MARCO ISLAND, Fla. – Podcasts extend the time people spend with media, giving listeners a way to listen to a wide range of spoken word content while doing other things like commuting, doing housework, or exercising. Audio formats also offer marketers a way to reach engaged audiences with data-driven advertising strategies.
“Audio is much more important than it used to be,” said Jen Sok, executive director of channel solutions at WPP GroupM, in an interview at the IAB Annual Leadership Conference. “We used to just talk about terrestrial TV, but streaming and podcasting has transformed us into this new field.”
In the early days of the pandemic lockdown, many celebrities started podcasts to entertain their fans as they quarantined themselves at home. Their efforts helped increase viewership among consumers hungry for fresh content.
“It created a very personal experience for people to put their iPods in and go for a walk when they were at home, and it felt like they were having a one-on-one connection with a celebrity,” Sock said. I did.
As podcasting evolved into a streaming format rather than downloadable audio “pods,” the potential for more dynamic ad insertion emerged. With streaming content, brands can also use advertising pixels, which are snippets of code that help collect data about user activity on digital media.
“Now it's easier to track. I'll pixelate it,” Sock said. “We can see how long they've been using it. And we can dig even deeper into the engagement elements that we had before.”
The combination of local TV and CTV is promising for media buyers: GroupM's Jen Sok
You're watching IAB ALM 2024's Beet.TV Leadership Series “Digital Media Transition” hosted by Sharethrough. Check out this page for more videos in this series.
