54% of surveyed Agencies & Advertisers aware of Audio Advertising: Xaxis Programmatic Audio Playbook

57% of advertisers surveyed said that not having a clear understanding of the impact of programmatic audio trading was a barrier.

GroupM's advanced programmatic arm, Xaxis India, has launched a Programmatic Audio Playbook for marketeers. Digital audio is fast becoming an effective and highly measurable way to connect with audiences at scale, the report finds.

For agencies and advertisers, mobile devices are believed to have the highest audience reach. According to publishers, the four most important metrics for clients running programmatic audio advertising are – Brand awareness (71%), Advertising recall (71%), Reach and frequency (54%) and the listen through rate (54%).

The future of the digital audio industry looks optimistic where the number of smartphone users in the country is estimated to reach 829 million of the total population of 1.4 billion by 2022, as a vast majority of advertisers believe that mobile devices (94%) are the most effective means to reach audiences. While the Indian music industry is also expected to grow at CAGR of 15.8% between FY19 and FY24; audio streaming is expected to be the key catalyst for this growth.

Bharat Khatri, Country Head, Xaxis India said, “Programmatic advertising for audio in this country is at a very nascent stage but the future of the digital audio advertising industry looks bright in India. Soon digital will surpass broadcast as an audio consumption channel. Today over 200 million users use music streaming services. Yet, we have realized that audio is an undervalued and underutilized area by the advertising industry. As internet access via mobile grows, we believe that audio advertising can provide an edge to the advertiser and brands.”

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What contributes to the low adoption rate of digital audio on an advertiser’s media plan despite the boom in the popularity of the channel in the India market? More than half of advertisers (57%) said that not having a clear understanding of the impact of programmatic audio trading was a barrier to incorporating programmatic audio into their planning budgets.

Campaign measurement was another key barrier to implementing programmatic audio (44%). As a result, only 9% of advertisers and agencies were considering audio advertising to improve the returns of their investment.

Rita Sahajpaul, National Head of Product and Marketing Science, Xaxis India said, "A staggering 97% of people listened to music through their device in the past three months, and they devote an average of 19.1 hours per week to the activity. The growing demand for more content is increasing the popularity of podcasts, music streaming services and online radio, especially among the 18-34 age group."

"Audio streaming is gaining popularity with the influx of domestic and international platforms, along with the power of data and AI, opportunities for advertisers looks bright with programmatic digital audio advertising," she added.

Xaxis had surveyed 107 agency and advertiser participants and 25 publishers and media owners to understand the drivers, challenges and adoption of programmatic audio.

You can access the entire report here: