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CMA

AUDIO TRENDS REPORT

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A quick word from the CMAHi, and thank you for downloading this report, which is brought to you by the Content Marketing Association (CMA). We are a group that represents anyone who is involved in the content marketing industry across the globe no matter what their heritage. So we have members from a wide variety of backgrounds - from print companies to video creators, SEO specialiststo PR practitioners.

What binds us together is that we believe in the power of content to engage and empower audiences and at the same time deliver key brand messages. We are an advocate that content needs to be meticulously researched, rigorously planned and forensically measured. We think brands need to continuously audit their content, pulling apart their output and checking it against KPIs on a regular basis.

On then to the audio report. What follows are the views of representatives of agencies who are our member companies. They are planners, creators and overseers who are at the content coalface - individuals who don't just theorise editorial but are constantly creating and executing it.

Here’s what they had to say.

Thank you for reading, Best wishes,

Catherine MaskellManaging Director The Content Marketing Association

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The Audio Report

There are thousands of people across the globe who spend their daysforecasting what the next trend will be in tech and media. Some pundits are better than others and invariably the predictions they make come to pass in one way or another.

Occasionally though there is a trend that catches everyone by surprise, and the most recent high profile phenomenon that pretty much no onepredicted was the renaissance of podcasting.

Podcasting started to emerge as far back as the middle of the last decade as mainly tech and media focused individuals began to share their thoughts and upload their episodes to iTunes. However, while some podcasts thrived, many simply disappeared when video became the new priority as YouTube took centre stage. Voice was a bit old school, the video was the shiny new thing and media companies and brands were quick to pivot their outputtowards it.

Podcasting didn't exactly disappear but as a media phenomenon, it was very under the radar.

Then a funny thing happened. In 2014 the team behind This American Life - a programme developed by Chicago Public Media - unveiled a new podcast “Serial” an investigative journalism podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, narrating a nonfiction story over multiple episodes. The tales of unsolved murders clearly struck a chord with US listeners as Serial broke records as the fastest podcast ever to reach 5 million downloads at Apple's iTunes store.

Pretty soon a spate of other media companies launched podcasts invariably touting the tagline - ‘if you like Serial you will love this.’ At the same timepodcasts in niches such as sport, tech and comedy were launched garnering large and often influential audiences. In the UK the BBC were not slow to get in on the act offering their own Serial like feature Beyond Reasonable Doubt, as well as editing live radio programmes and turning them into podcasts.

By 2018 it was ascertained that as many as 48 million Americans listened to podcasts on a weekly basis. Numbers in the UK are lower but as a percentage, 23% of Brits surveyed in early 2018 claimed to have listened to a podcast in the last month.

Not surprisingly brands began to note the potential of the format and across the spectrum, both b2c and b2b brands are using podcasts to increase brand awareness, parade thought leadership and generate new business.

48M AMERICANS LISTENPODCASTS EVERY WEEK

23% BRITS LISTENED TO APODCAST IN THE LAST MONTH

48M23%

The emergence of voice search

A few years before the podcast revival began brewing a new app debuted on the US version of the Apple store. Never available in the UK it was called Siri and was the first to offer voice commands for the iPhone. Within two months Apple had acquired the company and within a year had withdrawn thestandalone Siri app and installed the technology into its flagship iPhone 4S.It wasn't too long before Apple’s rivals launched their own voice command systems Cortana, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung Bixby.

The catalyst that propelled voice command into the spotlight though was arguably the launch of the Amazon Echo speaker system in November 2014. The device initially sold in small quantities, but then became a sleeper hit, eventually crossing the Atlantic and establishing itself in many differentterritories. The marketing power and distribution reach of Amazon ensured that it became a significant success and the Alexa system is now not just available on a wealth of Amazon products, but many other devices from a number of other manufacturers too.

Ultimately voice has become central to how people in 2018 interact with their devices whether that be their mobiles or products they keep at home. Jane Hunt, co-founder of JBH Content Agency says “in the early days of voice search, most people dismissed the idea of speaking rather than typing as a gimmick. After all, publicly asking personal assistants like Siri or Google Now to search ‘Gangnam Style’ would undoubtedly be greeted with severaldisapproving stares (and perhaps a few dance move homages). But fastforward six years and voice search is now a more accepted way of accessing information online. In fact, voice search comprised 20% of queries on Google’s mobile app in mid-2016, according to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.”

CMA member Wavemaker also undertook its own research to find quite how embedded voice technology is in British society.

“To understand consumer appetite for voice, we’ve been tracking user stats and attitudes towards the voice search” reports Kathryn Saxon, Head ofResearch, Wavemaker UK. “Our latest data on user stats from June this year shows that half the population have used already or are interested in using a voice assistant and just over a fifth of the population has access to a voiceassistant at home- the Amazon Echo leading the way with penetration of 13%. Our data also shows that nearly a third of Amazon Echo owners use it every day and just shy of 60% use it most days.”

Needless to say, the rise of the voice has profound ongoing implications for both the media and for brands.

In this report the CMA members will attempt to unpack some of the issues surrounding voice command, control, search and content, predicting what will happen to voice and how companies need to be prepared for a voice-driven future.

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OF BRITS LISTEN TO A RADIO EVERY WEEK89%

Why podcasting?

So why then has podcasting gone from being the forgotten format of digital media to a prime source of information and entertainment for a significant section of millennials?

There are two reasons for this - cultural and technological.

Maybe the reason why Serial was such a huge hit, and listeners have avidly tuned into the podcasts that followed in its wake, is simply because as consumers we were ready for a different type of digital format.

As Simon Baker, MD, TCO explains “Podcasts are a response to the clutter and digital fatigue of modern-day content consumption, the simplicity of podcasts is refreshing.”

It is a move away from fast-moving easy to digest content and in this instance, it has also been mirrored in the video in the rise of the box set championed by platforms like Netflix and Amazon. In many ways, the episodic nature of many podcasts mirrors what’s happening with premium video as the content moves seamlessly on from one segment to another towards a climax.

There is also, however, a technological angle. For a while, it wasn’t especially simple to access podcasts as they tended to be the preserve of the iTunes ecosystem. If you didn’t use iTunes then chances are they might have passed you by. In the last decade so the number of ways of distributing podcasts online has mushroomed, so now you can listen to podcasts via Soundcloud and Spotify. The BBC, for example, hosts its own podcast and pushes them out too via its website, as many other companies do, as well as via the established channels. Podcasts are now easy to create (some are just recorded via audio capture system on mobiles), simple to edit and easy to distribute. Basically, anyone with an idea can create one.

At the same time podcasts seem to fit in well within the way that many people live their lives. As Simon Baker, MD, TCO also points out one of their key strengths is that they enable listeners to multitask, making them perfect for commutes, gym or driving.

Another reason for the rise of the podcast is our ongoing love of radio. The latest figures from Rajar, the organisation which measures its reach, show that 89% of Britons listen to a radio programme every week, with theaverage person tuning in for 20.8 hours per week. So, in spite of competition for attention from a multiplicity of content sources, radio is more than holding its own. In many ways, the popularity of podcasts in the UK, and to a lesser degree in the US, has been aided by radio broadcasters now using them a significant content distribution platform. The BBC, for example, produces a huge range of podcasts, some of which are edited versions of live programmes, while others are content specially created for the medium.

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Levels of engagement

One of the reasons why podcasting has now returned to the radar of many brands is that it gives the brand an opportunity to show their human face and engage with listeners in a slower, more thoughtful way.

“It’s very challenging for brands to explore and express their brand values in the real or digital worlds since the audience is not always engaged or captive enough to understand what they’re trying to convey – and as users, we are particularly basic in digital and social,” argues Howard Wilmot, ContentStrategist, Dialogue.

“Longer-form audio content allows brands to express what’s less obvious about themselves or their touchy-feely side much better – providing thecontent is compelling enough for the user of course.”

There is now a host of brands producing podcasts, or working with agencies to create it for them. A few that are well worth listening to include

NatWestPenguinBootsUnboundLandroverRaphaSephoraSize “For example, BMW was recently at a Taste of London with a four-course menu inspired by their philosophy and design. This works if you’re at the stand having the more esoteric aspects of the brand like sustainability,innovation and vision explained – but in the snapshot world of digital media, those aspects can be lost. Podcasts give the brands license to go deeper – their challenge, however, will be not to ‘bang on’,” adds Howard Wilmot.

Shaun Hill, Content Marketing director of iProspect predicts that more and more brands will create their own podcasts.

“Podcasts are mostly created by specialists or by individuals or stations with a real authority in a subject matter. But why can’t a brand such as Sonyproduce a Film podcast? Well, branded podcasts are already in existence. Take Rapha, a cycling clothing brand with headquarters in London andPortland who produce a 30 minute show that is aimed at cycling enthusiasts but is wonderfully put together. Sephora uses influential female founders, creators and thought leaders to talk through funny everyday stories and it’s completely free via iTunes.”

It seems to be that the question isn't why brands podcast, but why aren't more of them doing it.

“We love podcasts – we recommend clients do them all the time!” says Jess Pike, Head of Content, Spoon London. “Lots of brands are now starting to realise their true potential. They’re not particularly expensive, they’re relatively easy-to-do, and they bring you closer to your audience in an intimate way.”

Simon Baker TCO adds “in the case of our client, size? you can produce a dedicated podcast - ours explores the space between style and its roots in culture, through interviews with cultural influencers.

Logistically creating podcasts are fairly simple. The issue for many companies and brands though is turning what sometimes is a series of random thoughts into the something that is listenable and engaging, it is here that the role of the host becomes pivotal.

“If brands are looking to create something of their own to support brand cut-through, or strengthen their thought leadership positioning, then they would also do well to invest in an entertaining and experienced host,” argues Steven Arnoldi, Senior Producer, Lansons.

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“Podcasts are about intimate relationships, as they are usually a one-on-one communication. A good host needs to be able to execute the goals andrequirements of this ‘branded content’ and be the right fit for whatever style the podcast wants to take. Is it meant to be funny, informative or is it thought-provoking? Look at how Joe Media partnered with LBC’s James O’Brien on their successful interview podcast ‘Unfiltered’ as an example of the right host, for the right type of podcast.”

It is a view echoed by Jess Pike, Head of Content, Spoon London.

“The future of podcasting in B2C is likely to align with a shift towardsuser-generated content and influencer marketing. Rather than setting up their own podcasts, brands will find existing relevant podcasts hosted byinfluencers or thought leaders, and work out how to leverage their success. Some are already doing it. After all, why invest in building an audience from scratch when you can capitalise on a captive audience that’s primed and waiting?” “It’s a slightly different scenario for B2B brands; as they’re often targeting smaller audiences interested in more niche subject matter, setting up their own podcasts can work really well. It can also help them tick the thought leadership box too…”

Creating podcasts aren’t the only way that brands can harness the high level of engagement of the format. According to Bridge Ratings podcast ad spend is expected to hit $534 million in 2020 with 93% of brands increasing their podcast ad spending from 2016-17.

Steven Arnoldi of Lansons believes the stratospheric growth is due to a number of reasons. “Firstly, the ads are listened to and they work. According to Digital Download “meaningful communications” workshop, 85% of listeners do not skip them. The hosts of the shows usually read theads – tailored to each podcast - adding character and authenticity. Secondly, podcast listeners earn 28% more than the population average and they spend more in popular consumer categories (travel, tech, transport & entertainment). So podcasts are a great way to reach a well-defined group of savvy, affluent and loyal consumers.”

Finally, agencies are creating podcasts to promote themselves such as CMA member iProspect.

BY 2020 $534M WILL BE SPENT ON PODCASTS ADS

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Podcasts and search

Creating podcasts is one thing, distributing them can be quite tricky. Brands can rely on existing channels much as social media, harness paid advertising and if they work with influencers work with them to promote the work. The missing piece in the jigsaw has up until now been search.

Over the years Google has started to prioritise high-quality content in search, this has been recently reflected in a series of updates throughout 2018. It has been slow to recognise where podcasts fit into search a though there are signs that this is starting to change. It is clear too that if podcasts do receive higher prominence in search it will help them grow as a format.

“Google recently announced that they would be returning podcasts as part of the search results that they may recommend for you. This is a massive shift towards an expanding content format,” argues Shaun Hill of iProspect.

It's view that is echoed by Steven Arnoldi of Lansons. “Google is starting to take podcasting very seriously and brands need to take notice,” he argues.

“Our team’s mission is to help double the amount of podcast listening in the world over the next couple years,” said Google Podcasts Product Manager Zack Reneau-Wedeen.

“Google have upgraded podcasts ranking status in search as well, to a “first-class citizen” alongside text, image and video results, so brands should check that their podcast follows Google’s official guidelines sooner than later. Google is also looking at how one device can hand off to the next, for a seamless listening experience, which is called “device interoperability” and will be key to attracting a new audience with the widespread adoption of smart speakers.”

“Google is starting to takepodcasting very seriously and brands need to take notice”

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Measurement of podcasts

As more brands have to begin to create their own podcast, as well as using them to advertise their product and services, so the measurement of their effectiveness has become a key topic.

As Howard Wilmot of Dialogue explains, “Podcasts are likely to be measured in the same way as video currently is; the number of plays, duration of play, demographic, etc, etc, plus the inevitable exploration of the value of the view or then click through.”

He adds though that “the nature of the media aligns itself much more to the exploration of brand values which in themselves require different evaluation criteria which are more long-term in their nature.”

As Danni Spencer, Group Head Creative, Bridge Studio, News UK points out there are already emerging ways of measuring podcast effectiveness. “The IAB has created measurement guidelines to provide clarity so that there is a common language around measurement. The other useful resource is the Midas survey which looks at how and when radio content is being consumed, with the explosion in tablets and Smartphones. With Midas showing how listeners are embracing multi-platform.”

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Future for podcasts

Even though they might not necessarily have spotted the podcastrenaissance many pundits are now predicting a very bright future for the format, driven by the ever-increasing amount of high-quality content and technological trends.

Shaun Hill of iProspect argues “Podcasts will definitely increase in the future, the digital voice-activated devices market is expected to double every year by 2020. The last year has been dominated by really amazing, gripping andengaging podcasts such as Serial and My Dad Wrote A Porno. September saw the annual London Podcast Festival at the Kings Place, London, which last year, sold incredibly well, including many sold-out live recordingsof podcasts.”

Finally, though there are marketers that remind brands and marketers not to get too carried away with the format

“Podcasts are still relatively native as a platform and relatively niche in their content. The opportunity and challenge is how to bring in them into the mainstream,” argues Danni Spencer, Group Head Creative, Bridge Studio, News UK. She adds that ITV’s recent Love Island podcast which had 3 million listens shows there is an appetite for them.

One of the key challenges is how to smooth out the user experience by making podcasts very easy to access on mobile devices. This has improved but still needs to develop.

Discoverability is another key issue too - how listeners find the podcasts. Things have improved recently with smart algorithms on Spotify and iTunes recommending similar podcasts to listeners. Personalisation is sure to be a key trend for podcasts in the coming years and will undoubtedly helplisteners discover new, interesting and relevant content. We may even reach a point where smart AI-driven systems gauge the amount of time we have to consume audio content, whether on a commute at the gym etc, and then recommend a podcast that is appropriate to the length of the time available, and that fits best with the environment we are listening in.

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Audio and the future of search

The arrival of Siri on iOS devices followed soon after by similar services on other platforms has transformed the way that people search when on the move. It appears that we are so comfortable with barking quick instructions into our mobiles that comScore is predicting that 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020.

Yet there is also the second more recent element of voice search and that is searching via smart speakers like the Amazon Echo or the Google Home.The action of the voice search is likely to be similar to that of the way it isundertaken on mobile, but there is one huge difference. On mobile voice search brings up a series of text-based options - the same as if you had typed the words in. Smart speaker search invariably only yields one reply which is spoken. The problem for brands and agencies, and especially SEO companies, is that securing that one reply is an incredibly difficult task. To achieve this requires being top of the search engine as a Featured Snippet for Google or for Bing which powers the Amazon Echo.

It isn't just a case of ensuring that you create a very direct answer to a very direct question.

“Fully optimised written content is still going to be essential. PageSpeed and HTTP Secure seem to be playing a major role in the sites selected by Google Home so far, but your rank and appearing in Featured Snippets will still be important as ever as voice search grows in popularity” argues SiobhanCongreve Head of SEO at Brand Content.

Norbert Kilen, Strategy Director of Think Kong believes there are variations of voice search, but once again cautions brands and agencies not to lose sight of the basics of search.

“Voice search will not be an alternative for text-based search. People use voice search to get answers for more specific questions based on “where”, “what is” and “how to”. Voice search will force brands to do additional optimisation for voice queries, but only in certain situations. It will be especially important eg. for local businesses. The average length of voice answer is about 30 words. That makes it similar do Google Direct Answers. It makes us need to write briefly and probably it would be another argument to simplify the language of text content.”

“It’s worth noting that voice results are taken from websites with high Google authority. That is why “normal SEO” will be still important – you still have to earn your website authority. With the development of voice search, there will be greater needs in the area of technical optimisation – speed, tagginginformation for voice search etc.”

Howard Wilmot of Dialogue believes that search engines will need to adapt to the growth of voice search.

“Sometimes we’re looking for more in-depth information or longer reads which require more attention on our part. As a result, there’ll no doubt be an evolution in search engine technology to support these different functions, needs and environments. We won’t necessarily lose the concept of a search front page, but it will certainly morph to adapt to us.

BY 2020 50% OF ALL SEARCHES, WILL BE VOICE SEARCHES

“They key to audio is usingit where it removes friction”

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Audio and social media

“We’re used to a three-minute pop song, short news reports and things like Prayer for the Day, Thought for the Day and the Shipping Forecast,” says Howard Wilmot of Dialogue. “So if the content is compelling enough, who’s to say we won’t snack on it in the same way we do other short-form content online?”

The growth of the podcast has sparked discussion once again about the potential of short-form audio content. There have been many interesting startups in this space - a recent example being Clippet which presented news in bite-sized audio chunks, but quite how short-form voice content will impact on social media is hard to predict.

Jess Pike, Head of Content, Spoon London thinks short-form has realpotential. “Short-form audio content is definitely becoming more popular: think about the growing obsession with Voice Notes and the advent of Twodio (tweets in audio form). Short-form also ties into our dwindling concentration spans and supposedly super-busy lives: apps like Blinkist really hammer home the same point too.

As Kevin Gibbons, Founder & MD, Re:Signal points out to the opportunity for short-form audio probably isn't especially in social media but possibly via smart speakers.

“The main way is by creating Alexa skills and apps if people install your app that’s how they can find and engage with your content,” he argues.

“I think there’s always going to be a balance - the key to audio is using it where it removes friction. Take podcasting as an example, this is hugelypopular with commuters because you can listen to it in your car or on the tube, which is more convenient than reading a book.”

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Conclusion

“Audio isn’t killing the written word – but we may see brands focusing less on written content in the future,” argues Jess Pike, Head of Content, Spoon London. “That said, podcasts should always be part of a wider campaign or strategy – and words will play an important part in telling people why they need to tune in. A super-engaging podcast is all well and good, but without a strong narrative, your audience may not even get to the podcast in the first place. A high-quality landing page, blog and email copy will remain crucial.”

Finally one key question that brands are starting to think about now is tone of voice, not just in written word about from an audio perspective too.

Kathryn Saxon, Head of Research, Wavemaker UK says that her company has also developed their own product WM Voicemaker, a testing platform that helps brands find their right brand voice.

“The key question we’re posing to clients is “So how should your brand sound?” We’ve developed a new approach with neuroscientists to test people’s reactions to a range of voices, enabling marketers to test brand voices at scale in order to help them understand how well different voices convey their brand values.”

The results that have been published so far are intriguing they include

· Humans convey brand values better than Alexa. In fact out of 18 brand values tested, Alexa only outperformed human voices on 1. · Context matters more for some categories. In gaming, a category where people are more used to robotic voices Alexa evoked more similar levels of association to human voices across the attributes · Experts have an inbuilt bias. Our research found that the obvious brand voice, cast by an expert, did not perform as expected at conveying thebrand values. · Important differences in gender response patterns were recorded in theresearch around greater response levels and greater positivity.

Interestingly Wavemaker data shows that so far users are fairly conservative in how they interact with smart speakers. “Nearly 60% of voice assistant users are using assistants for music, weather information is nearly as popular at 56% whilst timers and alarms are used by 46% of users. So yes, the data shows that for most early adopters usage occasions are a little mundane, however, 12% are using voice assistants to place an order e.g. food, taxi, 12% are requesting information from brands and 13% have learnt to do something new, so the appetite is there. As the tech gets better and users become more familiar,engagement and usage occasions are only set to grow.”

It feels as if we are the start of the journey with voice both in command and consumption. Five years down the line podcasts may have been written off as a passing fad, while voice has been usurped by AI-driven text for search. The wonder of technology though is that no one really knows...

As Kevin Gibbons, Founder & MD, Re:Signal concludes “I think there’s a market for short-form audio, long form (some of the best podcast episodes I’ve listened to have been 2-3 hours) and online written content.

There’s a format for everyone. The key for the marketer is to find out what your audience wants, and repurpose in ways that they can each consume your content, irrespective of the platform, device or format.”

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