Podcast advertising is on the rise, with 75 per cent of media buyers placing ads on podcast platforms, according to the IAB Australia’s newly released Audio Advertising State of the Nation Report.
Podcast advertising has grown from 63 per cent in 2018.
The Audio Advertising State of the Nation Report, which is in its fourth year, found that brand awareness is the main driver for the audio market growth, particularly for podcast advertising with 48 per cent of agencies using podcasts primarily for branding, an increase from 35 per cent in 2018.
Podcasts are growing in popularity in Australia and over 1.6 million Australians downloading audio or video podcasts in an average four weeks, making the audio service an attractive brand extension for publishers looking to increase engagement with their audience across different platforms and as an additional revenue stream.
Creative was identified by the report as one of audio advertising’s greatest strengths and also its greatest challenges.
The IAB said that the ease and speed of audio creative development has proven to be a great attraction for agencies, however only 17 per cent of media agencies are consistently tailoring their creative to suit the different audio environments, which is vital when creative is the most important element of campaign impact.
Although brand awareness is the number one objective of audio advertising, only one-third of the buy-side are tracking these metrics and only 25 per cent are tracking sales.
As advertisers increase their investment, more focus is being paid to the metrics that are being used to measure success. Reach, frequency and completion are the most common metrics for podcasts.
IAB Australia CEO Gai Le Roy said “It’s clear the market has evolved from experimentation into a more strategically driven brand-building approach to digital audio advertising, reflecting the growing consumer consumption of audio formats, particularly podcasting.
The full report is available here.
IAB Australia is the peak trade association for online advertising in Australia.