Google launches new audio ad features for Ad Manager

Google has announced that it is expanding audio ad features on its Ad Manager platform to support Dynamic Ad Insertion for audio, programmatic monetisation, and new audio forecasting capabilities. The firm said that these new features will allow publishers to monetise more content, advertisers will be able to reach more relevant audiences, and listeners will hear more relevant ads.

In terms of new audio features, there are two new additions. The first addition allows publishers to manage their audio, video, and display content in one place and serve the most appropriate ad for the occasion, for example, if a user is interacting with a music streaming app on their phone or computer they can see visual ads while those streaming in the background can be served an audio-only ad.

The other new audio feature is Dynamic Ad Insertion. This allows publishers to seamlessly insert ads into live audio streams across several devices. This means that listeners are more likely to get a more relevant ad which improves chances for interaction. According to Google, TuneIn has already begun using these tools and it said this increased its operational efficiency and provided for a better user experience with more relevant ads.

Another new feature being introduced to Ad Manager is programmatic audio ads. This allows publishers to unlock advertiser demand and ultimately boost revenue. Discussing programmatic ads, Spotify’s Head of Global Automation Sales, Greta Lawn, said:

“Selling our audio inventory through Programmatic Guaranteed has allowed us to bring parity between reservations and programmatic. It’s helped us make audio inventory available to more advertisers and grow revenue.”

The final addition is audio forecasting. This will let publishers get insights into audio inventory and how audio ads are performing. It will leverage historical audio inventory data and seasonality to estimate how many audio impressions a publisher may have available; Google hopes this can help publishers plan and monetise their content more effectively.