Podcast Boom Means Big Money for Advertisers

Are you reading this as you listen to a podcast? You’re not alone. Podcasts are big business, and it is no longer a fringe form of media. Two years ago, the public went nuts about Serial, a true crime podcast that chronicled a murder case in Baltimore. The podcast may have even had some influence on the defendant getting a new trial. From comedy podcasts like WTF and the Adam Carolla Show to health podcasts like the Rich Roll Podcast and slice of life podcasts like This American Life, there is a podcast for everyone.

According to the latest numbers from AdWeek: Nearly one in five Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 listen to podcasts at least once a month. One in three men between the ages of 18-34 claim to tune in to podcasts at least once a month. More people are listening to podcasts all of the time, which means advertisers are beginning to take notice.

The advertising industry expects to spend $700 million on advertising in podcasts this year and for good reason. It’s not just the number of people listening to podcasts; it’s also the percentage of listeners that respond to ads. Nearly two-thirds of respondents in a recent survey said that they either researched a product that they heard about in an ad or they purchased it outright. These numbers are very compelling for advertisers. In addition to that, technology has made podcast advertising a more viable option.

One of the biggest issues with podcast advertising was that the ad was usually recorded with the podcast. Therefore, someone listening to a podcast ad a few months later would not benefit from the ad as it would be obsolete. Dynamic ads have changed this and allowed advertisers to control their campaign. For advertisers like Jeff Kamikow, this could potentially increase their enthusiasm for podcast advertising. Look to see more advertisers spent on podcasts for the foreseeable future.

Advertiser Jeff Kamikow

One of the reasons why mobile advertising has seen such an influx of growth in the past few years is how users engage with their mobile devices. They don’t take a minute with their device and put it down. They use it constantly throughout the day. According to the latest statistics, users spend as much as three hours each day on their mobile devices. 2.5 hours of that is on social medial apps, making it a highly valuable source for advertisers like Jeff Kamikow. In addition to that, one in three people watch videos on their mobile devices, which should mean advertisers will invest in more video ads as well.

Mobile Advertising Expert Jeff Kamikow

 Jeff Kamikow is a mobile advertising expert who has produced mobile ads of all kinds. He would argue that a company’s mobile advertising strategy must consist of fresh content all of the time that tells a story. So how can you accomplish this?

Marketing Professional Jeff Kamikow.

Every single business has a competitor, regardless of how niche they are in the market. It doesn’t matter what industry or sector you work in, you have a competitor that’s looking to take the same customers you are trying to reach. With that in mind, you can actually learn a lot from your competitors and it’s a great idea to keep a close eye on them according to digital advertising and marketing professional Jeff Kamikow. Remember that old saying keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Well, it’s definitely a saying to live by because it can help you rise above the competition. Let’s take a look at what you can learn from your competitors!

Why Mobile Programmatic Advertising Can Work for Everyone - Jeff Kamikow

– And Why Everyone Should Have Access to Mobile Programmatic

Programmatic advertising has been the growth driver for all digital advertising for the last five years, at least. Data-driven, automated digital display advertising is more than just retargeting, more than just RTB. It’s all about reaching the right audience at the right time and with the right message, at scale. Mobile programmatic takes the practice to the next level.

With mobile programmatic, marketers can reach and engage consumers away from their desktops. By the end of this year, over $24 Billion will be spent on mobile programmatic advertising, a clear sign that marketers are catching on. Adding mobile to the programmatic equation not only means that marketers have more opportunities to reach consumers while they’re on the go, it means that location data can be easily factored in. Think about it: more and more people are getting smart phones, and they’re spending increasingly more time on them, too. By not taking advantage of the mobile programmatic opportunity, marketers are missing out on hundreds of potential touch points every single day.

 

Location data is a game-changer

• But there’s more to it than that: location data itself is imperative today. There are so many ways to use this data
• Reaching audiences as they approach your business. In real-time, target coffee lovers as they walk past your restaurant in the morning with an offer for discounted cup.
  Reaching audiences who live near your business. Location data can tell you who lives and works near your business. If you have a gym, for example, you can reach fitness enthusiasts who live within easy driving distance with your ads for free passes.
• Building audiences based on their behavior. With historical location data, you can build audience segments of people who go to the movies every Friday, who go to the gym every morning, or who dine at the same restaurant every day. Layered over other behavioral data, this can help build very detailed audience profiles that can help you create more effective campaigns.

Location data alone is a powerful reason to consider mobile advertising. Combining that with the sheer number of mobile users makes it even more persuasive. But there are actually even more reasons to consider mobile: ad formats are improving every day. In fact, mobile video advertising is becoming one of the industry’s biggest growth drivers. More than half of all digital video is viewed on mobile devices, and new native formats also becoming both popular and more effective. Innovators like Snapchat and Instagram have been introducing new, large-canvas mobile ads that are idea of storytelling.

 

In-App Reaches Engaged Users

Meanwhile, in-app advertising is getting smarter and more engaging every day. While big brand advertisers have shied away from in-app advertising in the past, they’re getting on board today. Why? Because people love apps. As eMarketer senior analyst Catherine Boyle pointed out last year (via MediaPost)…

• Mobile users spend nearly 80 percent of their mobile time using apps; Web visits are “frequent but fleeting”, making up about 20 percent of mobile time
• We’re starting to see the mobile ad dollars are follow mobile consumer behavior, so 73.2 percent of ad spending today (display plus search) now goes in-app
• A larger volume of mobile Web impressions is bought and sold in comparison to in-app impressions, but that’s largely because there are more mobile web impressions available. Of all mobile inventory purchased programmatically in 2016, it’s estimated that 70-85 percent of it was mobile Web inventory – that’s based on volume, not dollars spent. That’s changing though, as demand for in-app advertising grows.

In-app also has the advantage of providing more accurate location data, since app users generally give universal permission for an app to use their location. Mobile websites need to ask permission to use location data every session, and because this would negatively impact user experience, they generally don’t. Instead, they extrapolate data that is often less accurate.

 

Everyone should use mobile programmatic – and everyone can

The scale, reach and accuracy of mobile programmatic was once reserved for only the biggest brand advertisers. It wasn’t long ago that the practice was so exclusive that only the biggest agencies even offered programmatic advertising, while a select few big brands brought leading technology and expert teams in-house.

Now, programmatic is much more accessible. Apart from a vast selection of available inventory in both mobile and desktop display, high quality data is now available at reasonable prices. The technology playing field has also leveled out, so now even smaller players can access cutting-edge platforms.

While many smaller agencies now offer programmatic advertising services for companies of all sizes, there are tools available today that smaller businesses can access on their own, on a self-service basis. These cost-effective demand-side platforms (DSPs) give growing businesses access to the same inventory and scale that their Goliath-sized competitors have, often for a fraction of the cost. With the right partner to help them along, small businesses can truly compete, particularly in local markets – and even win.

Mobile programmatic shouldn’t just be for major franchises and global brands. In this era, digital is an imperative for all businesses, and mobile is becoming just as critical. Moving forward, programmatic will become – in short order – another “must-have” for businesses of all sizes. The power to find, reach and engage local audiences will be the key to making any growing business a success.

Want to learn more about how mobile programmatic advertising can help your growing business? Contact Cross Audience today.

SERPs Warning: If you are Below #4, You Are Invisible - Jeff Kamikow

Do you think SEO is dead? On mobile it certainly isn’t. A new eye-tracking study just released by Mediative shows where people’s eyes go on mobile SERPs, and the results don’t look good if you’re not ranked well.

The study sought to answer four questions:

1.    Where do mobile users search and click the most and how do they differ from desktop users?
2.    How do SERP position relate to views and clicks on mobile devices?
3.    How does the need for scrolling affect views and clicks?
4.    From this data, what do advertisers need to do to ensure visibility and clicks on mobile SERPs?

Google’s alteration of search page layouts over the years has trained people to search in different ways. Now that there are knowledge panels, more ads at the top of results, people are willing to scroll a bit to get to the first real organic listing. On mobile devices, only 7.4% of clicks happened on a result below the fourth organic result regardless of how many ads and extra Google features appeared above it. This is compared to 16% on desktop.

The effect of ads and knowledge panels is huge on mobile. In many searches the first thing that fills the screen is the knowledge panel, then a certain number of ads before the organic results are reached. People still scroll down for that #1 position, but that spot has a lot of competition. Another finding was that 11% more people are clicking on the knowledge panel compared to desktop, and that almost 22% fewer clicks went to the #1 organic spot.

This is huge. Businesses that can integrate themselves into Google’s system so they appear on knowledge panels have a strong advantage. But that doesn’t mean that being in the top organic spot isn’t important. In mobile SERPs that only had organic listings, 99% of people looked at that top spot and 40% clicked on it. Compare this to 83% of views and 34% of clicks on a desktop. Also, 75% of the clicks fell on the first four results compared to 60% on a desktop.

What about PPC ads? Unlike a desktop where the eye usually has enough room to skip down, ads are much more visible on mobile. 91% of the people tracked saw the top sponsored ad. For the top two ads, clicks on average rose by 4.7% compared to desktop. However, placements in maps and local searches receive far more clicks regardless of whether they appear above or below organic search results.

The results are crystal clear. You must optimize very well for mobile if you are going to make any headway with mobile marketing. Fortunately, many businesses are still focused almost entirely on desktop SEO. Start applying mobile SEO techniques now so you’ll be ahead of the game.

Tripling Your Lunch Crowd with Mobile App Conquesting - Jeff Kamikow

Jeff Kamikow, President and CEO of Cross Audience.

The quick-serve restaurant space is pretty darned competitive. Any given downtown or business district has a zillion options to choose from – from subs, to pizza, to southern-fried chicken. And most of those restaurants, particularly if they’re chains, have a mobile app.

A restaurant chain we recently partnered with was in a particularly tight spot. Not only were they losing business to neighboring competitors, they were targeting a harder-to-reach demographic and desperately needed to raise their mobile game. Like many QSRs, this chain had a mobile app, but they weren’t seeing the adoption they wanted, especially not from the niche audience they were aiming to reach.

This QSR is usually found in busy Main Street-type areas or shopping districts, surrounded by Subways, Pita Pits, Pizza Huts and other popular chain restaurants. While that physical competition will always be present, our client was a disadvantage because they lacked mobile sophistication. They had an app, but most consumers didn’t know about or use it – despite the fact that it could make the process of ordering and picking up food fast, easier, and often less expensive.

The best solution was mobile app conquesting. By targeting locally, demographically, and by the apps consumers in their target audience used, we knew we could help them boost their peak-time business significantly. And since we were targeting certain mealtimes, we used dayparting to their advantage, as well.

Using our relationships with premium publishers, as well as our own troves of first-party data, were able to reach and engage users from within their target demo who regularly used other popular QSR apps. We used enticing creatives to invite them to download our client’s app by extolling its many benefits, including convenience and exclusive, app-only coupons. Creatives were designed for breakfast, lunch and dinner crowds, and copy and images related to mealtime decision-making. The custom creatives were designed in three different standard sizes (320X50, 320X480, and 300X250).

The campaign was day-parted according to three logical segments: Breakfast (5am-10am), lunch (10am-3pm), dinner (3pm-8pm) and late night (8pm-5am). Iterations of each ad were created so that messages could be A/B tested and the campaign could be optimized on an ongoing basis. We also employed geo-fencing since the audience obviously needed to be within easy driving distance of a restaurant.

The biggest ads got the most engagement, which shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone. And because they were targeted to people who already use QSR apps with an ad for a nearby restaurant close to a mealtime, results were promising across the campaign. Engagement rates with the ads averaged about four percent across the board, and were highest for the 320×480 placements. More importantly, all that engagement came from the target demographic.

The campaign drove seven percent conversion, totalling about five hundred installations per day throughout the two months. Dinner received the biggest bump, followed by lunch and then breakfast.

Users were eager to take advantage of the offers and streamline the ordering of their meals while getting exclusive discounts.

While this strategy worked extremely well for this particular restaurant, it can work for any restaurant, using a variety of benefits to entice users. A well-known pizza chain used Scene movie points to their advantage as an app-only benefit. Other restaurants offer free sides with app orders, Air Miles, and other perks.

The point is – mobile app conquesting works, and it’s highly customizable. Target users from a competitive business, offer them a unique benefit, and see for yourself how dramatic the results can be.

Contact us for a free consultation.