The opportunity of programmatic audio advertising: A RAIN Summit session in Chicago

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At the RAIN Digital Audio Advertising Summit in Chicago yesterday, data and programmatic advertising came into focus. Programmatic Audio in a Data-Driven World — Making the Most of the Moment was the session title, moderated by Les Hollander, Global Head of Audio Monetization at Spotify The panelists represented four key firms across the programmatic value chain:

  • Matt Cutair, CEO, AudioHQ
  • Damien Pigasse, Vice President of Demand, AdsWizz
  • Stacy Bohrer, Regional Vice President, Business Development, the Trade Desk
  • David DeRobbio, Vice Presidnet, Global Partnership Development, Acxiom

Les Hollander began the session by asking each panelist for the most common questions asked by broadcast buyers about audio programmatic.

“Scale tends to be the biggest question off the bat,” noted Stacy Bohrer. She said that “brand safety and transparency” were also important issues for buyers, and that some buyers don’t want their ads played on user-generated content. (YouTube is currently experiencing some degree of advertiser abandonment related to that issue.) Matt Cutair asserted, “The audio industry has a big leg up in this area.”

Damien Pigasse observed that buyers’ first step is to use programmatic as a force for automation — though programmatic values go beyond just efficiency.

David DeRobbio said, “The more agencies embrace data, the more we want to partner with them.”

Hollander asked each panelist for a 20/20 vision of programmatic in the year 2020.

“Everyone who touches the strategy, from the creative to the execution, sitting at the same table” — that was the ideal scenario for Stay Bohrer. David DeBarrio predicted “more tailored messaging,” improving existing capabilities of matching message to recipient. Damien Pigasse said that more audio devices in the home would provide interesting new sources of listener data.

matt Cutair had the most plainly optimistic view of 2020: “Without a doubt, a larger percentage of overall audio budgets are going to be spent programmatically.”

Brad Hill