Expert Advice: Boosting Your CTV Campaigns with Audio

Think CTV is enough to make an impact? Think again. CTV may seem like the hottest media channel right now, but on its own, it creates a lot of gaps in your advertising strategy. The solution? Just add audio. Audio is the missing piece you need to transform, elevate, and supercharge your media mix.

In our latest webinar, SiriusXM Media experts partnered with the IAB to discuss the ways audio adds impact to your CTV campaigns. 

Meet the experts:

• Nidia Serrano, Vice President, Sales Marketing

• Melissa Paris, Vice President, Sales Research and Analytics

• Tori Zoellner, Director, Programmatic Sales

• Matt Shapo, Director, Digital Audio and Video, IAB

Here’s what to expect in this expert lead conversation:

• Proof that your video ads do better when you add audio

• How audio embodies everything you love about CTV, and more

• All the ways audio extends the reach, scale, and impact of your messaging—and can be transacted programmatically

• Real-life examples of brands who saw better results after adding audio

Don’t have time to watch the whole webinar? No problem. Check out some highlights from the conversation below.

Digital Audio is A Force

Highlight: “CTV and digital audio are a force in the advertising landscape, and we can see why. Linear TV has seen significant declines in reach and attention. And both CTV and digital audio have become this compelling alternative for advertisers and for audiences to engage in ways that allow us to move around and live our lives the way that we want to. So what we're seeing specifically, is that cord cutters and those who haven't ever subscribed to traditional cable are going into these different channels and accessing the content that they love and enjoy.” - Nidia Serrano

Growth Is On the Rise

Highlight: “CTV, digital audio, and podcasting were the strongest growing channels in all of digital media during that period of time. In CTV’s case, more than 230 million people. In the past year, CTV audiences are, now, for the first time ever, larger than linear TV audiences. And not far behind that, you've got digital audio coming in at about 218 million people monthly, about 200 million people weekly. So, the audience growth is a huge part of the story for both CTV and digital audio. And again, in CTV's case, the growth is explosive for premium content environments, highly addressable audiences, and personalized ad experiences.” - Matt Shapo

Shopping Habits Are Changing

Highlight: “We found that a whopping 80% of in-store shopping and in-person shopping are happening from 8AM to 5PM. And 73% of people who shopped in person between eight and five also listened to audio in that same two hour window of when they shopped. That's really what makes audio that great complement to things like CTV. Audio really is that last opportunity to reach people when they're at that point of purchase, when they're making that decision during those key hours, audio is that last opportunity to reach them.” - Melissa Paris

Audio is The Perfect Companion

Highlight: “We spend time consuming all different forms of audio throughout our day because it is such an incredible companionship medium. We are consuming it in ways that pertain to whatever our state of mind might be. Maybe we're listening to a podcast in the afternoon and we're listening to music at breakfast. If I'm walking through the aisles of a shop, the odds are that I'm going to be playing some kind of a playlist to keep me company. And if I am presented with a relevant ad at that moment in time, it is going to be that perfect opportunity to influence a purchase decision that I'm about to make.” - Matt Shapo

Invest More in Digital Audio

Highlight: “Despite audio being a major part of people's daily lives, audio ad investment is not matching their behavior. A recent study from eMarketer says that while audio represents 21.4% of total media time spent, it only accounts for 4.5% of total US advertising. And within that audio bucket, digital audio only accounts for 1.8% of that. So there's a huge gap that still needs to be filled.” - Nidia Serrano

Finding More Measurement Across Audio

Highlight: “We've done so much work to make sure that every impression that we transact can be measured across the funnel. Whether you want a brand lift metric, you want to understand what engagement looks like, or you want to know what the end result of a user's ad journey into a purchasing journey, we have tons of partnerships that are set up for that, and all of that can be measured seamlessly in your DSP. As we're starting to see markers make the addition of audio to their TV plans, they're looking for ‘how can I also use my favorite brand lift study vendor in audio?;” - Tori Zoellner

Audio Is Brand Safe

Highlight: “Streaming audio is so inherently brand safe. We have a lot of tools to make sure you're aligning with content that makes sense for you. For podcasts, we're giving you the publisher of the show and the episode name in every bid request, and that is far more transparency than you get in CTV. There's no way, in CTV, to specifically say, ‘I want to eliminate this show, or I want to eliminate that show.’ And we're giving that transparency, that access, and that decision-making ability to our buyers. Audio's always been really brand safe. I would put any brand on any one of our podcasts. I think it's very safe. It's all very professionally produced.” - Tori Zoellner

CTV + Audio = Higher Brand Lift

Highlight: “We did some tests where we exposed consumers to a brand's messages both in CTV environments and digital audio environments. We saw that those who were exposed to both saw higher message association and higher brand recall. And that was for the CPG and retail brands that we tested. So this is one example of what incrementality can mean, but we know that we are driving additional reach. We also know that when the two mediums act together, they really are better together and they do drive additional brand metrics as well.” - Melissa Paris

Audio Is A Must for Advertisers

Highlight: “Because audio is such a personal medium that we carry with us throughout the entire day, if you are looking to be an effective marketer, you can't leave it out of your toolkit. If the goal is to make sure that you reinforce whatever brand story you want to be telling to consumers over time, you have to be a part of audio… You cannot do better than digital audio when it comes to attentiveness. When you have people that are paying really close attention to the content they're consuming, they're going to be responsive to the advertising messages that are also embedded within that content.” - Matt Shapo

Adding digital audio to your CTV campaigns just makes sense. If you’re ready to extend your reach, let’s talk. And if you want to learn more about how audio can boost your media campaigns, download the Just Add Audio Report.