According to the BVDW guidelines, radio is becoming audio, and soon it will be voice first.
The German Federal Association for the Digital Economy (BVDW) has published its new guide, «Online Audio Advertising.» Ten leading audio experts from the industry, who authored the document, explain why «listening is the new watching» and why radio is evolving into audio. The experts explain success factors, advertising opportunities, and market trends.
"Intelligent voice assistants are the megatrend of the year," says Timo Mauter (RauteMusik), who was responsible for the online audio guide in the BVDW's audio focus group. "Voice first is the new communication strategy. Music streaming has long been an everyday part of media use, but FM radio is also growing dynamically online."
Podcasts are also experiencing a second spring. This is not only reflected in the rapidly growing range and high usage, but also in the fact that advertising companies are now developing their own podcasts for their customers. At the same time, the possibilities for using the auditory marketing channel for advertising are becoming more diverse and, thanks to new technologies, more efficient.
The new BVDW guideline "Online Audio Advertising" explains what these possibilities look like. The BVDW's audio focus group has defined a series of advertising form standards for audio digital advertising that make it easier for the market to make effective use of the numerous advertising opportunities in this genre. The aim is to create planning security for advertisers, media planners and marketers in the audio-digital segment and thus establish the emerging online audio market in the media mix of customers. The up-and-coming nature of the genre was recently demonstrated: in 2017, providers of web radio and other online audio offerings recorded strong growth in terms of both usage and advertising revenue. For 2017, they expect advertising revenue to increase by 40% to 35 million euros.
"With this guide, we are therefore addressing the specialist public and would like to give all interested parties an insight into the exciting developments in the online audio world with its new platforms," says Rainer Henze (laut.ag), Chairman of the Audio Focus Group at BVDW. If you take a closer look at how and what people have listened to in recent years, it becomes clear that radio is currently becoming audio - and its use is continuously increasing. Another conclusion of the authors: "The audio devices of the future are characterized by interaction. They will not only receive audio, they will also send back information in order to react to the specific usage situation and optimize the experience. A connection to the Internet is crucial for this."
The guide can be here (direct link, PDF).
