A new report highlights key insights for radio sellers aiming to attract ad buyers and brands to AM/FM. Conducted by Oxford Road, “What Brands Want: How the Audio Industry Can Win Over Advertisers” uses findings from polls and discussions with Chief Audio Officers from frequent OTA radio and podcast advertisers such as DraftKings, BetterHelp, and Indeed.
Despite the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence in various industries, brands remain cautious about its application in audio advertising. 80% of CAOs rated their comfort level with AI-generated host reads or cloned voices for personal endorsements between 0 and 2 on a scale of 0-5. Only 8% expressed high comfort levels.
Brands value authentic human connections and genuine endorsements from real voices.
Babbel’s Emily Deason added, “We give hosts a lot of freedom. There is a degree of hand-holding at the beginning, so we onboard them and show them how to use the product as well as prompts. They can use the prompts or talk about their own personal tie-in. We want them to feel confident.”
One of the most striking findings is the dissatisfaction with current audio measurement tools. An overwhelming 83% of Chief Audio Officers surveyed find the tools used to measure audio advertising to be “much less” or “somewhat less useful” than those available for other channels.
Brands are seeking more reliable and effective measurement solutions to gauge the impact of their audio campaigns. 64% of CAOs focus on lower-funnel metrics, emphasizing the need for tools that can accurately track conversions and ROI.
Rion Swartz, a former Chief Audio Officer with previous roles at Shutterstock, LegalZoom, and Constant Contact highlighted the issue, saying, “I want to look at every channel independently. I want to find a source of truth where I can see KPIs and metrics, ROI… and hone in on that so I can optimize within the channel from a program platform basis. But you can’t lose sight of the whole business.”
Brand safety also remains a critical concern, but advertisers are wary of overly restrictive practices that limit their media options. When asked about their primary brand safety concerns, 62% of CAOs named political extremism, while 23% pointed to political leanings.
BetterHelp’s Brittany Clevenger stated, “We need the human touch. We hired a brand safety manager internally who vets every podcast we’re going to advertise on and influencers. At the end of the day, our goal is to not eliminate too many shows. Utilizing our human touch, we reduce the number of shows we try to eliminate. Use the tools, but don’t only use the tools.”
For radio broadcasters and podcasters, these insights present both challenges and opportunities. The demand for better measurement tools calls for innovation in analytics and reporting. Ensuring that advertisers can confidently track their ROI is crucial for retaining and attracting ad spend in the audio space.
Personalities should also be happy to hear that the preference for authentic human voices over AI indicates a continued reliance on talent and the personal connections they foster with audiences. This underscores the importance of nurturing relationships with hosts and influencers who can deliver sincere endorsements.
Lastly, striking the right balance in brand safety practices can open up more opportunities for advertisers while maintaining the integrity of both the brand and the content.
Great that a company will hire a “brand safety manager”. That’s presumably the exception rather than the rule in my opinion. Companies these days want to make money, and save money in the process. A lot of questions should be involved with audio advertising -but the #1 reason to advertise is results. That’s the measurement advertisers should use to gauge the results. Audio measurement, mostly by “estimates”, is still lacking in credibility and when an advertiser sees a return on that investment – that’s a true success story. For example you can advertise on the #1 media outlet, but if the offer is lacking, creative is lacking and your creative is the 13th item in a 10 minute commercial set, how can you win?
So many humans available…