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How Interactive Ads Are Shaking Up Audio Ad Technology

If you have recently listened to a podcast or streamed music, you are part of the two-thirds of the U.S. population who consume digital audio at least once per week. And listener growth is not slowing down anytime soon.

By 2024, there could be over 100 million podcast listeners in the U.S. Additionally, podcast advertising spend is expected to increase this in 2022 to $1.74 billion and exceed $2.7 billion by 2025.

While audio has been prominent in people’s daily lives, audio technology has become even more flexible for listeners, allowing advertisers to engage with them further. Audiences now have more options to listen to all kinds of audio, at any time—from their favorite morning radio show in their car, to a meditation podcast to destress on the walk to work. Still, sometimes, listeners are not always able to pick up, unlock their phone and “click to learn more.”

For forward-thinking, data-driven brands, leveraging the right tools and software is crucial when assessing the performance and ROI of those channels that connect to potential customers who are more likely to be in the market for a particular product.

As new ad formats let listeners interact with their devices, they also allow brands to measure this engagement in real time. This means the correlation between the listener ad engagement and the time of exposure that has the most impact becomes more evident. From smart speakers to mobile phones, audiences can continue engaging with audio outside the home while conducting everyday activities.

So, what does this look like for advertisers wanting to reach and engage these listeners?

Voice interaction innovations with smart devices

Brands can now connect with listeners by facilitating a voice response with more information. Interactive voice ads bring a seamless experience, allowing listeners to engage hands-free while doing activities like cooking or exercising.

According to NPR and Edison Research, 53% percent of smart speaker owners who have heard an ad on their device say they would respond to ads on their smart speaker. Almost half of the smart speaker owners who have listened to ads say that compared to hearing an ad in another place, a smart speaker would make them more likely to consider the brand.

Motion-activated ad formats

Advertisers who want to shake things up can take it to the next level by incorporating innovative ad formats into their media plans.

Imagine this: An interesting audio ad takes over your headphones and all you have to do is shake your phone to download a coupon, place a call, open a web link or invite a voice command. With a motion-activated ad format called ShakeMe, AdsWizz provides an entirely new ad experience that invites listeners to shake their phones to pursue a call to action requested in the ad.​

This technology allows advertisers to address the increasing number of mobile listeners without disrupting the listening experience. It also helps to speed up the conversion by quickly enabling the listener to purchase, donate, vote and more. While the average clickthrough rate (CTR) on a display network is 0.35%, interactive audio formats have enabled some brands to reach greater heights, such as a CTR (clicked and installed) as high as 0.97% with ShakeMe.

With compelling and immersive digital audio ad formats, enhanced targeting capabilities and relevant environments accessible to drive conversion, the future of audio will continue to innovate with engaging ad experiences for the benefit of listeners and brands.

AdsWizz is a subsidiary of SiriusXM and is the leading global provider of digital audio and podcast advertising solutions, and sister brand of SXM Media. The product features in this article are currently available via the AdsWizz ad suite.