Pandora To Launch Dynamic Audio Ads and Sequential Messaging

What Happened
Pandora is planning to bring dynamic creatives to audio ads. The streaming service is teaming up with UK-based dynamic ad tech vendor A Million Ads to target consumers in real time with personalized messages. Brands looking to leverage dynamic audio can record a script with multiple message variations to address listeners based on a range of geographic locations, weather conditions, or calls to action.

Moreover, Pandora also announced it will add support for sequential and cross-platform messaging soon, offering brands more time to explain their products or services over several successive ad spots. These two new ad products will launch later this year in beta.

What Brands Need To Do
Dynamic creative is nothing new in display ads, but to execute it in audio ads on a streaming service is still quite new. Results from our media trial study with Yahoo indicates clear benefits of personalized ads, showing advertisers who utilized personalization saw significant increases in overall favorability and purchase intent. Pandora boasts over 78 million monthly active users, the vast majority of which uses the service on a free, ad-supported tier. Therefore, brand marketers looking to connect with music streamers on Pandora should consider these two upcoming new ad units to reach their target customers more effectively.

 


Source: AdWeek

 

Spotify Now Lets Brands Sponsor Its Popular Playlists

What Happened
Spotify has introduced another ad product for brands to connect with its over 100 million users worldwide. Brands can now sponsor some of the most popular playlists curated by the music streaming service, with a message that matches the playlist of their choice. Dubbed Sponsored Playlists, the new ad unit matches a marketer with a playlist that aligns with the target audience they have in mind. For example, an athletic wear brand would be a good fit to sponsor a workout playlist. Kia, McDonald’s, and Target are among the advertisers that have tried it out during beta testing. Spotify also says it will help drive users to a playlist during the sponsorship through native promotion and social media.

What Brands Need To Do
Playlists are one of Spotify’s most popular features, with its top playlists amassing millions of followers. For example, the Today’s Top Hits playlist currently has 8 million followers, and its personalized Discover Weekly playlist has reached 40 million users so far. For brands, this offers an interesting way to get their messages across in an organic way. And because those messages are embedded within playlists, they can even reach paid subscribers.

For more information on how brands can earn consumer attention with branded content or sponsorships, please check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016.

 


Source: AdWeek


Header image courtesy of Spotify’s Vimeo video

Sony Adds Spotify Integration

Read original story on: Wired

Sony announced that it’s replacing its existing streaming music service, Sony Music Unlimited, with a new Spotify-powered service called PlayStation Music. With the Spotify partnership, Sony acquires not only an immense library of music, but also the infrastructure to infiltrate the increasingly competitive streaming music market. The new service is set to launch some time this spring on the PS4 and PS3 game consoles, as well as on Sony’s Xperia smartphones and tablets.