Dynamic advertising, also known as dynamic ad insertion, is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways for podcasters to advertise on their shows. But what’s all the hype about these ads? Are they that much better than the typical method of advertising? In this blog, we’ll give you a more in-depth look at this method of advertising, so you can decide if it’s right for your podcast.
What is Dynamic Advertising and How Does it Apply to Podcasts?
Dynamic ad insertion is an effective form of advertisement for different media platforms. Podcasters specifically have found dynamic advertising to be a great way to improve the ad experience for both their advertisers and their listeners. But how does dynamic advertising work and what is it exactly?
Typically, when you have an advertisement on a podcast it happens a couple ways. You can either pre-record an ad and stick it somewhere in the episode, or you can have the host read it at some point in the episode. The thing about podcasts though, is many people aren’t always caught up, listening to the newest episode. They usually might listen from the beginning, be a few episodes behind, or are just skipping around. While having listeners is great, it doesn’t work so great for your advertisers. They’re more than likely listening to old, out of date advertisements that no longer apply to the time they’re listening.
With dynamic advertising, this is no longer an issue. You can simply record a new ad and insert it in your podcast wherever you like, whether that’s in a new time slot or where the older advertisement used to be. You don’t have to re upload your podcast or anything, you just insert the new ad file and your years-old podcast now has relevant advertisements.
The Biggest Benefits of Dynamic Advertising
Now that we’ve defined what dynamic ad insertion is, let’s take a look at some of the biggest benefits.
Dynamic Ads Will Always be Relevant
The biggest benefit with dynamic ads is that your listeners will never hear an ad that they can’t act on. For example, if you aired a podcast that had an advertisement for a Labor Day sale, your listeners will hear that advertisement while the sale is still going on. When listeners are tuned in months later, they won’t hear that ad again. They’ll hear an ad for a sale that is currently happening, or whatever other deal or promotion your advertiser is choosing to run at the time.
You Have Complete Creative Control Over Your Advertisements
Sometimes sponsors fall through, sometimes sponsors don’t make payments, maybe a sponsor goes out of business. If any of these things happen, there’s nothing you can do to remove their previous advertisements if they’re already baked into your podcast. With dynamic advertising, you can remove these ad spots no matter what the circumstances are. You’re in control of every ad in every episode of your podcast.
Quick and Flexible Advertisements for You and Your Sponsors
With dynamic ad insertion, you can give more flexibility to your sponsors than ever. With the older way of doing podcast ads, making an advertisement for a one or two sale didn’t make much sense. Listeners might not hear the episode in time to take advantage and the advertiser might see it as a waste of a spot. With dynamic advertising, you can stitch the timed sale advertisement into the podcast and then quickly switch it with a more evergreen ad once the promotion has ended. This gets your sponsors the boost they want during the sale and then gives them their normal flow of advertisement again right after. This flexibility will be greatly appreciated by sponsors and will make them much happier doing business with you.
Your Listeners Often Won’t Notice the Difference
Your listeners will remain unaffected by these changes, since the ads can still be recorded by the hosts or original reader, making them sound essentially the same as the older ads. If anything, dynamic advertising is a benefit for the listener. Hearing ads that aren’t relevant doesn’t help anyone, and if a listener wants to convert on the ad, it needs to be current.
Downsides of Dynamic Advertising
As with any method of advertising, dynamic ad insertion isn’t completely perfect. However, its biggest downside tends to depend more on the preferences of your sponsors. The biggest downside of dynamic advertising is the fact that the ad potentially won’t stay in your show forever. Sometimes an advertiser wants to buy spots in a podcast because they know that their ad will be a part of that episode forever. However, some advertisers like the flexibility of the dynamic ads, so it all just depends on who you’re working with.
There’s another slight downside, which is the fact that your listeners may notice that ads have changed from past episodes. The reason this is only a slight downside is that even if they notice, they’re unlikely to care much. Still, it’s best to make sure your dynamically inserted ads come across as organic, that way newer listeners can never tell the difference.
What Makes these Type of Advertisements so Dynamic
Besides the fact that you can change an ad at will, are there any other features of dynamic advertising that set it apart? In short, the answer is definitely yes. When you create dynamic ads, you can actually make it so that different dynamic ads air for different listeners. For example, if you recorded an advertisement that only applies to listeners in the United States, you could have another audio file that changes to a different advertiser for listeners outside the United States. This added flexibility means you can truly customize the advertisement experience on your podcast down to the available audience metrics you have.
Other Types of Advertisements on Podcasts: Are They Antiquated in the Face of Dynamic Advertising?
All of this isn’t to say that the other forms of podcast advertising are bad or outdated, it’s just good to keep in mind that as the podcast industry evolves, so will the way publishers offer ads to their listeners and sponsors. Staying on top of the latest advertising trends ensures you stay ahead of the curve and that you can offer your advertisers a variety of different options. In the end, it’s up to you how you want to advertise and it’s up to your sponsors if they want to use the different options you set up for them. Dynamic advertising has a lot of benefits, and it could be right for your podcast, so it’s definitely worth considering it as an option when setting up your sponsorship agreements.
