A new study from Magna Global and Audacy finds that advertisers could improve engagement and purchase intent from their audio advertising by embracing the listening rituals of Americans, whether it is drivetime radio or daily news podcasts in the morning, upbeat music-based content during a midday workout, or an evening wind-down with a true crime podcast. The study also reveals the stronger the match between the ad and the content or ritual, the bigger impact the ad will have for marketers.
“We’ve studied contextual in video before, but this is our first time to study it in audio, so we wanted to explore how consumers reacted to all types of audio advertising, from contextually aligned to non-aligned, across every daypart and layers of the funnel,” said Kara Manatt, Executive VP/Managing Director of Intelligence Solutions at Magna. “We were especially intrigued to note how daily rituals imply moments of calm and continuity in listeners’ lives and that brands that tap into these touchstones benefit tremendously.”
Key to the study is what is referred to as contextual alignment. It includes having the ad align with the genre that is more relevant to a brand – such as serving a credit card ad to listeners of a financial podcast. There is also ritual-based alignment, whereby the audio matches up with the behavior that is relevant to the brand, such as a commercial for athleisure clothing to someone working out.
To test the two methods of targeting, Magna’s Media Trials unit recruited 1,920 weekly audio listeners – both radio and podcast – and working with Audacy they tested both genre-based ads—such as a telecom brand advertising during an entertainment broadcast—and ritual-based ads—such as destination advertising during a “me-time” ritual--to examine the spectrum of contextual-alignment opportunities.
Overall, the study found audio ads lifted scores for things like brand favorability, purchase intent and search intent. But by aligning with a listener’s habits and rituals, Magna says there was a bigger impact on metrics lower on the purchase funnel, such as purchase intent or looking for more information about a product. A big reason was that listeners had a 12% increase in feeling connected to the brand when the ad tied into their daily rituals. That compared to a three percent increase for non-aligned ads.
“Audio advertisers can amplify the effectiveness of their buys through ritual moments,” said Idil Cakim, SVP, Head of Research and Insights at Audacy. “Study participants agreed that the stronger the match between advertisement and content, the better the outcome for KPIs like brand favorability and purchase intent.” The data shows 78% of participants agreed that strong content/ad matches mattered in brand favorability and 80% for purchase intent.
Magna’s study shows that contextually aligned ads have the propensity to both excite (+10%) and create relevance (+8%) for brands, especially among those who are in-market to buy their product or service. But it reveals audio ads worked better when they generated excitement.
Participants who felt “energized or excited” by their audio content were 24% more likely to state the test ads “caught my attention, and were 16% more likely to be open to the ads at the time of listening. Those engaged and excited listeners also were 10% more likely to search for the brand according to the research.
Magna says listeners who were either energized or excited by the content they were consuming were also more receptive to the commercial’s message. It says the study found that advertisers who aligned with listeners’ rituals saw a greater lift in brand excitement (+10%) and brand relevance (+8%).
Contextually aligning ads amplifies the information shared in audio ads, Magna says, explaining this is especially true among in-market audiences, were 73% agree that these contextually-aligned ads “taught them something new.” And regardless of the type of contextual alignment – either ritual or genre-based – it says each approach has the propensity to drive search intent (+15% and +16%, respectively).
The opportunity for marketers to reach consumers comes via the data that determined that 74% of listeners incorporated audio into their daily rituals and 40% planned their day/activities around audio content. Just what are consumers doing as they stream podcasts and listen to music? A ranking of typical listening rituals featured in a previous Audacy study, was topped by running general errands (85%) and doing home maintenance (84%). Consumer engagement levels, though, were most heightened during me-time moments (73%), putting my child to bed (70%) and exercising outdoors (68%).
To conduct the test, Magna’s Media Trials unit did testing among 1,920 weekly audio listeners who listened to 30-minute content blocks, ranging from podcasts to news, sports and music, interspersed with ads from three brands, covering the retail, telecom and travel industries. The participants answered a range of questions to determine advertising effectiveness and establish their mood and receptivity.
Download the complete Aligning with Rituals: The Contextual Foundation of Audio study HERE.
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