Comparing Audio Advertising

For my current internship with Food52, I am looking to help the marketing team develop an audio advertising strategy. A number of local start-ups have seen significant success with podcast advertising so Food52 wanted to explore various audio advertising options and what it could mean for the business. Below are the different channels I am currently reviewing. These are just some notes on what I have found so far but I find it extremely interesting:

1. Podcasts

• Midroll is the leading advertising network for podcasts
• 64% of podcast listeners say they bought something after hearing about it in a podcast ad
• Advertising tends to work best when there is a specific product that can be described in 15-30 seconds
• There is no geo-targeting but you can select which shows to participate in based on the age range, gender mix, etc.
• Podcasting starts at ~$20k per month

2. Traditional Radio

• Costs
• Airtime
• Production
• Average Costs:
• New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago: from $4000 to $8000
• Dallas/Ft.Worth, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego: from $2000 to $5000
• Denver, Cleveland, Kansas City: from $1000 to $3000
• What types of stations should you focus on based on age target:
• 25-34: Alternative, Rock, Top, some Urban, Adult Contemporary
• 35-44: Rock, Adult Contemporary
• Each individual station run their own advertising. You need to contact each station individually for pricing and planning. A list of stations can be found here: Station Locator

3. NPR

• Since NPR is non-commercial/non-profit, advertising cannot contain a call to action, claims or promotions
• You can buy advertising nationally (800+ stations) or regionally
• Minimum spend is $20k for a broadcast campaign
• NPR also offers advertising in their podcasts which see 127k to 1.1 million downloads depending on the program
• Example spots: Support for NPR comes from...Garden dot com, an online source for gardening advice and home delivery of a variety of seeds, plants, home furnishings, tools and other gardening products.

4. Streaming

• Can geo, age, gender and day part target

Pandora:

• Advertising works best when targeting specific markets and especially smaller markets as an ad will run more than once per person. In a larger market, ads might only run once per listener. Ideally, you want the listener to hear the ad 2-3 times.
• Display ads are only served when a user interacts with a player.
• CTRs are higher on mobile than desktop (1.2% vs. 1.1%)

Spotify:

• There is minimal overlap between the Pandora and Spotify audience
• Audio boosts the effect of any display advertising