The day after David Bowie died in January 2016, Pandora users generated 200,000 Bowie-themed stations. The solar eclipse last August drove a 3,000 percent leap in Spotify plays for Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Music lasts, in other words, but the way we listen to it does not.
Now, the leading streaming services are trying to change things again, taking into account smart speakers and implementing new layers of audio ad tech.
“Voice is very disruptive and here’s why: You’ll eventually be able to interact with the ads coming through the audio,” says Michael Dougherty, CEO and founder of audio ad tech company Jelli. “The first wave happened in 2010, when mobile, not desktop, became the largest channel to stream audio. Now you’re seeing voice as the next wave, where voice-initiated listening on Pandora is the highest-growth category for them.”
The question is whether enough marketers will hear the pitch.
Pandora and Spotify “can help you build out playlists based on your mood, your personal preferences or where you are,” says Tiffany Ray, managing director of digital strategy at Mindshare North America. “And because you can access these platforms across personal devices, your car and the connected home, there’s an opportunity to engage consumers depending on how they’re listening, by the device. [Yet] many marketers still put out the same generic 15- or 30-second audio ad. They treat digital audio like terrestrial radio, and that’s the biggest mistake you can make.”
Read More at The Original Article: adage.com
