Audio outperforms video when it comes to attention

New study: Audio is more effective than video in retaining customers´ attention

Video killed the radio star, or did it not? New studies are showing that this might be about to change. Video still is one of the most popular media, especially when it comes to ads that are supposed to attract and retain potential customers. HOWEVER a new study from Dentsu in cooperation with among others Spotify shows, that audio is moving up the ladder. A surprising fact that is worth looking at in more detail. And that is what we are going to do here.

A brand-new study from Dentsu (1^st of August 2023), involving podcasts, radio and music streaming, in cooperation with Lumen Research and platforms such as Spotify has shown a new way of measuring listeners´ attention.

The outcome is very surprising and shows a very clear trend: Audio ads – involving everything from podcasts to radio ads– created a lot more attention and an increase in brand awareness compared to other forms of ads for other platforms.

Two factors which are very important for marketers, who basically always dream of an increase in both attention and brand awareness.

Some numbers from the study almost speak for themselves:

• 41% of the audio ads created brand awareness compared to the norm and to previous studies performed by Dentsu.
• Brand engagement for audio ads was up to 10% (almost twice as high as for other forms of advertising according to Dentsu)
• The aCPM (the number of seconds in which the listener is aware per a thousand showings) was 50% higher than Dentsus norms.

Based on this, the study points out the ongoing importance of audio as a strong medium when it comes to gaining the listeners´ attention.

Each and every audio channel has its advantages

As an additional fact, the study also shows that each and every channel for audio ads (podcasts, music streaming and radio) has its own set of advantages.

Podcasts were for example one of the channels where the listeners´ attention span was the longest. In terms of performance, the ads worked best here, when the podcast host read them out loud directly. This also shows how important a human voice can be in grabbing the listeners´ attention and for them to remember the brand.

At the same time, the study showed that radio had a high aCPM – actually ten times more effective than a standard online video ad.

As a matter of fact, attention is the most important thing: grabbing the attention of potential customers and keeping it as long as possible. Dentsu´s study about audio comes as an addition to their Attention Economy Research that has a focus on how you can create attention for you as a brand.

The new way of measuring this showed for the first time how important audio is.

And it totally makes sense, because audio is the only thing you can take with you whilst doing other things like going for a walk or driving to work. Audio is always there, even though your focus and energy might be somewhere else. Just think of TV ads: the audio is always with you, even if you go in the kitchen to get some coffee.

Simply put: Audio is important – especially with the increase of podcasts and music streaming that we can currently observe.