What binds to Meghan & Harry, Paris Hilton, and the Obama’s together? They have all launched their own podcasts in the last year. Dentsu’s Client Director Hristo Topuzov looks at what is happening in the audio sphere and gives practical advice for brands.

Screen-free media, consisting of virtual assistants like Siri, Audio books, web radio, live audio, and podcasts, are a huge trend in the media world.

Powered by the mobile revolution, an increased number of people turn to this way of consuming content while working, jogging, doing household chores or being on the move. Use of voice will also become more common in more devices, including TVs, in-car navigation, and fitness equipment will work in voice activation.

The ecosphere of audio is shifting from radios and podcast broadcasters making podcast episodic content from live feed. Clubhouse, an audio live app we wrote earlier about, is still gaining popularity, but in April 2021 Facebook announced huge investments in audio.

Since 2004, podcasts, episodic audio content, have gained popularity. Until 2018, there were 550.000 podcasts published. The boom really happened then, and in 2020, it was released that there are already 1.7 million podcasts worldwide. The biggest players are Apple, with around 40% market share, and Spotify, with 30% market share.

This is where Facebook wants to play and will be launching live audio rooms and soundbites along with podcasts. Read more of Facebook audio release.

Podcast strategy for brands

It is a trend for companies to set up their own podcasts. The challenge with this approach is that it is extremely hard to gain notoriety and listeners to their own podcasts. A better way might be to invest in podcast advertising or get your own experts as guests to popular podcasts.

As a rule, you should start investing in the media if your tight core audience is there in significant numbers.

For example, in Bulgaria, 88% of consumers listen to radio in some form. There is an enormous potential to grow and make more of the podcast scene. The most listened to podcasts are quite entertaining, but also those that are educational. Podcast listeners skew a little bit to the right, and little bit ore male and more affluent. The biggest age group is 25-34, but starts at 18-years-old, and spans to 45.

An example of the most listened to podcasts in Bulgaria you can find below. See also Romania's most listened to podcasts, and more from Bulgaria. 

Our prediction for 2021 and beyond: Implications of audio trends to brands

Brands like Mastercard and Netflix are also creating sonic branding, small arrangements of notes that they can use in adverts and product features. These can be heard from all their ads to their websites and apps.

Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa have been around for a while now, but Spotify is now testing also voice response to audio ads where a person listening to an ad could find more info on the product. While 40% of people in United States already use voice assistants, the number of users is growing also in Southeast Europe.

Audio will become an incredibly significant digital advertising medium. There will be lots more inventory too, so pricing will be affordable. Voice-based interaction will become more common and more creative. Podcasts also can be very multi-media experiences: recording a podcast in social media live recording in social media that is made into a video and podcast and a text version of the episode is something that caters to all audiences.

Podcast ads are a three-fold opportunity:

• Host-read ads are the most common podcast ad format and can hold a strong influence over listeners.
• Only Few podcast listeners skip ads
• Most ads on podcasts are host-read, meaning podcast producers can infuse their own personality into explaining a brand or product.

If you prefer host-read ads, there are ad placement possible where you can use your own materials.

Dynamic ad insertion (DAI)

Newer technology that places pre-recorded ads through an ad server, allowing for more flexibility and easy updating to keep content fresh. 

Dynamic Content tool 

Allows you to insert host-read ads into all your episodes and easily swap them out in the future.

Pre-roll and Mid-roll ads

When advertisers purchase ad space on a podcast, they usually choose pre-roll ads (play at the beginning of the episode) and mid-roll ads (play at the end of the episode), and post-rolls play at the end.

The broadcasters and medias are upping their service in audio and podcasts also in the region of Southeast Europe. There will be also local solutions, but majority will use Apple, Google, and Spotify podcast platforms for releases.

The professionalism in the sphere will also grow, and there will be a bigger gap in between professional and amateur podcasts in quality.

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Please be in contact with me or our other experts across Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and the Adriatic’s markets to hear more about podcasts and audio in your market.

Best Regards,

Hristo Topuzov,

Client Director, dentsu Bulgaria / Southeast Europe