Audio ads can be effective, but only if they’re not disruptive: report

Last year, Spotify’s VP and global head of advertising, Lee Brown, told us most people don’t skip podcast ads, according to the company’s data, suggesting that people might not be all that bothered by promos from the likes of Athletic Greens and BetterHelp.

It seems people don’t mind, or are at least willing to put up with, audio ads: A report from Integral Ad Science found that consumers are fairly open to hearing ads while listening to music and podcasts, but only in certain instances, according to its research, which was conducted in June among more than 1,000 US listeners.

Most respondents said they’ve interacted with digital audio ads in the past year—with some even having made purchases as a result—but many also said they can be put off by disruptive or irrelevant ads.

Bring it on: Spend on digital audio in the US is expected to reach more than $7.5 billion next year, a 10.5% jump year over year, according to the report. Brands investing in the space aren’t shouting into the void:

• More than three-quarters (81%) of internet users in the US have listened to digital audio in the past year, primarily on Spotify and YouTube.
• Of those listeners, 63% have interacted with audio ads in the past 12 months, 28% have visited a store or website as a result, and 20% have actually made a purchase.
• Host-read podcast ads were most effective at driving purchases, per the report, but not by much more than pre-recorded, audio-only ads.

​​”Every marketer has to think about these things in terms of what best is going to convey the message,” Jeremy Kanterman, VP of research and insights at Integral Ad Science, told Marketing Brew. “Some hosts can do that really well, and sometimes you want to have a pre-roll ad in there…It’s good for advertisers to have options. Not every strategy is going to fit every brand.”

Tread carefully: While almost half (44%) of listeners said they’re open to hearing audio ads, it comes with the caveat that those ads are not disruptive.

• More than half (58%) of listeners said it’s important that ads are relevant to the content they’re listening to.
• About one in four (28%) said they’d favor brands that run ads against relevant content.
• The same share said it’s the brand’s fault if its ads don’t play near suitable content, and one-quarter said they’d avoid purchasing from a brand advertising “near unsuitable audio content.”

“Consumers want continuity in their listening experience, and they’re willing to accept ads in that environment as long as it’s not [so] disruptive that they can’t actually enjoy what they’re listening to,” Kanterman said.

Risky business: While the topic of brandsafety has come up repeatedly in relation to podcasts in the past couple of years, Integral Ad Science found that “unsuitable music content is riskier” for brands.

• Content that mentions violence, sexual themes, drug use, and crime is seen as high-risk for marketers; the listeners surveyed found it generally less acceptable in music than in podcasts.
• For example, while 55% of respondents said the topic of violence is unsuitable for brands advertising between music, only about one-third (32%) said the same when it came to podcasts.
• Older listeners were more likely to think “risky content” in music isn’t brand safe, and were also less likely to engage with digital audio ads.