Pandora Unveils Audio/Visual Ad Metrics, Follows Interactive Voice Ads Test

There are plenty of options to support advertisers in post-campaign analysis, but few that provide support prior or during the campaign.

Pandora on Tuesday will launch audience measurement tools to help advertisers determine how to approach investments on an audio-streaming platform. 

Pandora created the Test & Tune tool suite, validated by Kantar, to fill the gap in audio measurement on mobile devices. The ads are visually served up in the mobile app.

Test & Tune, which sits on top of Insights Lab, relies on a controlled testing method to support brand sentiment and sales lift in the form of questions on its platform. The method is based on an experimental design to understand causal effects.

The beta launch partners include StubHub and Procter & Gamble. The two have partnered with Pandora during the alpha phase of Pandora Surveys, which can earn the listener 60 minutes of uninterrupted listening, meaning there are no ads.

“Incrementality is at the center of everything we do with regard to measurement, so it will be interesting to see how the ability to read lift on business metrics such as revenue specifically associated with exposure to Pandora audio campaigns advances and progresses,” said Leah Atkinson, media strategy lead at StubHub.

“There’s always a desire to get insights during a campaign, where there’s the opportunity to make necessary changes,” said Claire Fanning, VP of ad strategy at Pandora, adding that the idea is "getting results during the campaign period.”

Pandora launched Sponsored Listening in 2016. While the platform tends to be audio specific, it also offers visual advertisements as well as search and browse features.

“The plan is to expand the offerings by adding A/B split testing for visual ads and audio ads,” Fanning said.

Today advertisers will use the visual ad unit to conduct the survey, but Pandora is evaluating audio creatives by analyzing metrics for the length of an audio ad, for example. All of the measurement tools that have been available for visual ads will become available for audio, Fanning said.

There will be more opportunities for shorter-form ads and interactive audio ads, Fanning said. "2020 looks like a very different world," she said. "It's a word where you can talk to an ad regardless of where you are and it's something we must be prepared for. If you have six seconds to state your message, how will that be done?"

In December Pandora began testing interactive voice ads that allowing listeners to respond to the ad by using their voice.

The new ads are limited in the prompts, but listeners can say "yes” after the ad asks a question and a tone plays. The ads will then offer more information about the product or brand.

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