here are key areas where digital audio ads are uniquely positioned to address these obstacles and shape the future of digital advertising.

Tackling Media Fragmentation and Attention Fatigue

One key theme was the growing fragmentation of media channels, making it more challenging than ever for advertisers to reach consumers. Audio platforms like podcasts and streaming services cut through the noise by offering an immersive space for listeners to genuinely tune in. In a world overflowing with visual ads, audio delivers messages in a more personal, less disruptive way—whether the audience is driving, working out, or juggling tasks.

Programmatic audio fits effortlessly into cross-channel strategies, becoming a secret weapon for campaign success. For example, by harnessing first-party data, retargeting, and ad-capping, brands can align their audio ads with other digital messaging to keep things consistent and avoid redundancy pitfalls.

Automation: Simplifying Digital Advertising

Automation and efficiency were prominent topics at this year’s conference, and yes, audio solutions are transforming this part of the industry as well. Once difficult to scale due to their host-read format, podcast ads now combine the personal touch of a host’s voice with the reach of programmatic buying. 

Today’s audio innovations make it easier to launch campaigns quickly, maintain authenticity, and integrate into broader media strategies. Additionally, greater supply chain transparency and adherence to industry standards are streamlining the ecosystem, cutting costs, and boosting performance, addressing the complex challenges advertisers face today.

First-Party Data and Privacy: Audio’s Unique Advantage

The shift to first-party data and privacy-focused signals is reshaping digital advertising, and digital audio is ready to thrive. By tapping into first-party data, audio delivers targeted ads tailored to podcast topics or music genres, aligning with the industry’s evolving standards. With advanced targeting, brands can craft personalized messages based on listener behavior—without intrusive tracking.

Comscore Predictive Audiences goes further, offering a cutting-edge, cookie-free solution that unlocks over 300 audience segments, from TV habits to location-based activities. Paired with AdsWizz AI Transcription Technology, it ensures accurate targeting, even when signals are limited.

Cultivating emotional connections with listeners can coexist with protecting online users’ privacy. Mood targeting allows brands to connect more effectively with audiences by using privacy-conscious contextual signals, reaching them with music that aligns with the listener’s current mood. By placing ads between songs that match the mood of the music, brands can deliver more relevant messages, creating a more emotionally resonant and contextually meaningful advertising experience for listeners.

Optimization and Efficiency: Audio Adtech’s Competitive Edge

One of the key takeaways from the conference was the need for greater efficiency in programmatic ad buying, an area where audio adtech excels.

Dynamic ad insertion (DAI) enables precise, real-time ad placement, ensuring contextually relevant messages that boost user engagement and minimize wasted ad spend by targeting the right audience. This personalized approach benefits marketers, podcast producers, and streaming publishers by boosting engagement, increasing revenue, and addressing the growing need for more precise brand safety measures.

Cross-Channel Synergies: Audio’s Role in Holistic Measurement

Cross-channel measurement also took center stage, emphasizing the need to unify fragmented data across platforms.

Digital audio, especially podcasts, plays a vital role in this effort. Audio performs well on its own and amplifies the impact of other media, such as Connected TV (CTV) and social media. Research shows that combining podcast ads with CTV boosts brand recall and message association. Tools like AudioPixel further enhance this dynamic by tracking listener behavior and connecting podcast ad exposure to actions like website visits or purchases, making audio a crucial part of today’s integrated advertising strategies.

Enhancing Creativity with AI in Audio

Generative AI emerged as a prominent topic at the summit, and there was plenty of buzz about its power to transform creativity in advertising.

Audio is already ahead of the curve, thanks to synthetic voice technology that lets brands quickly produce personalized, scalable, and contextually relevant ads. With Synthetic Voice Ads now available on AudioGO and expanding across the AdsWizz platform, advertisers can easily create customizable voiceovers, making unlimited tweaks or script changes without missing a beat. This innovation reflects our commitment to pushing the boundaries of audio tech, with even more AI-driven tools on the horizon to supercharge the platform.

Audio Advertising is Leading the Charge

Audio advertising is poised to meet the industry challenges facing digital media presented at Programmatic I/O 2024 with its engaging, targeted, and flexible approach in a privacy-friendly way. As media fragments and capturing attention grows tougher, audio provides brands with a powerful way to connect. Focused on simplicity, efficiency, and creativity, it’s a future-ready channel in the digital landscape.

In 2025, don’t just keep up—lead the way. Invest in audio adtech now for a competitive edge and stronger audience connections. Contact us today to explore the benefits!

by Catalin Georgescu, Senior Product Marketing Manager

The post Insights from Programmatic I/O 2024 appeared first on AdsWizz.

This surge in popularity presents a golden opportunity for advertisers, yet it also brings forth new challenges in accurately analyzing campaigns. As the landscape evolves, the need for more sophisticated signals to transact and measure podcast advertising becomes increasingly critical.

At AdsWizz, we understand the evolving needs of advertisers in the podcast space. To address these needs and enable more precise targeting and measurement of podcast ads, we are passing GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) and RSS Feed information to DSPs (Demand-Side Platforms) and vendors.

Understanding GUIDs and RSS Feeds

A GUID is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by the hosting CMS (Content Management System) to each podcast episode. It ensures that each episode is distinctly identified, preventing duplication and facilitating reliable tracking and referencing across various platforms and directories. GUIDs remain static even if there are changes in the episode’s metadata or the hosting CMS.

An RSS feed is a specially formatted XML file that contains comprehensive information about podcast episodes. It includes details such as the podcast title, description, author, episode title, publication date, duration, and the URL where the audio file is hosted. RSS feeds are essential for distributing podcast episodes to various directories and platforms, ensuring that listeners can easily access new content.

Key Areas of Focus 

Enhanced Targeting and Addressability

By integrating GUIDs, each podcast episode can be uniquely and consistently identified across different platforms and CMSs, which prevents duplication and ensures precise tracking. With enhanced data signals such as episode name, show name, and genre, advertisers can also reach their target audiences more effectively.

Improved Advertiser Confidence and Investment

Advertisers gain complete visibility into where their ads are delivered, identifying which episodes, shows, and genres perform best and understanding the behaviors they drive. This transparency empowers advertisers to make informed decisions, significantly boosting their confidence in programmatic podcasting. Enhanced content signals ensure ads are placed in suitable contexts, safeguarding brand equity.

Increased Revenue Opportunities

The introduction of podcast-rich data signals encourages advertisers who were previously hesitant to invest in signal-light traffic to allocate larger budgets to podcasting, unlocking significant demand. By incorporating more data into bid requests, the value of these ad opportunities increases, potentially leading to more revenue.

Seamless Integration and Consistency

GUIDs remain static even when podcasters change their CMS or update episode metadata, ensuring reliability in episode identification. The integration process involves ingesting and storing GUIDs/RSS feeds from various sources, such as Simplecast/VAST/RTB integrations, and seamlessly passing this information to DSPs. This ensures consistent and reliable data transmission, maintaining the integrity of the process.

Embracing the Future

• If you are an AdsWizz partner and want to learn more about enhanced signals in podcast advertising with GUIDs and RSS Feeds, check out our knowledge base. 
• If you are not an AdsWizz partner and would like to get in touch with us, please visit the Contact Us page.

by Ryan Dilworth, Senior Product Manager, Ad Platform and Marketplace at AdsWizz

The post The Need for Enhanced Signals in the Podcast Advertising Industry appeared first on AdsWizz.

What is Custom Audiences?

With Custom Audiences, advertisers can retarget listeners who have shown an interest in their product, making them more likely to convert. This advanced capability allows brands to create more sophisticated campaigns that guide listeners from awareness to action, such as making a purchase or requesting a quote. 

Creating robust stories delivered sequentially over days or weeks or tailoring listening experiences based on interaction types, such as a website visit or a wishlist, helps advertisers build stronger relationships with audiences and meet listeners exactly where they are on their conversion journey.

Do you worry about meeting business objectives and boosting campaign efficiency? Worry no more! Custom Audiences helps deliver ads to the most engaged audience or test the best creative by splitting the same listener base. This results in higher conversion rates, reduced wasted ad spend, streamlined management operations, and minimal maintenance.

Key Benefits

Boost Campaign Efficiency

Create campaigns that align with listeners’ behaviors and retarget those who have already shown interest in a brand – all within a streamlined flow. With both AudioServe and AudioMatic, Custom Audience targeting ensures ads reach the right audience at the right time.

Strengthen Relationships with Audiences 

Offer a personalized listening experience tailored to previous interactions, building stronger connections with audiences. Whether through AudioServe’s detailed targeting options or AudioMatic’s sophisticated audience segmentation, robust experiences can be crafted to resonate deeply with listeners​​​.

Maximize ROI 

Delivering ads to a highly applicable audience reduces ad spend waste and boosts conversion rates. AudioServe and AudioMatic offer tools to measure and optimize campaigns, ensuring every ad dollar is well spent.

How Custom Audiences Works

Creating and growing an audience base has never been easier. New website visitors who perform custom AudioPixel actions or consented listeners of one or multiple ads from campaigns can be collected all in one place.

Additionally, at the flick of a switch, Custom Audiences can be populated with listeners of all future ads belonging to an advertiser without having to manually include each new ad in the setup. This ensures effortless maintenance of an always up-to-date audience base, complemented by the membership duration setting for how long each listener remains in the custom audience.

Looking Ahead

AdsWizz attribution tools are designed to close the loop on audio measurement, and Custom Audiences are the latest (but not the last) tool we’re adding to our stack. With this solution, the full potential of retargeting campaigns is unlocked, driving engagement, efficiency, and conversions like never before.

If you are an AdsWizz partner and want to learn more about Custom Audiences, check our knowledge bases for either of these products:

• AudioMatic DSP
• AudioServe Campaign Manager

If you are not an AdsWizz partner and would like to get in touch with us, please visit the Contact Us page.

by Catalin Georgescu, Senior Product Marketing Manager

The post Unlock the Full Potential of Multi-Touch Campaigns with Custom Audiences appeared first on AdsWizz.

Programmatic Guaranteed offers more impactful tools tailored for optimal performance than other types of programmatic deals that involve varying levels of uncertainty – such as OpenRTB auctions with numerous bidders or preferred deals with non-guaranteed volumes. With fixed pricing and guaranteed volumes, this type of auction provides advertisers and publishers with a level of certainty and control not found in other programmatic transactions.

A One-Stop-Shop for Digital Audio Advertising

AdsWizz facilitates the buying and selling of reserved inventory globally by offering products like AudioMax SSP, AudioServe Campaign Manager, and audio-centric AudioMatic DSP, along with off-the-shelf integrations with some of the most reputable DSP platforms.

This ecosystem automates offerings and approvals and ensures transparent inventory and streamlined negotiations, reducing setup times and errors. Through AudioMatic DSP, buyers submit offers processed and negotiated by AudioMax for availability before approval, automatically creating Programmatic Guarantee deals.

Understanding Programmatic Guaranteed Campaigns

AdsWizz makes it easy for publishers and advertisers to establish and grow relationships. We support all major transactions of digital audio inventory – Direct Sales, Programmatic Guaranteed or Preferred Deals, and real-time bidding with a Private Marketplace or open auctions.

Although both Preferred Deals and Programmatic Guaranteed represent direct transactions between buyers and publishers, the latter ensures that a guaranteed number of impressions are sold at a fixed price.

NEW! Programmatic Guaranteed Enhancements

AdsWizz continues to push the boundaries of digital advertising technology, and we’re excited to unveil new Programmatic Guaranteed features! These capabilities boost efficiency, reduce manual errors, and provide a seamless Programmatic Guaranteed campaign management experience. 

Streamline Programmatic Guaranteed Management

Effortlessly customize campaigns on a single platform in AudioMax SSP and enjoy seamless synchronization with AudioServe Campaign Manager. This minimizes manual efforts and enhances overall campaign management efficiency and ease of use. 

Control Campaign Performance

Leverage the flexible customization capabilities of the AudioMax-centric integration to streamline operations, reduce manual errors, and maximize campaign effectiveness. Define multiple campaigns under the same order and prioritize them according to publisher needs.

Easily Adapt to Change

Be nimble and adapt swiftly to changing requirements without pausing delivery. Updates to live AudioServe Programmatic Guaranteed campaigns are automatically synchronized with AudioMax Deal’s settings and vice versa, ensuring real-time consistency between the two platforms. 

Optimize Advertising Strategies

By harnessing advanced reporting capabilities in AudioMax, publishers can optimize their strategies and maximize revenues through a comprehensive understanding of their programmatic business on a single platform. Detailed breakdowns of Programmatic Guaranteed transactions, including granular insights per DSP, Sales Channel, Buyer, Advertiser, and Deal Type, ensure seamless performance management and enhanced visibility into guaranteed versus non-guaranteed deals and associated campaign delivery.

Looking Ahead

AdsWizz’s progress in Programmatic Guaranteed Campaigns represents an essential milestone in digital audio advertising. AdsWizz offers a powerful platform for advertisers and publishers to meet their advertising objectives by leveraging automation, scalability, and better visibility. With the digital environment constantly changing, AdsWizz stays ahead by driving advertising innovation to enhance efficiency, performance, and success.

• If you are an AdsWizz publisher partner using AudioMax SSP and want to learn more about Programmatic Guaranteed Enhancements, 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 Catalin Georgescu, Senior Product Marketing Manager

The post Unleashing the Power of Programmatic Guaranteed in Audio Advertising appeared first on AdsWizz.

What is Episode Scheduling and Targeting?

Episode Scheduling and Targeting revolutionizes advertising by enabling pre-scheduling ads in podcast episodes before they’re published. It streamlines workflows across different platforms and merges cutting-edge automatic episode generation with high-level forecasting and targeting abilities. 

The bottom line: Episode Scheduling and Targeting allows publishers to plan, forecast, target, and sell ads efficiently in future episodes, which creates new revenue streams and boosts each episode’s effectiveness and value.

How Episode Scheduling and Targeting Simplifies Inventory Management

This new feature dramatically simplifies inventory management by leveraging historical data for precise forecasts, ensuring campaigns can be booked without the risk of overselling or under-delivering. Once an episode is scheduled, it’s immediately available for ad campaigns across AdsWizz’s platforms. The feature uses unique episode IDs for targeting, ensuring ads are delivered to the correct episode, even if its release date changes.

Episode Scheduling and Targeting in Action

Imagine a weekly podcast series focused on sustainable living. The publishers of this series decided to leverage the Episode Scheduling and Targeting feature to use in a client’s advertising campaign for an upcoming series of episodes about urban gardening.

Scheduling Episodes and Attracting Advertisers

The team schedules the episodes two months before the series launch, documenting the topics and expected release dates. These future episodes are immediately shared with AdsWizz’s platforms, where potential advertisers can view if the planned content offers enough inventory to reach their advertising objectives.

Targeted Ad Booking

Seeing the alignment with its target market, a gardening tools company decides to book ad slots for the entire series. Utilizing the detailed forecasts provided by the system, they confidently book their campaign, knowing the ads will reach an engaged and relevant audience.

Flexible Ad Scheduling Ensures Uninterrupted Revenue

As the release dates approach, one episode must be delayed by 4 days due to unforeseen circumstances. However, the scheduled ads automatically adjust to the new release date thanks to the Episode Scheduling and Targeting system. The gardening tools company’s ads still hit their mark, appearing in the designated episode upon its release, ensuring the podcast’s revenue stream is unaffected by the schedule change.

Unlock New Revenue Opportunities

Episode Scheduling and Targeting is a significant advancement in podcast advertising, opening new revenue opportunities for publishers and podcasters. By automating and refining the ad delivery process, this feature improves monetization efficiency and contributes to a more predictable and financially stable ecosystem.

Want to learn more about Scheduling and Targeting?

• If you are an existing AdsWizz customer, check out our knowledge base for more information.
• Visit the Contact Us page if you are not an AdsWizz partner and want to get in touch with us.

by Nicoleta Vieru, Senior Product Marketing Manager at AdsWizz

The post Revolutionizing Podcast Monetization with Advanced Scheduling and Targeting appeared first on AdsWizz.

Our very own Rowan Hamill, Director of Business Development for the UK and IE, gave a presentation about the growth of digital audio in listening habits and advertising spending by conducting a comprehensive analysis, comparing digital audio with other platforms in data and measurement. In the context of Media 3.0, focusing on relevance, interactivity, and privacy, Rowan also emphasized how digital audio provided marketers with advanced technology for enhanced targeting and real-time interaction measurement via innovative ad formats.

Check out the breakdown of Rowan’s presentation below!

Digital Audio in a Media 3.0 World – A Future of Data, Targeting, Measurement, and Innovation

Meeting Audiences Where They Are

Rowan kicked things off by summarizing how modern technology has empowered advertisers to connect with their audiences in new and innovative ways. With tools like Comscore’s Brand Suitability, podcast contextual targeting, dynamic creative versioning, motion-activated ads, second-screen retargeting, automated host-read ads, and attribution pixels, advertisers can tailor their messages to meet audiences precisely where they are in their daily routines.

She then highlighted the effectiveness of audio advertising. Engaging audiences with high Long-Term Recall, better recall than social media, and higher intent to purchase, audio advertising offers a unique way to connect with consumers. Additionally, programmatic advertising in the audio space provides enhanced targeting, brand safety, and efficient buys, reducing waste.

Audio Consumption vs. Investment

Despite the increasing popularity of audio content, Rowan pointed out a significant discrepancy. While audio consumption is rising, audio advertising investment needs to catch up. She noted a 32% increase in podcast advertising investment year-over-year. However, she emphasized that there’s still tremendous untapped potential, with audio advertising accounting for only a fraction of the UK’s total digital advertising spend in 2022.

Dispelling Audio Advertising Myths

Rowan debunked several common myths about audio advertising:

• Myth 1: Audio is Only for Brand Awareness Campaigns – Audio actually drives results at every marketing funnel stage. Through a case study involving Mustard Insurance’s use of Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO), she showcased how personalized ads could affect brand awareness, favorability, website traffic, and purchase intent.
  

• Myth 2: You Can’t Track Audio Campaigns – Rowan countered the myth by presenting the Mazda case study, which utilized Audio Pixel and Second Screen Retargeting to drive brand awareness, recall, and consumer purchasing decisions.
  

• Myth 3: Podcasts Aren’t Brand-Safe – Modern podcast contextual targeting solutions, in fact, protect against invalid traffic and fraudulent opportunities. Solutions like Invalid Traffic (IVT) Filtering from HUMAN and Brand Suitability from Comscore ensure brand safety in the podcast space.
  

• Myth 4: Podcasts Can’t Scale – Rowan dispelled this myth by highlighting the existence of premium podcast marketplaces in top European regions. Advertisers can now target and forecast using various podcast content verticals, making scalability a reality.

Want to Learn More?

• Questions about digital audio or audio advertising? Visit our Contact Us page to connect with us.
• For access to Rowan’s presentation, click here.
  

The post The Future of Media Recap appeared first on AdsWizz.

In the ever-evolving landscape of podcasting, where a multitude of voices converge to convey stories, inform, and captivate, advertising has emerged as a swiftly expanding and influential force. Brands are keen to harness this vast potential and engage with the diverse and committed podcasting community.

A Newcomer to Podcast Movement

At Podcast Movement 2023 in Aurora, Colorado, Justine Benjamin, Head of Global Marketing at AdsWizz and Simplecast, had an opportunity to speak with a seasoned expert in podcast advertising, Robyn O’Connor, Senior Director of Digital Media at Veritone One.

While this marked Robyn’s inaugural experience at Podcast Movement, the event acted as a significant catalyst for bridging the gap between the virtual and tangible worlds. Being remote and living far away from many of her peers, she had yet to have the opportunity to meet them face-to-face. She stresses the importance of personal connections within the podcasting community, where online relationships can gain a richer dimension when transitioning into real-life interactions.

Unveiling the Power of Podcast Advertising

Exploring podcast advertising in greater depth, Robyn presented Veritone One’s distinctive approach to crafting memorable and influential brand encounters. Two particularly notable strategies involve host endorsements and digital engagement.

The host endorsement strategy involves aligning brands with podcast hosts who resonate with their target audience. Robyn underscored the power of personal endorsements from hosts who often become influential figures in their listeners’ lives. “The host is kind of like a mini-celebrity to their listeners,” she noted. “In some cases, they actually are a celebrity. They are a bit like an influential friend talking about a product.”

On the digital side, Robyn’s team engages listeners during ad breaks, ensuring that ads reach the right audience and maintain their attention. This approach combines the strengths of pre-recorded spots and host-read spots to maximize engagement and relevance.

The Intersection of Technology and Podcast Advertising

Robyn’s enthusiasm for innovation within the podcast industry highlights Veritone One’s endless drive to push the boundaries of what is possible. At Veritone One, technology and data take center stage in all operations, from podcast tracking to creative production.

For example, one of the clients from Veritone One’s portfolio, Factor, aimed to tap into the reality TV audience, particularly women aged 25 to 45. Robyn and her team executed a campaign using Vanderpump Rules star Scheana Shay, recorded through Cameo. The campaign targeted reality podcast listeners, resulting in impressive performance metrics.

The ads were created using voice synthesis to make multiple variations of a spot without having the talent record them repeatedly. This imaginative use of technology streamlines the creative process while maintaining quality and relevance.

Targeting, Measurement, and the Future of Podcast Advertising

Robyn stresses the need for cutting-edge tracking capabilities and the adoption of advanced digital advertising metrics, particularly advocating for “baseline apples” – a standard set of metrics that could provide a foundation for podcast advertising while acknowledging the medium’s unique characteristics. There also needs to be a greater emphasis on the importance of audience-centric thinking and the need to prioritize the listener experience. Regarding Veritone One’s future, Robyn plans for 2024 with a holistic bias, focusing on 360-degree buys that engage creators and their audiences across multiple platforms.

In Closing

With technology, creativity, and a deep understanding of the listener at its core, the future of podcast advertising is filled with exciting possibilities, and Robyn and Veritone One are at the forefront of this transformative journey, pioneering new ways to engage audiences and create meaningful connections in the podcasting landscape.

Check out more profiles with audio interviews and AdsWizz content on our blog.

The post Interview with Robyn O’Connor from Veritone One about Podcast Advertising appeared first on AdsWizz.