Bauer Media shares new insights on audio

From Marketing

A new report for Bauer Media Audio Ireland (BMAI) provides an update on how consumers interact with and consume digital audio, connected tv and social media. In particular, it gives a glimpse at the inroads digital audio has made in daily lives where it now leads in terms of trust, authenticity and willingness for ad consumption, while listeners are in a more engaged state of mind compared to those on connected TV (CTV) or social media.

The latest JNLR showed that 3.8 million adults tune into Irish radio every week.

Companionship, customisation, convenience, easy integration into daily life, and the ability to multitask were other factors cited by Irish respondents as the best things about digital audio. These are among the insights in the report conducted by Core Research. Eamon Fitzpatrick, group commercial director, BMAI, said that for brands, brand owners and agencies, the research shows the sense of brand owners investing in digital audio.

Consumption: Adults spend an average of 13 hours per week consuming digital audio – which is 63 per cent more time or five hours more than for social media. One in five plan to increase the time they spend on digital audio, while one in four intend to scale back their social media time. Digital audio slightly over indexes on 18-44 year olds and for ABC1’s. Adults spend an extra six hours consuming ads on digital audio than they do with CTV.

Trust and advertising receptivity: Digital audio has significantly higher trust levels (40 per cent) than both CTV (34 per cent) and social media (17 per cent). Almost six in ten people say they are willing to listen to advertising on digital audio in exchange for strong content. This percentage is significantly higher when compared to CTV (51 per cent) and social media (51 per cent).

Performance and mindset: Digital audio significantly outperforms CTV and social media across most key channel benefits. For instance, it stands out for its ability to provide a sense of fulfilment through good company (56 per cent), meaningful use of time (52 per cent), and authenticity (52 per cent). Additionally, the research shows that it excels at both engaging the mind (56 per cent) and helping people relax (59 per cent).

Naomi Staff managing director, Core Research, said the survey was the most current examination of the factors that make audio a compelling choice for advertisers. “It provides a level of previously unavailable insights, especially when comparing digital audio with connected TV and social media,” Staff said. “For brands, the findings provide a compelling spending rationale as they develop and implement their 2025 plans,” she added.

The research involved a national sample of 1,000 adults, with interviews in October.

BMAI national, regional and local stations include Today FM, Newstalk, 98FM, Spin1038, Spin South West, Cork’s Red FM, iRadio and Beat, with a weekly audience of 2.26m while its daily listenership stands at 1.51m. It also operates the Off The Ball audio sports brand, the aggregated listening platform Go Loud for radio, podcasts and music, Media Central sales house and AudioXi, which is said to be Ireland’s largest digital audio advertising exchange.