Maybe a few years ago the audio seemed to be becoming quite overshadowed by the pull of the increasingly complex audiovisual formats. The video killed the radio star, says the song, an unexpected paradigm to understand how some media cannibalize others when they are born.

However, technology Last Database ( https://www.lastdatabase.com/ ) has made the audio pick up steam again. Radio never disappeared, no matter how much its audiences were no longer the overwhelming ones of the 1940s or 1950s. The profile of current radio listeners shows that the medium is still there. The traditional radio is not the one that explains, in any case, the revival of audio and with it the sound announcement.

The consumption of music streaming has become the norm of the market, while the boom in podcasts in recent years has raised a new industry. Smartphones and smart speakers have underpinned the importance of audio content.

Where there are audiences, there are advertisements. Where there are advertisements, there should be an in-depth study of the market and what works in one setting and another. It is not worth assuming that you already know everything about an advertising format. Neuromarketing proves time and time again that nothing can be taken for granted, and it just did so with audio advertising. An Australian neuroscience study has compared how the brain reacts when listening to advertisements on different sound content channels.

The study showed that, even if they are audio formats, their ads do not have the same effects. In a way, you could say that it makes sense. Although they are audio content, it is not the same to listen to the radio, streaming music or even a podcast. Consumer expectations are different and so is the listening experience.

Research has used neuroscience to study what reaction is registered in the brain when this type of content is heard. Radio wins when it comes to timing. According to the conclusions, radio is the sound medium that achieves engagement by listeners for the longest time. More attention is also paid to it: the study data speak of a 60% higher neural attention figure.

Even so, the other audio content formats also have their positive side, which stand out in other areas and which provide other values. If advertisers are looking to settle on the listener's memories, the big winner will be the podcast. It is the one that shows the highest levels of memory processes.

Against this, music works on a much more emotional level. It is the medium that has the strongest impact when it comes to generating a positive attitude towards the brand featured in the ad.

An ad type for each format
All this makes it very important to differentiate, also here, the channel in which the advertising will be served. Advertisers had a hard time understanding when video came online that they couldn't just recycle TV ads.

Perhaps the time has come to make the same thought about audio ads. According to the conclusions of the study, not only is each format unique and offers differentiated opportunities, but erring in the type of ad has a disastrous effect on the listener. According to their data, there is a 170% variation in the response to the ad when it does not match what is expected from the channel on which it is being listened to.

Therefore, the same ad cannot be served to the consumer who listens to a playlist of their favorite songs on Spotify, as the latest headlines on the radio as their favorite podcast. Creativity must think about the space it occupies, but so must the objectives of the brands. Each channel will reinforce a differentiated element.