Pandora Optimizes Audio Advertising for SMBs

Alan Hirschbein Pandora39s Director of Small Business Sales has worked in radio since 1997 and has been with Pandora since he joined as their first local sales executive in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2011 As a champion for the power of audio for advertisers Hirschbein says that over the past few years businesses have been increasingly proactive in seeking out the best ways to use the medium quotEverybody is getting in the audio spacequot said Hirschbein in an exclusive interview with MediaVillageOngoing national outbreaks of COVID19 make SMBs39 challenges even more pronounced In prior years Hirschbein39s team would have two to three months of visibility into spending trends due to ads booked in advance Now the small business team typically fields more immediate needs especially given how much SMB advertising is pinpointed within local marketsquotWith people spending more time at home we have seen shifts in media consumption that favors streaming audio as well new forms of media particularly podcasts giving businesses new ways to connect with consumers todayquot adds Pandora39s VP of Sales Marketing Liz Lacey quotThe pandemic has disrupted the advertising marketplace for both large and small businesses with many taking a pause early on as they adjust their media and messaging strategies to the quicklychanging world Streaming audio ads have the advantage of being easy to change on short notice an important asset at a time when reopening plans can shift overnight Pandora is committed to helping small and mediumsized businesses as they begin to reopen and to encourage them to resume advertising by offering discounts and bonus media incentives ad creative development and providing tips for building effective audio campaignsquotPandora has focused on how it can be a resource for SMBs during this tumult One way Pandora is giving back is by joining the American Express initiative Stand for Small Through AudioGO a selfserve platform for running ads on Pandora and other select audio streaming services Pandora is offering 125 off new campaigns this could amount to as much as 50 off given the 250 minimum buyAs advertisers scale their buys they get to tap into Pandora39s sophisticated targeting and attribution models Pandora tracks audio impressions and guarantees their delivery and it then can track users39 paths to an advertiser39s site through various devices such as smart TVs and audiobased assistants like Google Home and Amazon Alexa As consumers spend less time out of the home in places like cars and gyms where they would normally stream music advertisers now have more robust ways to reach consumers in the homeOn the surface that focus on attribution should mean Pandora competes directly with Google and Facebook Despite how much share of the online advertising market that those two companies command Hirschbein sees them as complementary to Pandora instead quotWhen we see that you39re running a digital audio campaign on Pandora to your target audience you will generally see an amplification or big spike in your search and social resultsquot said HirschbeinHirschbein added that when consumers enter branded search terms in Google that mention a company name quotSomething drove that behaviorquot and triggered that brand awareness That awareness typically comes from earlyfunnel ads like Pandora39sInstead of competing with other digital media companies Hirschbein said quotOur greatest competitor is broadcast radioquot Pandora and broadcast radio serve the same kinds of advertisers For SMB advertisers Pandora offers scale with granular targeting One of Pandora39s advantages is having information from listeners who are logged in providing age gender and ZIP codes quotTo reach an advertiser39s specific target we can only serve the ad when they39re logged in and listening as opposed to the broadcast model that just serves ads at a certain time regardless of who39s listening or not listeningquot said HirschbeinSMB advertisers have high standards for what each ad delivers quotNational brands have the luxury of having budgets for both brand and performancequot said Hirschbein quotWhen you get into the SMB space they39re combined budgets Every dollar spent has to have some sort of return on ad spend Every dollar needs to be accounted for We have certain key performance indicators that we can provide back to advertisers so we can prove our value out a lot better than the broadcast worldquotThat value includes extending into podcasts amp8211 an area that Hirschbein anticipates has more room to grow even as Pandora39s advertisers can reach more than 28 million listeners via Pandora39s Podcast Marketplace quotThe opportunity in the podcast space right now is in its infancyquot he said noting that podcasts are an important component of how brands are developing their own sonic identityPandora has an exclusive relationship for Soundcloud39s ad inventory rights in the US That inventory is bundled with Pandora39s advertising and altogether it amounts to 120 million monthly active users making it what Hirschbein says is the largest addressable digital audio audience as opposed to subscription audiences that can39t all be reached by marketers quotIn terms of the addressable audience we have the largest by a wide marginquot said HirschbeinquotFor our SMB advertisers reaching listeners in both podcasts and music we take the guesswork out of trying to figure it outquot said Hirschbein quotWith Pandora you just identify who your consumer is and we follow that listener regardless of whether they39re listening to hiphop one day and a podcast the nextquot That39s one more headache that SMB advertisers can avoid as they rebuild and expand their businessesClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Pandora Optimizes Audio Advertising for SMBs

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David Berkowitz

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