Advertiser Platforms
Acast | July 27, 2023
Veritonic, the industry’s comprehensive audio analytics and research platform, partnered with Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, to bring new data to market around the commonalities - and divergence - of audio creative on podcast ads served programmatically. In addition to identifying these global overlaps and points of difference, the goal of the research was also to help media buyers identify strong tactics and best practices in programmatic podcast advertising across three key media markets: the US, Australia and New Zealand, and EMEA.
Together, the companies sourced and analyzed podcast ads transacted programmatically with Acast and spanning various industry verticals including: automotive, tourism, retail, healthcare, entertainment, and more. They then identified the common threads and differences in the creative executions by region by examining themes like ad length, number of voiceovers, gender of voiceover, use of sound effects, call to action placements, and more.
“As an industry there is still a lot of myth-busting to do around programmatic ad buying. At Acast, we firmly believe that programmatic advertising should not be a rigid experience for the media buyer, podcast host, and certainly not the listener,” said Elli Dimitroulakos, Global Head of Ad Innovation at Acast. “Podcast advertising is effective because it’s a seamless part of the listening experience and that shouldn’t change based on how a transaction occurs. Programmatic ads can – and should – have creative elements that enhance the listener experience and brand relationship.”
According to the research, across all markets the majority of ads were a minimum of 30 seconds in length. This was most predominant in the US and EMEA regions which resulted in 80% and 73% of the examined ads, respectively. The Australia and New Zealand market trailed slightly behind with 56% of programmatic ads running at least 30 seconds long. The remaining 44% in the market were 15 seconds in length.
All three markets also reflected similarities in the use of single voices for the voiceover content. The US led the way with 86% of programmatic ads in the study using a single voice for the voiceover. EMEA and Australia and New Zealand were most similar with 66% and 68% of programmatic ads using a single voice for the voiceover, respectively.
However, when it came to gender detection in voiceover content, dissimilarities across the markets presented themselves. In the US, half of ads analyzed featured a female voiceover, 47% of ads featured a male voiceover, and the remaining 3% featuring both male and female voiceovers. Looking at ads that ran in Australia and New Zealand, 53% of the creatives featured a female voice over, but just 27% a male voice, and 20% contained both a female and a male voiceover.
In near equal numbers, the three regions all used sound effects in slightly less than the majority of programmatic ads, indicating that this may be a newly emerging trend in the space. According to the study, sound effects including birds chirping, phones ringing, engines revving, and more were used in 40% of programmatic ads from the US, 38% from Australia and New Zealand, and 33% in EMEA.
“Hope is not a strategy; it’s no longer enough for a brand to create an audio asset and simply hope it’ll move the needle,” said Scott Simonelli, CEO of Veritonic. “Having confidence that your marketing efforts and investments will pay off is crucial, especially in today’s economy. With audio reaching more than 214M adults in the U.S. monthly and having a 36% higher impact on memory than video, marketers need to be leveraging creative testing solutions like the Veritonic platform to ensure they are putting their best audio creative forward, regardless of how the ad itself is purchased or served.”
For more information on how you can make decisions in audio by leveraging the industry’s most comprehensive research and analytics solutions, contact marketing@veritonic.com. For more information on buying podcast ads programmatically, please contact automated@acast.com.
About Veritonic
World-renowned brands, agencies, publishers, and platforms rely on Veritonic’s comprehensive audio research and analytics platform to research, test, and measure the ROI of their audio assets and campaigns pre-market, in-market, and post-campaign. The resulting insight enables clients to gain confidence in their audio investment, mitigate risk through optimization, and increase their return as they engage consumers with compelling audio experiences. For more information, visit https://www.veritonic.com.
About Acast
Since 2014, Acast has been creating the world’s most valuable podcast marketplace, building the technology which connects podcast creators, advertisers and listeners. Its marketplace spans 92,000 podcasts, 2,300 advertisers and 430 million monthly listens. Crucially, those listens are monetized wherever they happen — across any podcasting app or other listening platform. The company operates worldwide and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Acast is listed on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market (ACAST.ST).
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Ad Networks, Ad Tech and Martech
Integral Ad Science | July 13, 2023
Anzu, the most advanced intrinsic in-game advertising solution, and Integral Ad Science (IAS), a leading global media measurement and optimisation platform, have announced the launch of the industry’s first solution that measures viewability and invalid traffic (IVT) across 2D and 3D gaming environments and tracks them within the IAS signal platform.
Gamers play two or more hours of video games every single day, so the need to monitor media quality has never been more important. This next step in intrinsic in-game ad measurement provides advertisers with additional trust and confidence when investing in-game. Last July, Anzu and IAS launched an in-game measurement solution for mobile environments. This new solution builds on its previous offering, working across programmatic and direct buys for display and video ads, and spans mobile, PC, and console gaming platforms.
Last year marked a considerable step forward in establishing intrinsic in-game advertising as a recognised ad format with the release of the updated intrinsic in-game advertising guidelines from the IAB and MRC. IAS and Anzu’s new offering was created with these guidelines/standards in mind.
“When founding Anzu, we knew that for in-game to succeed, advertisers would need a robust and transparent way to measure their success and be able to compare it to other mediums, which is why this area has been a core focus for us as a business from day one,” said Ben Fenster, co-founder and CPO, at Anzu. “It’s been great to work together with IAS on this first-to-market solution which marks a significant step forward in how measurement is done within the in-game advertising space.”
“We know that gaming is one of the most compelling environments for advertisers because consumers bring passion, focus, and dedication when they are playing,” said Yannis Dosios, chief commercial officer at IAS. “Our expanded partnership with Anzu brings IAS’s powerful viewability and invalid traffic measurement products to in-game 3D settings for the first time, demonstrating our leadership in the gaming space while providing marketers with even greater levels of transparency and actionable data to deliver results for their campaigns.”
In addition to this launch, earlier this year, Anzu was granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its innovative ad-tracking technology, compliant with new in-game advertising standards and third-party brand safety solutions. Anzu was also recently awarded Best Use Of Emerging Media at the Digiday Media Buying and Planning Awards for an in-game campaign with the iconic fashion brand Levi’s.
About Integral Ad Science
Integral Ad Science (IAS) is a global leader in digital media quality. IAS makes every impression count, ensuring that ads are viewable by real people, in safe and suitable environments, activating contextual targeting, and driving supply path optimization. Our mission is to be the global benchmark for trust and transparency in digital media quality for the world’s leading brands, publishers, and platforms. We do this through data-driven technologies with actionable real-time signals and insight. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in New York, IAS works with thousands of top advertisers and premium publishers worldwide. For more information, visit integralads.com.
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Ad Tech and Martech
Business Wire | August 25, 2023
Veritone, Inc. (NASDAQ: VERI), a leader in enterprise AI software and services, today announced that its subsidiary, Table Rock Management LLC, has entered into an exclusive advertising direct sales monetization agreement with SpokenLayer, a full-service creative studio specializing in custom, short-form digital audio content for the media and entertainment industries. Through this strategic collaboration, Veritone will serve as the exclusive ad sales agent for SpokenLayer, representing its entire portfolio of short-form podcasts, or “microcasts,” which includes revered publishing partners such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Wired, TechCrunch and more.
Recognizing the enormous growth opportunities in the short-form audio landscape, Veritone is pleased to be SpokenLayer's strategic partner to help handle the intricate task of monetizing SpokenLayer's extensive network of short-form daily and weekly podcasts. Additionally, Veritone will support SpokenLayer's desire to focus resources on enhancing content creation, refining storytelling and maintaining its reputation as a thought leader in the short-form audio creation and production industry.
Veritone, renowned for its advanced AI-powered solutions and expertise in podcast monetization, emerged as an ideal collaborator for SpokenLayer's ambitious goals. With a proven track record in ad sales and a strong foothold in the industry, Veritone will act as the exclusive direct ad seller for SpokenLayer, forging new avenues for revenue generation.
"By entrusting our ad sales to Veritone, we can focus more on doing what we do best: crafting extraordinary short-form audio content," said Will Mayo, founder of SpokenLayer. "With Veritone's best-in-class sales prowess, our inventory is in expert hands for monetization, and we’re poised to elevate our publishers' experience, while unlocking new dimensions of ad monetization and delivering unmatched engagement to our audiences."
This partnership will enable SpokenLayer to leverage Veritone's ad sales expertise, streamlining operations, amplifying monetization efforts, and expanding the reach of its extensive microcast network. Furthermore, SpokenLayer will have the opportunity to leverage Veritone’s award winning generative AI technologies, including Veritone Voice, to produce and syndicate their microcasts into multiple foreign languages for expanded distribution and reach. SpokenLayer will also gain valuable audience insights and allow the company to focus more exclusively on content refinement and audience engagement.
"We are excited to be selected as the exclusive ad sales partner for SpokenLayer's network of short-form podcasts," said John Murphy, senior vice president of content monetization, Commercial Enterprise at Veritone. "Through this strategic alliance, we will leverage our robust industry relationships and proven advertising sales knowledge to drive exceptional monetization outcomes for SpokenLayer."
As the exclusive direct ad seller for SpokenLayer, Veritone will connect brands and agencies with a diverse array of microcast genres, covering business, technology, finance, family, gaming and more, across SpokenLayer's network.
Since its inception in 2012, SpokenLayer has achieved incredible success in producing captivating, short-form "snackable" podcasts, collaborating with prominent publishers and advertisers, including Conde Nast, General Mills, The Wall Street Journal, Audible, Group Nine, The Economist, Starbucks, Time, and Tribune. With over 320,000 episodes of content, SpokenLayer continues to set the bar in the short-form audio creation domain.
About Veritone
Veritone (NASDAQ: VERI) is a leader in enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Serving organizations in both commercial and regulated sectors, Veritone’s software, services, and industry applications simplify data management, empowering the largest and most recognizable brands in the world to run more efficiently, accelerate decision making and increase profitability. Veritone’s leading Enterprise AI platform, aiWARE™, orchestrates an ever-growing ecosystem of machine learning models to transform audio, video and other data sources into actionable intelligence. Through its robust partner ecosystem and professional and managed services, Veritone develops and builds AI solutions that solve problems of today and tomorrow.
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