The podcast market looks very different across the pond.
Performance marketing accounts for more than half of the $1.8 billion US advertising industry (expected to reach $2.3 billion this year). According to Christiana Brenton-Telling, founding partner of the new podcast media and consultancy, podcasts account for less than 20% of advertising spend in the UK.
According to Georgina Holt, founder of Telling, marketers have long supported the podcast industry in the US and contributed to its success. Brands like BetterHelp, MailChimp, and Casper have used podcast marketing budgets to acquire and convert new customers.
The UK podcast industry relies heavily on brand dollars, Holt says, with companies and large ad agencies driving conversions to branding.
As clouds of economic uncertainty put pressure on CMOs and CFOs to deliver ROI on every dollar of advertising budget, "we want to prove that podcasts are a great tool for lower funnel sizes, sales conversions." Holt said, "We also know that podcasting can impact your entire marketing funnel if you do it strategically."
I will tell you
Telling, which launched as a UK podcast agency in July, is targeting high-growth DTC brands in the UK and European markets, as well as US DTC brands, to expand its reach globally.
The agency is already working with its first client, Mindlift, on a three-month trial campaign in the US. Consumer apparel brand DTC has landed three show sponsors and is running audio ads on more than 50 news and trade podcasts, including the BBC, The Financial Times, The Economist and The Guardian. Holt says the brand is an "ideal client" for podcast advertising because the medium is good at explaining the benefits of the technology. The campaign, Mindlift's first experimental podcast, includes personal endorsements of lyrics by hosts and producers.
Brenton said the agency will track CPA results through special podcast discount codes and pixel-based attribution on the Myndlift site. It says it plans to share its campaign ideas with Myndlift to grow its business by testing and increasing website traffic and long-term memberships, including in the UK and Europe.
Brenton said Telling is also working with other brands on direct synthesizers for the UK market.
Currently, Telling's only employees are co-founders Holt and Brenton. Brenton buys units from advertisers and marketplaces, while Holt works directly with creators, publishers and agents.
Both founders are Acast alumni and podcast veterans who have worked with media providers in the US, UK and Australia, which they see as a distinct advantage over other agencies.
"We have hundreds and hundreds of podcast campaign results running in the world's largest independent podcast marketplace," Brenton said, and "two decades of testing and learning from American DTC brands."
While he declined to share the exact combination of podcasting, airtime and ad creation to drive measurable growth for advertisers, he noted the importance of choosing and learning about the right hosts and podcasters who test the products for specific endorsements. that. - roll. Ads are higher than pre-ordered ads.
Automated promotion
The podcast industry has been reluctant to embrace programmatic podcasting.
"There's certainly a perception in the fulfillment world that reading just one lead can lead to lower funnel sales conversions," says Brenton. But at Acast, he saw firsthand how effective bots can be.
In the case of the Orangetheory Fitness test, the exercise channel ran a podcast test campaign in conjunction with the podcast. For the beta campaign, it ran audio campaigns programmatically through the Trading Desk, using Acast's historical first-party data and reporting on content records in the bid stream for real-time campaign optimization. Podcasts achieved a 16% better CPA than all audio inventory tested, demonstrating the power of audience-specific podcast tools.
"When planned well, with the right targeting and creativity, you can deliver absolutely CPA with programmatic ads," says Brenton.
Of course, Telling in the UK and Europe will be subject to GDPR restrictions that prevent the agency from accepting past data. But Telling has some solutions.
For example, Nielsen may tap into third-party audiences to find similar audiences, work with local vendors (or directly with creators) to gain insight into specific audiences, and test tactics such as audience surveys and social profiling.
The agency is also interested in testing technologies ranging from measurement and attribution tools to brand safety technologies to artificial intelligence. In particular, AI software can enable more precise location-based targeting, allow advertisers to register a wider variety of ad formats, or personalize ads read by ad owners. "Performance increases with relevance and context," says Brenton.
But performance is only part of the picture.
Holt said podcasting attracts dedicated listeners who "spend countless hours each week to their favorite shows." While attention leads to conversions, marketers' ad spend doesn't match that attention.
"In short, it's a performance marketing story," he said. "And in the long run, that's the story of audio investment gaps."
