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.
In this session, Idil Cakim (Audacy) and Devora Rogers (Alter Agents) presented some findings from research they conducted together in uncovering the “rituals of humans” pertaining to their audio consumption. In this study, audio content could include audiobooks, podcasts, sounds (nature), music, etc. These rituals often included tasks being performed while listening (e.g., cooking, exercising, commuting, walking, etc.), but also the ritual experience could be the audio itself, opening up many opportunities for advertisers to reach audiences. Beginning her discussion, Idil acknowledged the massive changes that have taken place in audio over the past few years. Their methodology embraced a variety of approaches which included a quantitative nationally represented survey, ethnographies through mobile diaries and a qualitative approach using a 45-minute in-depth interview. Both Idil and Devora presented findings from their study which provided deep insights into the ritualized and often personal nature of audio content. This provides many unique opportunities to connect with consumers through targeting the ritual (e.g., school drop off, prepping for sports, cooking, etc.).
Mark Loughney of Hub Entertainment Research unveiled the results of an online survey which looked at U.S. consumers’ media consumption patterns while in transit. Hub’s survey was of 2,566 U.S. consumers ages 16 – 74. There were no exclusions. It included TV and non-TV homes, pay subscriptions and non-pay subscriptions and so on. They weighted to U.S. census data, including age, gender, ethnicity, income and size. The data was collected from mid/late November 2022.
Steve Keller (SXM Media) looks at opportunities for sonic interventions: What are things in the world, in our culture, where sound can provide a positive solution? Sonic intervention, for the purposes of this research, starts with the concept of the color line, first addressed by W.E.B. Dubois in his 1903 collection of essays, “Soul of Black Folks.” For Dubois, the color line was the dividing line between Black and White individuals. A century later, SUNY Binghamton professor Jennifer Lynn Stoever defined the sonic color line as the hierarchical division between the whiteness and blackness of sounds that have been created and perpetuated by a dominant culture on the listening ear. Indeed, in the 1920s radio show Amos ‘n’ Andy with 40 million listeners, two white personalities performed racialized sonic tropes. Black radio performers were forced to play these stereotypes. Fast-forward to today, the sonic color line still cuts through our technology, our smart speakers, and often in the studio Black voiceover actors are asked to sound more “urban”. Yet the error rate in recognizing prompts from Black speakers is significantly higher than the rate for White speakers.
Mark Loughney – Senior Consultant, Hub Entertainment Research
Mark Loughney of Hub Entertainment Research unveiled the results of an online survey which looked at U.S. consumers’ media consumption patterns while in transit. Hub’s survey was of 2,566 U.S. consumers ages 16 – 74. There were no exclusions. It included TV and non-TV homes, pay subscriptions and non-pay subscriptions and so on. They weighted to U.S. census data, including age, gender, ethnicity, income and size. The data was collected from mid/late November 2022.
Over the air (OTA) radio is still overwhelmingly the most used device and medium in the car, with two-thirds using it “all” or “most” of the time. Smart phones were the most common mobile device present and music overwhelmingly the most popular genre. Commuter numbers look nearly identical to drivers. One-third of drivers claim that their passenger will use a different device in the car “all or most” of the time. That jumps to 50% for those with children. Also, the presence of a tablet nearly doubles when a child is present. Even though today, OTA radio remains king of the road, mobile hotspot usage and the streaming of music will likely increase as people retire older vehicles. The biggest change in media consumption habits came with flying, where books, followed closely by personal music, are the media most often consumed.
Key Takeaways
In the car, OTA radio is the most used built-in option (81%), followed by CD players (50%) and satellite radio (41%). This makes sense if you consider that about half of the cars on the road are five years old or older, many 10 years or older.
OTA radio is the most frequently used medium in the car (83%) and smart phones are the most common portable device on hand (73%). A tablet’s presence goes from 20-35% when a child is present.
Typically, one-third of drivers said their passenger is using a different device while they travel.
When flying, print was the most common “ever use,” followed by personal music and streaming. Magazines were about average, with at least half saying they use them sometimes.
Devora Rogers – Chief Strategy Officer, Alter Agents
In this session, Idil Cakim (Audacy) and Devora Rogers (Alter Agents) presented some findings from research they conducted together in uncovering the “rituals of humans” pertaining to their audio consumption. In this study, audio content could include audiobooks, podcasts, sounds (nature), music, etc. These rituals often included tasks being performed while listening (e.g., cooking, exercising, commuting, walking, etc.), but also the ritual experience could be the audio itself, opening up many opportunities for advertisers to reach audiences. Beginning her discussion, Idil acknowledged the massive changes that have taken place in audio over the past few years. Their methodology embraced a variety of approaches which included a quantitative nationally represented survey, ethnographies through mobile diaries and a qualitative approach using a 45-minute in-depth interview. Both Idil and Devora presented findings from their study which provided deep insights into the ritualized and often personal nature of audio content. This provides many unique opportunities to connect with consumers through targeting the ritual (e.g., school drop off, prepping for sports, cooking, etc.).
Key Takeaways
Seventy-four percent of listeners consume audio during their daily rituals, and 40% of listeners plan their day/activities around audio content.
The top six rituals when listeners engaged with audio were listed as the following: Having “me time,” putting my child to bed, exercising, snack time, walking and commuting (work/school).
Both quantitative and qualitative ethnographies indicated the top reasons people listened to audio content were because they participated in the following activities: running general errands (85%), doing home maintenance (84%), exercising outdoors (83%), preparing a meal (83%), driving (83%), commuting (82%), having a meal (81%) and cleaning (81%).
The study identified that in seemingly routine and dull moments, "audio infused rituals with energy and purpose” and assists listeners to recall and share a message.
Audio is part of more rituals than any other medium. Audio was listed as the highest in rituals throughout the day followed by online/streaming video, scrolling social media and broadcast/cable TV. Audio spanned the whole day revealing many moments for brands to connect.
Overall earnings from their study indicated the following results:
Rituals make our lives predictable, manageable and enjoyable, and audio often plays a role in these rituals.
In many cases audio is the ritual because listeners are so “deeply engaged with the listening experience.”
Certain cohorts are "more reliant on rituals and highly engaged in audio."
Embracing rituals "unlocks huge potential for advertisers to become part of them and connect more deeply with consumers."
Across all platforms, creative continues to have the dominant effect ranging from 46% to 49% of the effect of the campaign. The proportional effect of media and brand vary by platform depending on the targetability of the medium, the ability to build reach and the appeal to younger audiences such as is the case for social media.
Key Takeaways
NCS uses a framework of five keys: Creative, Brand, Media (Targeting, Reach and Recency). Going back to 2006, Project Apollo found that creative, media and other factors contributed 65%, 15% and 20% to the success of a campaign. In 2017, a similar study yielded 49%, 36% and 15% contribution for creative, media and brand. Of course, in 2017, digital media provided for vast improvements in targeting over 2006.
In the current 2022/23 analysis, NCS broke up the composition of impact into the five expanded keys allocating the effects on campaign success as follows: creative 48%, brand 21%, reach 14%, targeting 11% and recency 4%.
Looking at the brands contribution, over half comes from loyalty. When comparing linear and digital, brand is much more important for digital, 25%, and media turns out much more important for linear, 39%, likely driven by reach and frequency. Creative is roughly the same for both at 49% and 48%.
Within social media advertising, the distribution is 46% for creative, 28% for media and 26% for brand. Targeting accounts for most of the media effect and loyalty accounts for most of the brand effect.
Steve Keller – Sonic Strategy Director, Studio Resonate, SXM Media
Steve Keller (SXM Media) looks at opportunities for sonic interventions: What are things in the world, in our culture, where sound can provide a positive solution? Sonic intervention, for the purposes of this research, starts with the concept of the color line, first addressed by W.E.B. Dubois in his 1903 collection of essays, “Soul of Black Folks.” For Dubois, the color line was the dividing line between Black and White individuals. A century later, SUNY Binghamton professor Jennifer Lynn Stoever defined the sonic color line as the hierarchical division between the whiteness and blackness of sounds that have been created and perpetuated by a dominant culture on the listening ear. Indeed, in the 1920s radio show Amos ‘n’ Andy with 40 million listeners, two white personalities performed racialized sonic tropes. Black radio performers were forced to play these stereotypes. Fast-forward to today, the sonic color line still cuts through our technology, our smart speakers, and often in the studio Black voiceover actors are asked to sound more “urban”. Yet the error rate in recognizing prompts from Black speakers is significantly higher than the rate for White speakers.
All of the above is the background for Steve’s research in which he builds a business case for sonic diversity in radio, podcasts and other audio platforms. To the best of his knowledge, this is the first large-scale sonic diversity study of its kind: the impact of racialized listening on advertisement favorability and effectiveness. In two experiments (one a large field experiment, the other a quantitative experiment with panelists) researchers used three podcasts—Sway’s Interviews (interviews with black entertainers), Song Exploder (about deconstructing songs, a varied audience) and This American Life (predominantly white program and audience). The study used 20 voice actors divided evenly black/white/male/female, who were not coached, and who were paid as if they were working on a regular ad to provide a conversational read from the advertising scripts, for 60 sonic stimuli total. Partnering with Veritonic the researchers asked participants (4,000-plus sample size) questions about favorability and attributes in the ad, and intent to listen, and whether they thought the voiceover was “definitely,” “probably” or “not sure” either Caucasian or Black.
A second experiment analyzed advertisement effectiveness: Would there be a rise in podcast listening as a result of the ads?
Key Takeaways
Whereas White actors were consistently perceived as White, there was a lot of misattribution for Black voices. This is probably due to “sonic markers,” i.e., what we listen for. And the race of the listener influenced the perception of the race: Black listeners were much better able to correctly identify the race of the voice actor, although not always.
Context matters: Misattribution occurred when there were other potential contextual cues, for example, Black voices were more often correctly identified when advertising for Sway’s Interviews than for This American Life.
Black voice actors received higher aggregate scores, even from White panelists, even breaking down into categories of likeability, empowering, trustworthy or intent to listen to the podcast. Whereas Black respondents tend to rate ads higher when the voice actor is perceived to be Black, with White respondents there was little to no difference.
Neither race nor gender had an impact of ad effectiveness, although in the second experiment there was a rise in podcast listening because of the ads. So, if we’re hearing more Black voices, we’re creating the ads that have the potential to be judged more favorably by Black audiences without necessarily any negative impact on the effectiveness for any consumer group.
Brian Hughes – EVP, Managing Director, Audience Intelligence & Strategy, MAGNA
Arica McKinnon – VP, Campaign Analytics, Nielsen
Podcasts offer strong value for advertisers as the result of the growing amount of content, audience diversity and high engagement levels, including increased brand recall. Opportunities for monetization of podcast ads have increased and MAGNA expects U.S. podcast ad revenues to reach $2.4 billion in 2023.
Brian Hughes of MAGNA and Arica McKinnon of Nielsen shared the results of a podcast advertising effectiveness study and presented the best practices that increased the effectiveness of these ads, overall, and for CPG, automotive and retail brands, specifically.
The study measured the impact of podcast advertising on key brand lift metrics utilizing an online panel, controlled exposure methodology and a post survey. These results were then compared to Nielsen’s Podcast Norms.
Key Takeaways
Podcasts provide reliable lifts on key brand metrics, including familiarity, affinity, information-seeking intent, purchase intent, recommendation intent and aided awareness, but fine-tuning can create even more value.
Longer creative generally drives higher lifts, but 35 seconds to a minute ads strike the right balance between results and the listener experience.
More brand mentions drive better results.
Host read ads are better for building awareness and driving search.
Custom content enables brands to build awareness due to strong recall.
Pre- and mid-roll placements show comparable lifts, while post-roll has a clear disadvantage.
Podcasts can drive positive results for CPG brands across the funnel.
Auto brands can use podcasts to build awareness and affinity. Sports podcasts are a good fit for auto brands.
Podcasts work well to build awareness and affinity for retail brands.
There is a ton of research on the signaling effects of ad spending. But new work tackles lingering questions: Why do advertising expenditures have a stronger impact on perceived quality for some brands and in some product categories but not as much for others? And how do increases in expenditures across different media channels affect quality perceptions?
