With significant increase in listenership and an expanding pool of interested buyers, podcasting has become a staple component of the advertising ecosystem.
Historically dominated by disruptor brands, a new and broader mix of clients, including those with long-term brand awareness as their primary objective, are gauging options and wondering just where to start.
Ironically, but understandably, the bulk of these inquiries are coming from legacy agencies and brands, with buyers that, while seasoned and sophisticated on so many levels, are asking some rudimentary questions about podcasting.
As the dedicated media sales team for top-ranked network, PRX, we take a hands-on, prescriptive approach to our clients' needs, emphasizing the strengths of both the high-caliber audience and premium content. And to be clear, many leading publishers in the space provide buyers with a similar experience. With no two networks built alike, the benefits and options run far deeper than just show titles, themes and audience composition.
why buy premium audio direct?
At Market Enginuity we specialize in direct sales of premium audio. When applied to PRX content, buyers are purchasing directly from the publishers, “premium direct,” and that can mean a few things, including:
- Capability to control the volume and percentage (share of voice) of inventory in any given podcast title
- The ability to leverage host-reads with personal experience or endorsement within the confines of our shows (an option on most shows)
- Additional creative opportunities (e.g. “A/B Testing”) towards traditional pre-, mid- and post-roll spots
- Lower overall ad counts on a show-by-show basis (with less clutter, ads are more likely to be remembered)
programmatic networks and streaming services
To put it succinctly, when buying in this way, you are purchasing an ad network with multiple titles across a range of publishers. The benefits of this scenario include the ability to more effectively demo target your audience as well as more negotiating power around CPM. At the same time, buyers have less visibility and/or control on what shows they are buying and/or percentage of inventory of specific show titles.
While on streaming platforms that host our shows, you may be able to buy ads that tangentially appear around our content, client spots do not appear within the actual content. Ultimately, the in-content ad buying experience is independent of these platforms, and available only through our sales team.
There can be tremendous value in purchasing media from companies that sell en masse across dozens if not hundreds of titles, often sourcing content by genre or audience from multiple networks.
But the unique value proposition is very different. Some key differentiators include:
- More specific, demo targeting capabilities
- Greater fluidity on pricing
- Ability to beta test the platform with less commitment to any one network and/or podcast title
conclusion
As previously stated, there are rarely any bad options when contemplating podcasting campaigns. As a whole, industry growth has demonstrated that podcasts provide tremendous value with strong cost efficiencies that deliver profound ROI for brands.
But with significant differences in execution and value proposition, buyers should explore the capabilities of each network to ensure they understand what they are buying and how their campaigns might perform.
There is a rhyme and reason for either of the buying options of the above, but depending on your campaign objectives, both near and long-term, investigating the specifics of each network will help buyers make more informed campaign buys with a greater sense of expectations from the get-go. Contact the Market Enginuity podcast team today to discuss how your brand can benefit from audio's fastest growing medium, podcasting.
