Podcasts have long been known for a very personal style of host-read ads that are often sold directly. So when it comes to programmatic ad sales, the sector has sometimes been viewed as a rare holdout.
But, much like the worst person you know starting a podcast, the introduction of more ad tech and automation in podcasting seems all but inevitable.
In one of the latest signs of the time, Spotify rolled out its Spotify Ad Exchange this spring, marking the first time the audio giant is letting ad buyers participate in true open-marketplace programmatic bidding through demand-side platforms like The Trade Desk and Google DV360.
“Marketers want more flexibility and more agility to make decisions,” Brian Berner, Spotify’s head of global ad sales and partnerships, told Marketing Brew at Cannes Lions. “They don’t want to be held to the traditional, long-term upfronts. We’ve been getting that feedback for a while.”
As of now, the exchange includes music and video content, but podcasts are soon to come, Berner said. We spoke with him about the new ad exchange and the current state of the audio ad ecosystem.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What was your thinking behind putting all music and video content in the Spotify Ad Exchange first and at the same time?
How we think about inventory in general is we think about the user experience…What we as a company are doing, from a consumer experience perspective, is as we’re making a bigger push to have video content on the platform, it’s because our consumers are looking for music videos or video podcasts. What we think through is, first you look at the user experience, and then it’s like, “All right, based on this moment, am I watching Spotify, or am I listening to Spotify?” Then our tech will, in that environment, whether it’s in-stream or in-feed, decide if it’s best to serve an audio ad right now, a display ad, or a video ad. Regardless of whatever those three ads are, all of it is accessible via programmatic.
Why wait to add podcast inventory to the mix?
You have to build the foundation and then start putting together all the framework. We needed to build the core ecosystem or infrastructure. Now pods are next on the roadmap, and further innovation to come.
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Do brands and buyers still have the same brand-safety concerns about buying podcast ads programmatically as they did when that tech was less common in audio?
I don’t think so. I think the hesitation a couple years back was that the standardization and verification wasn’t there. [There have been] big announcements from us these past years, like our partnership with IAS and incorporating their brand-safety metrics into podcasts in particular. I think as people have gotten more comfortable with industry standardization that is similar to brand-safety metrics in just digital, period, [that] has gotten everyone more comfortable leaning in and knowing that the right controls are in place to make sure your brand is appearing in environments you want it to. I’d say the hesitation isn’t there as much, but brands are always going to keep brand safety top of mind.
Is the podcasting tech and advertising space up to speed with other digital platforms?
Podcasting is still in its infancy. You’re going to see continued consumption, engagement, and innovation in podcasting. You have creators leaning in, and the ones that are truly partnering with us, or just any audio partner for that matter, they’re starting to understand you can’t replicate your social video strategy the same way you do podcasts. You are going to see some phenomenal creators leverage audio differently than social to build bigger followings.
With video and audio content becoming increasingly tied together, how do you advise brands around measuring campaigns that run against the same general content but on different platforms, like a pure RSS podcast and a YouTube video?
Brands are pushing us there…What we’re trying to solve for is that a good portion of podcasts are still downloaded, and everything Spotify is trying to do with SAI (Streaming Ad Insertion) is to get podcasts into streaming. If you can get more streaming consumption, then you have the standardization of measurement. We are working with brands on holistic performance, and then they’re looking at their creative within maybe music versus podcasts and figuring out what messaging performs. But we still have to continue to invest and innovate in measurement.