Continuing to build out its podcast analytics platform into a full suite of products and features, Magellan AI is now giving users access to podcast attention metrics. The company is collaborating with the media research company Adelaide to offer show-level attention ratings by campaign, which it says will provide advertisers with critical insights into advertising effectiveness.
Adelaide has created an omnichannel attention metric called AU, which predicts any ad placement’s probability of attention and subsequent impact. AU is generated by a machine-learning model that considers exposure, eye-tracking, and full-funnel outcome data. For podcasts, exposure data falls into categories like genre, ad position, ad load, and ad type. AU ratings are normalized across channels, so advertisers can easily evaluate the effectiveness of podcast advertising compared to their other media investments.
Magellan AI says the addition of AU to its platform in the coming months promises to help advertisers pinpoint the most efficient sources of attention in podcasts, fueling smarter media investment decisions and better outcomes.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the leader in attention metrics, Adelaide,” said Cameron Hendrix, CEO & Co-founder of Magellan AI. “Podcasts are one of the few channels where listeners routinely report something that advertisers new to podcasting find surprising – that they like ads in podcasts. Incorporating Adelaide’s AU data in Magellan AI’s industry-leading media planning and measurement platform adds a key metric that supports investment in podcasts as a channel.”
Through this collaboration, Magellan AI becomes one of the first podcast intelligence platforms to offer show-level attention ratings by campaign, providing advertisers with critical insights into advertising effectiveness. With download numbers currently in flux because of iOS 17 updates, that is a metric some buyers may turn to as they analyze how their podcast campaigns are performing.
Attention metrics are also gaining steam in other forms of audio. Adelaide recently applied its AU metric to an eBay audio campaign placed with iHeartMedia, Audacy and NPR.
“Adelaide’s research has demonstrated the exceptional value of audio alongside other mediums—particularly podcasts, which maintain an average AU far above channels like display and Walled Gardens,” Adelaide CEO Marc Guldimann said. “The untapped potential of high-quality podcast media is undeniable, and we look forward to working with Magellan AI to bring these insights to advertisers and help them achieve superior outcomes.”
Data from the Magellan AI platform, broken out across a large number of podcasts and individual episodes, will also be fed into Adelaide’s AU model for podcasts as part of the alliance. The companies say that will help ensure media buyers have access to comprehensive and precise attention insights.
The integration of Adelaide’s AU becomes the latest addition to Magellan AI’s platform. In November, the company announced it was teaming up with Sounder to provide marketers a brand safety solution that will verify ads ran in brand-safe and suitable audio content as well as meeting the other objectives laid out in the campaign.