In January we were impressed by the Podcast Buying Guide released by cabana, AdLarge’s digital audio division. So when we heard about an upcoming Streaming Audio Buying Guide we were keen to get our hands on it.
Carrying forward the tone, features, and general formatting of the podcast document, the Streaming Audio Buying Guide lays out a basic understanding of how advertising works in the medium. With carefully articulated clarity, the guide digs deep enough into details to give ad buyers a rounded understanding of how digital audio advertising works, without tangling the reader in abstruse tech details. This is accomplished in six pages that are carefully constructed with clear, short bursts of knowledge assembled in sensible groupings.
An initial introductory page covers the basic facts of streaming audio, targeted to outliers who really haven’t kept up with the tectonic changes in digital audio distribution. From there it’s on to a more granular look at innovations that consumers have adopted, with a strong advocacy that brands and buyers need to adjust as well. The booklet is crammed with statics culled from BuzzAngle, AudienceNet, Edison Research, Nielsen, GlobalWebIndex, and Group M. AdLarge does its homework.
A short and useful glossary defines a dozen key terms like DSP, Pureplay, and Ad Server. In our view the glossary could be longer, but we appreciate the conciseness which governs AdLarge’s approach to its guides. It is maximum usefulness in a disciplined, compact format.
Naturally, the guide is a promotion for cabana’s ad-buying service, as all such guides are for their respective companies. At the same time it is interesting as an informational piece of work, and a glimpse into how a digital audio advertising company frames its view of the industry to prospective clients.