Digital audio advertising network TargetSpot has released the results of its "Attitudes Towards Digital Audio Advertising" Study. Conducted by Parks Associates, this report unveils key new insights about what drives response and engagement in Digital Audio advertising, and illustrates the effectiveness of the platform for connecting with consumers. Key findings include the importance of perceived value to the listener, proper targeting and customized messaging in order to maximize impact.

Digital Audio listeners already derive additional value from their listening experience through the interactive elements that the medium provides. The same expectation applies to Digital Audio advertising: the majority of listeners don’t mind ads if they think they will receive something in return. According to the study, 59 percent of Digital Audio listeners like to get coupons, special offers or discounts; 55 percent don’t mind ads as long as they have free access to favorite stations, and 37 percent are willing to "like" an ad in order to receive discounts or special promotions for the product/service. 

Listeners are also happy to receive branded stations and playlists from advertisers because they value the content. In fact, 34 percent said they are more likely to remember an advertiser if the media player has the advertiser’s logo or design, 30 percent said that branded stations improved their perception of the sponsoring advertiser and 27 percent said they were more inclined to buy products from the sponsoring brand. 

Mobile devices provide another platform for advertisers to reach a receptive and ever-increasing Digital Audio audience, as 27 percent of Digital Audio listeners do not mind getting ads on their mobile device for products/services they are interested in and the same percentage does not mind being targeted based on their physical location.

Digital Audio listeners are highly accepting of targeted advertising: 65 percent are comfortable receiving ads based on their personal profiles and 70 percent are comfortable receiving ads based on their Internet Radio usage and/or content preference. Additionally, listeners to multiple Internet Radio stations are 65 percent more comfortable being targeted based on their profile and 52 percent more comfortable being targeted based on their usage and content preferences than are single-site listeners.

Targeted advertising content resonates with Digital Audio listeners because it speaks directly to specific audiences and appeals to their individual interests. Correctly targeting the listener is critical, as is the creative messaging, since 35 percent of consumers who responded to a Digital Audio ad believe they were personally targeted. Additionally, Internet Radio listeners who listen across multiple Internet Radio sites are even more likely to feel ads are specifically speaking to them compared to single-site listeners. Nearly 39 percent of respondents to Internet Radio ads who listen to multiple stations daily believe they are being targeted by ads, versus 21 percent of those who listen to only one Internet Radio station.

Digital Audio advertising effectiveness metrics indicate that recall and response are high and increasing year over year. According to the study, 58 percent of Internet Radio listeners recall having seen or heard an Internet Radio ad in the last 30 days, up 12 percent from last year. Of those who recalled an Internet Radio ad, 44 percent responded to it in some way, up 10 percent from last year. 

Since one way Digital Audio users maintain a connection to their listening experience is by changing stations, it correlates that multi-site listeners are even more responsive to advertising: 66 percent recall seeing or hearing an Internet Radio ad, and of these, 52 percent responded to it in some way -- 18 percent more than single-site listeners.

Relevance and proximity are key drivers of response, as 52 percent of listeners who do not normally click on ads say that a relevant ad might lead them to visit an advertiser’s web site later. Also, 30 percent are more likely to respond to an audio ad if there is an accompanying display ad on the web page.

Personally relevant ads appeal to digital audio listeners and drive high response rates. However, even when digital audio listeners do not perceive ads to be particularly pertinent to them, they are more accepting of them and less likely to stop listening than are listeners to traditional Broadcast AM/FM Radio. According to TargetSpot's report, 26 percent of Broadcast AM/FM listeners stopped listening because they did not find an ad personally relevant, compared to only 20 percent of Internet Radio listeners. 

"More than half of Internet Radio listeners are shopping or researching future purchases while listening, and 60 percent are social networking. Therefore, the effects of properly messaging to this engaged and influential audience are profound," said TargetSpot CEO Eyal Goldwerger. "Marketers need to take Digital Audio listeners’ viewpoints on advertising into account and harness the power of this fast-growing listenership to drive their objectives forward.  We hope that our research can help marketers better understand the best practices in Digital Audio advertising that lead to high-impact results."

A detailed synopsis of "Attitudes Towards Digital Audio Advertising" is available at www.targetspot.com/research.