radio & audio

• Article

One Size [Does Not] Fit All Optimizing Audio Strategies for Success

What spot length works best? Audacy partnered with Veritonic to compare frequent radio listener responses to 15, 30 and 60-second ads across multiple categories such as auto, financial, retail and professional services to address this frequently asked question. Jenny Nelson (Audacy) and Korri Kolesa (Veritonic) presented the results of this study, which were measured by Veritonic’s audio score components such as attribute score, intent score and engagement score. This survey-based study of a panel of 2,400 radio listeners pointed to a variety of recommendations, such as initiating multiple 30-second ads instead of fewer 60-second ads, testing creative before launch and deploying a total audio strategy to reach omnichannel listeners.

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• Article

Number of Podcast Listeners Hits All-Time High

Advertisers are listening. With podcast listening hitting an all-time high in 2021, year-over-year advertising revenue in the top 100 podcasts rose 20%, according to MediaRadar. The number of companies purchasing podcast ads increased 14%, while the retention rate of companies returning to advertise in 2021 stood at 42%. “With so many different types of podcasts available to suit your interests, there seems to be a podcast genre for every taste,” said Todd Krizelman, CEO & Co-founder of MediaRadar. “As such, advertisers are strategically considering where their ad dollars are best spent that translates to a higher engagement rate and loyal audience base. It’s evident from our findings that popular podcasts genres like true crime, comedy and news have seen substantial growth in ad spend to cater to their audience.” Source: Cynopsis. (2022, March 15). Streaming. Cynopsis.

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• Article

Black Listeners’ Engagement in Audio

The U.S. Black population spends more time with this medium than any other group. Radio ranks particularly high.   Among Black listeners, radio continues to reach a significant portion of the community. Ninety one percent of the Black population is reached via radio per month. In fact, Black listeners spend more time with radio than any other group—20 minutes longer than the average of the total population. Weekly reach metrics among Black persons 18+

• Radio: 86%
• App/web on smartphone: 81%
• Live/time-shifted TV: 78%
• Streaming audio on smartphone: 48%
• Satellite radio: 15%

Source: Nielsen Comparable Metrics, Q3 2021 Podcast listenership and engagement is growing significantly among the Black audience, which is a notable opportunity for brands and media owners. In the past three years alone, the number of Black consumers using podcasts has increased by 70%. For Black audiences, audio is not only used for entertainment, it has been an essential resource for news and information, especially during the pandemic, and as an escape from the stress of the day-to-day. Nielsen concludes: Increasingly, Black consumers are taking control of both the economic and media influence they wield and using it to invest in Black experiences, Black communities and Black content. And as a collective, the Black community represented nearly $1.6 trillion in buying power as of last year. Source: Nielsen Media. (2022, February 24). How Black audiences are engaging with audio more than ever.  Nielsen.  

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• Article

NYCU: Weekly Media Reach Surprise: Radio is #1

With all the talk about digital media, it's easy to forget how powerful traditional media, such as radio and television, still are. Radio, in particular, rarely gets credited for what it still is: a true mass medium. According to Nielsen, radio even trumps TV in terms of weekly reach. Now, while radio does win in terms of sheer reach, TV remains unparalleled with respect to average daily usage. According to Nielsen, U.S. adults spend an average of four hours and 16 minutes a day watching TV (live and time-shifted), which is roughly 2.5 times the amount of time they listen to the radio (1h 39m). Read the Full Article Please note – * and ** indicates reach among those who have access. Source: Richter, F. (2021, February 12). Radio’s Unparalleled Reach. Media Use, Radio Industry: Statista.  

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• Article

NYCU: Good News for Radio Advertising

A new study finds evidence that ad avoidance among radio listeners is much lower than widely assumed. Many radio advertisers have been relying on research suggesting that up to one-third of their audience switches stations or turns off the radio during advertising breaks. But a research team at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science (University of South Australia) says that figure is inaccurate. The new study found that “overall, radio has a low level of mechanical advertising avoidance.” The authors conclude that “previous estimates of 22 percent to 32 percent were misleading.” In contrast to previous research – which largely relied on surveys – the researchers used portable people meters to assess “mechanical avoidance”. They found that loss of audience during advertising was around three percent. There was some variation in the amount of ad avoidance: Music stations had slightly higher rates than talk stations. Further, avoidance was higher out-of-home, presumably due to the ease of station-changing in cars. Source: Michelon, A., Bellman, S., Faulkner, M., Cohen, J. and Bruw, J., A New Benchmark for Mechanical Avoidance of Radio Advertising: Why Radio Advertising Is a Sound Investment. Journal of Advertising Research, December 2020 (Vol 60, Issue 4), pp. 407-416  

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NYCU: Global Marketing Budgets Trend Upward

Four months of data show improvement rising each month across the six measured media. However, only September's mobile and digital conditions have risen to the growth line. Developed by WARC, the GMI is a monthly indicator of the state of the global marketing industry, based on current conditions among practitioners. An index value of 50 indicates no change, below 50 indicates decline and above 50 indicates growth. The Global Marketing Index tracks current conditions among practitioners. The global panel consists of experienced executives working for brand owners, media owners, creative and media agencies and other organizations serving the marketing industry. Read the Full Article

Source: Mc Cready, Z. (2020, October). Digital Budgets Back To Pre-Pandemic Growth. WARC.

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• Creative & Branded Content
• Article

Choosing Music for Ads: Does a Premium Source Matter?

• M. Anglada-Tort, Technische Univ. Berlin; S. Keller, Pandora; J. Steffens, Düsseldorf Univ. of Applied Sciences; D. Müllensiefen, Goldsmiths Univ. of London
• JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

Does music in advertising need to come from an expensive source, like a popular performance artist, to make an impact? A European academic-practitioner research team, including a Pandora executive, studied the evaluation process for choosing music in ads, by comparing how professionals and consumers judged the sourcing of music. The differential can potentially prove costly for brands.

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NYCU: Listening to Digital Devices Surpasses Linear

Just prior to the COVID-19 disruptions, 45% of listening was done on digital devices. During Q2 2020, that number jumped to 53% of the daily total share.   The “digital/on-demand” devices in Edison Research’s Share of Ear study included smartphones, computers, internet-connected televisions and smart speakers. These are essentially the devices that Americans use to stream or listen to audio files on demand. The “traditional or non-linear devices” included AM/FM receivers, SiriusXM receivers, CD players, turntables, or TV channels like Music Choice. The shift away from in-car and at-workplace listening to at-home listening led to these enormous changes. “Digital surpassing non-digital was almost inevitable, according to the slow trend we saw in Share of Ear. It appears that these disruptions may have just accelerated the process. We will have to wait to see if the numbers revert more closely to what they were before the disruptions,” said Director of Research Laura Ivey. Source: Ivey, L. (2020, July 21). digital device listening crosses the 50% threshold during covid-19 disruptions. Edison research.  

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NYCU: Podcasters Are Allowing Themselves to Feel Optimistic

For the podcast industry, things are starting to look almost normal. Podcast advertising grew 48% last year, to $708 million, according to an IAB/PwC report.  Even after four months of economic upheaval and uncertainty, the space is still expected to grow 15% this year (2020). Not every podcast or format has rebounded in the same way — news shows, for example, have driven a disproportionate share of the listening in the first half of the year. When coronavirus first upended American business back in March, people stopped commuting, and podcasting took a big hit. That slide turned out to be short-lived. Even though people still aren’t commuting, data suggests that listeners found ways to fit shows into different parts of their day as they’ve crafted new daily routines. Chartable’s Dave Zohrob said he saw the same increase in his own company’s data, adding that while categories such as sports remain down — “It’s tough to maintain interest for six months with no games,” he said — on the whole, consumption appears to have returned to normal levels. Source:  Willens, M. (2020, July 21). ‘The downloads are back’: Podcasting finishes the first half of 2020 strong. Audio Anywhere: Digiday.  

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NYCU: Smart Speakers Evolve

Two of five households are now showing increased usage and experimentation with smart speakers since the beginning of the pandemic.  Forty-one percent of U.S. broadband households own a smart speaker or smart display, according to Parks Associates. Among those households, music listening and video viewing on smart speakers and displays are up significantly during shelter-in-place. Those observations are echoed by a recent NPR/Edison Research report, which found that simple "what time is it" questions have also declined during shelter-in-place. Media consumption, on the other hand, has increased significantly during the pandemic, with NPR/Edison finding that 36% of the smart speaker owners it surveyed were listening to more music and entertainment, and 35% reporting more news consumption. Mark Spates, who leads Google's smart speaker efforts, says, "Beforehand, the house was very transient. Now, voice-controlled speakers and smart displays are becoming a lot more family-oriented, which includes group calls but also other shared interactions. And with everyone stuck at home, we observe each other interacting with these devices, picking up cues on how to get the most out of voice assistants. "These devices are extremely communal," Spates said. "Every person learns from each other." Early data also seems to suggest that smart speakers are starting to permeate more of the home, moving beyond the kitchen or living room. Seventy-one percent of the people surveyed by NPR/ Edison in early April said that they were thinking about getting another speaker to entertain children in additional rooms of their house, compared to 47% who expressed that intent a year earlier.   Source: Roettgers. J. (2020, July 6). Voice is having a moment in our work-from-home world. Protocol.  

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