What qualities do audio ads with the most engagement share? This is the focus of the new Audio Attention Report by Veritonic, marking the grand debut of its partnership with AI tech company Realeyes in the process of streamlining best practices for AM/FM and podcasts.
The study involved a group of dedicated podcast listeners who evaluated four podcast ads for a vitamin subscription service, with their reactions captured through Realeyes’ PreView technology. Spots were two different lengths, :32 and :95, with varying degrees of volume, effects, and messaging.
Realeyes’ technology combined self-reported feedback with passive attention and reaction metrics obtained via webcam, offering a comprehensive analysis of listener engagement.
Veritonic and Realeyes found audio ads with low-volume voiceovers significantly struggle to maintain listener attention, falling 10% below the established benchmark for sustained engagement.
Ads with the loudest voiceovers garnered a 36% rate of sustained attention, markedly higher than those with the lowest voiceover volume at 27%, and significantly more effective than ads burdened with excessive creative elements, which only managed to maintain a 25% attention rate.
As for ad length, the spot with the highest engagement score was 32-seconds long, outperforming its 95-second counterpart.
75% of surveyed participants indicated that a high-quality audio advertisement positively swayed their purchasing decisions. With audio advertising’s immersive and affective qualities, the report backs up the idea that advertisers who invest in properly produced audio content can expect substantial returns on investment.
Realeyes Head of Partner Strategy Alex Browne said, “We are excited to partner with Veritonic, a pioneer in audio measurement to the world’s largest advertisers, agencies, and platforms. Our work with the Audio Attention Report will provide advertisers with granular and unparalleled performance data that allows them to optimize their audio and podcast ads, and increase their ROI.”
Veritonic Founder and CEO Scott Simonelli added, “We are dedicated to collaborating with forward-thinking leaders to deliver unparalleled data and insights to advertisers, brands, agencies, and platforms around the world. Realeyes’ expertise in measuring and categorizing human responses to sound, leveraging the largest culturally sensitive AI training set, perfectly complements our decade-long refinement of AI-powered audio measurement and optimization solutions.”
