• by Ben Frederick  @mp_benfred, February 24, 2016

Xappmedia, which specializes in interactive advertising for audio apps, announced a partnership with Internet radio service Slacker, bringing their distinctive ad format to Slacker’s various stations.

Xappmedia’s approach is simple, says Pat Higbie, founder/CEO of the ad tech company. For visual ad formats, finger taps and mouse-directed clicking make sense as the main points of interaction. With audio, however, where users are often hands-free, speech is the most logical interface.

The way mobile users consume audio content is akin to the way they consume visual content, says Higbie—the device becomes a secondary to a primary activity like doing chores, exercising, or driving.

Ads prompt users to respond with an exact phrase, like, “listen now,” or “set a reminder.”

Higbie says that putting words on the tip of consumer’s tongues allows them to respond quickly and requires no training. Making the vocal interactions less structured or more open-ended only distracts users from their primary activity.

“87% of the time, listeners are listening when the app is not on the screen,” says Higbie. Asking a user to tap something when the app may be running in the background or a device may be in a pocket adds friction to the interaction, which can spell death for potential responses.

According to the company, their content discovery campaigns, which started in November 2015, had an average response rate 11 times higher than mobile audio promotions that relied only on touch for listener interaction.

Additionally, 14.8% of the total targeted Slacker audience actively engaged with at least one promotion within the first five impressions.