Pay Per Play Audio Advertising
Apparently, the latest buzz out there in audio is pay per play audio commercials. The gist of what I've read so far is that a small piece of code is put onto a blog or website and once the program is up and running (bidding is due to start next month in Feb '08) short audio ads will play automatically when a visitor comes to the page. Website owners will be paid every time the audio ad plays for one of their visitors.
Now being that I am all over audio as a great advertising medium, the idea intrigues me.
The problem is I really can't wrap my mind around how it will work.
Oh, I get the technical side to a certain extent. It's Java Code and it does it's thing when a visitor comes to the page and a script plays. I get that.
But the thing is I don't see how five second ads are going to work to move the listeners through the buying process - and if it doesn't motivate buyers, what exactly are potential advertisers paying for and hoping to achieve with this type of campaign?
People speak at a rate of about 3 words per second. That means the ads will be about 15 words on average. That is one colossal challenge! To create a complete compelling audio message that encourages action within 15 words?
It would take an amazing talent to be able to craft messages that short with any degree of effectiveness. There are few enough writers who learn the craft of creating a compelling thirty second commercial which is why listeners suffer through hackneyed, inefficient commercials! But at least with 30 seconds, brilliance and clarity are achievable. I don't know that we can really say that about 5 seconds.
Every writer I know will acknowledge that writing short is hard! Personally, I find it downright excruciating to write with a tight word count. I've done as few as 30 words professionally for a results driven piece. I don't know that I could do 15 with my sanity intact. (Not to say my sanity is exactly intact as it is, some days)
Maybe the ads have another purpose - some branding through repetition scheme? Which would have to make that a pretty complicated little code in order to ensure a listener heard the same ad enough times for it to even have a statistical chance of effectiveness.
The other thing that bothers me is the automatic nature of these ads. I don't know about you, but I hate audio that I'm not expecting on any website. Give me a play button and I'll listen if I'm interested. That is the essence of permission based advertising. I mean, even with the radio, I know if I'm going to listen I'm either going to pay a subscription fee (satellite radio) or I'm going to be hearing commercials. I know and accept that trade as part of the commerce of content. But to be subjected to an ad when I don't even know it's coming, that would irk me. Even if it is only five seconds. It wouldn't put me in a good disposition towards the site or the advertiser.
Anyway, those were my first thoughts when it came to pay per play.
Evidently there are also issues with the company (NetAudioAds) that is launching this platform. There are concerns that the advertisers they say they have lined up have denied being involved. There are concerns that many social media users have Java blockers up when they surf, so the ads won't even reach them, which puts the 100% conversion figure into immediate question.
Bah! While initially intrigued, I'm now thinking this whole thing will not be good for audio advertising at all.
The good thing is, that with all it's inherent flaws - it's not likely to be an issue for long.
Now being that I am all over audio as a great advertising medium, the idea intrigues me.
The problem is I really can't wrap my mind around how it will work.
Oh, I get the technical side to a certain extent. It's Java Code and it does it's thing when a visitor comes to the page and a script plays. I get that.
But the thing is I don't see how five second ads are going to work to move the listeners through the buying process - and if it doesn't motivate buyers, what exactly are potential advertisers paying for and hoping to achieve with this type of campaign?
People speak at a rate of about 3 words per second. That means the ads will be about 15 words on average. That is one colossal challenge! To create a complete compelling audio message that encourages action within 15 words?
It would take an amazing talent to be able to craft messages that short with any degree of effectiveness. There are few enough writers who learn the craft of creating a compelling thirty second commercial which is why listeners suffer through hackneyed, inefficient commercials! But at least with 30 seconds, brilliance and clarity are achievable. I don't know that we can really say that about 5 seconds.
Every writer I know will acknowledge that writing short is hard! Personally, I find it downright excruciating to write with a tight word count. I've done as few as 30 words professionally for a results driven piece. I don't know that I could do 15 with my sanity intact. (Not to say my sanity is exactly intact as it is, some days)
Maybe the ads have another purpose - some branding through repetition scheme? Which would have to make that a pretty complicated little code in order to ensure a listener heard the same ad enough times for it to even have a statistical chance of effectiveness.
The other thing that bothers me is the automatic nature of these ads. I don't know about you, but I hate audio that I'm not expecting on any website. Give me a play button and I'll listen if I'm interested. That is the essence of permission based advertising. I mean, even with the radio, I know if I'm going to listen I'm either going to pay a subscription fee (satellite radio) or I'm going to be hearing commercials. I know and accept that trade as part of the commerce of content. But to be subjected to an ad when I don't even know it's coming, that would irk me. Even if it is only five seconds. It wouldn't put me in a good disposition towards the site or the advertiser.
Anyway, those were my first thoughts when it came to pay per play.
Evidently there are also issues with the company (NetAudioAds) that is launching this platform. There are concerns that the advertisers they say they have lined up have denied being involved. There are concerns that many social media users have Java blockers up when they surf, so the ads won't even reach them, which puts the 100% conversion figure into immediate question.
Bah! While initially intrigued, I'm now thinking this whole thing will not be good for audio advertising at all.
The good thing is, that with all it's inherent flaws - it's not likely to be an issue for long.
Labels: advertising, online advertising, pay per play audio, radio advertising
posted by Patrysha at 11:02 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for this post! I have been feeling a little strange about this whole Play Per Play thing myself, especially after listening to some of the ads. I just could not wrap my head around some of the supposed advertisers I was hearing being a part of something like this.
Yes, and I hate the automation thing as well.
I think it's better to do your own advertising or calling someone like you for help. The minute you let someone do mass advertising on your behalf (as well as hundreds of others) you lose the personal connection with your audience.
Pay per Play is going to make listeners feel used. That's how I would feel. I'd know it wasn't a targeted ad, and I would be pissed at the person that made me listen to that.
Either way if I do keep listening the show better be phenomenal to make up for that five seconds of my life I'll never get back so you could make a nickel.
I don't think that's necessarily true, that allowing mass advertising on your behalf is going to lead to a loss of personal connection. Marketing & Advertising agencies do it all the time and they do exist for good reason (even if some AE's can be idiots. What I'm against is ineffective mass advertising that doesn't deliver the results to the advertiser...
If big advertisers were involved, it was likely an agency that booked the deal - but agency's tend to concentrate on hard data and trackable results (they aren't the first to jump on a trendwagon that's for sure) which is why I am skeptical such big companies would be involved.
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