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Interactive Marketing:
Google Audio Ads: Expanding The Reach of Local Online Advertising
Businesses that are aggressively pursuing local online advertising using search engine marketing tactics like search engine optimization, paid search advertising, Internet Yellow Pages and local directories such as Yelp, CitySearch, Judy’s Book and InsiderPages, tend to quickly reach the limits of their options to target local consumers and b-to-b clients. Now, with the recent introduction of Google Audio Ads they have a new opportunity to extend their local reach.
Google Audio Ads Benefits
Google Audio Ads is essentially the integration of Dmarc Broadcasting’s automated radio ad buying, scheduling and delivery system into the Google Adwords advertising network. Google Audio Ads essentially automates and simplifies the process of buying radio ads, placing them in time slots at selected radio stations and monitoring them, which is presently done manually by ad agencies. Potentially this can lead to prices, as low as $1.00 CPM (cost per thousand impressions) for advertisers and open up the radio ad market to small businesses, while bringing in more sales for the radio stations due to the opportunity to sell off unsold or "remnant" inventory through the auction-based Google Adwords ad network. Impressions are defined as the number of times an ad is played, multiplied by the number of listeners.
Ad Inventory
Using the Google Adwords ad network, online advertisers will be able to reserve or bid on 30 second radio spots at Google’s network of partner radio stations and the 675 stations run by Clear Channel. While this is currently only available in beta to certain advertisers, if Google’s past beta tests are any indication, it won’t be long before all US advertisers will find themselves having the ability to advertise in this new venue. Google and Clear Channel have also indicated that the inventory that is available within the Clear Channel network is not backfill ad spots. Your ad could potentially appear at any broadcast time.
Several aspects of Google Audio Ads are very similar to the current auction-based paid search advertising system, with allowances made for the change in medium. The radio spots are limited to a certain length (30 seconds) and must be MP3 format. Like text ads, the radio spots should stay clear and to the point, and not contain any inappropriate language or “gimmicky” aspects, and must follow certain trademark restrictions. You’re also able to set up budgeting guidelines for your audio campaign. Bidding on radio ads, however, is CPM rather than cost-per-click-based.
There are also several targeting options available for those seeking out certain geographic areas for their ad to appear. However, targeting by demographic is available as well by picking ad spots on certain stations. Estimates of impressions and information about demographics are based on industry standard data from Arbitron and should be considered accurate.
Scheduling and Targeting Options
Google leaves you with a number of options for ad targeting and scheduling in order to tailor a radio campaign to your needs. Budgeting is done on a week-by-week basis. The minimum ad budget is $250.00 a week and goes up from there to $500 or $1,000 with a custom budget also being an option. Once you’ve set a budget and CPM for your ads, you can choose an Ad rotation for each spot. You can pick the date range, time of the day, and frequency that you’d like to see your ad appear. Targeting is based on locations, demographics, and even the types of station that are available, e.g. talk radio, hard rock or classical music. Also, along with the auction based CPM system, you can instead reserve ad plays at a set price. It’s a more expensive option and there is a restriction on spend (no more than $5000 a month on reserved inventory) but it is a guarantee that you’ll get your ad played in the rotation you want.
Audio Spot Creation
Creating an audio spot is much different from creating a text or graphic ad. In order to accommodate advertisers, Google has set-up an “ad creation marketplace” that matches advertisers with providers of audio production services. Google estimates that the price range for those services will be between $100.00 to $1,000.00. Using these services you can budget out how much you’re willing to spend on creative, as well as which services you need; your options range from script writing to voice acting, recording and encoding. Advertisers can also create their own radio spots.
A reporting system is currently in place as well for those who want to track their ad plays. A Campaign Broadcast Log can be accessed that will tell you what time your ad played and what market it played to. It also tracks the estimated amount of listeners who heard your ad. For many ad plays, there will also be a corresponding “listen link” that will play a recording of your ad as it appeared on the radio, included with short clips of the broadcast before and after your ad. In addition, you’ll be sent an email every morning with the campaigns and ads that should be broadcast that day. This isn’t a guarantee that the ads will be played, however. Keeping track of the broadcast log will be necessary to find out if the projected ads were played. As far as conversions, there is currently no built-in tracking included with audio ad campaigns. Google recommends you tag the URLs mentioned in your ads, or use a unique phone number in order to properly track the results of your campaigns.
It is obvious that these developments set in motion by Google, do not stop with radio ads. The ultimate goal has to be to automate and simplify the buying, scheduling and delivery of TV ads and capturing a piece of the much larger $80 billion TV ad market, with has already started with the recent introduction of SpotRunner.
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