OMG Australia plugs in to Spotify with The Trade Desk

SYDNEY - Omnicom Media Group (OMG) Australia has launched programmatic advertising on the Spotify platform and commenced campaigns for major brands, in tandem with The Trade Desk.

The announcement follows the deal signed in mid-October between the music-streaming platform and The Trade Desk to make its audio inventory available to programmatic buyers in Asia-Pacific.

Globally, Spotify has deals with Rubicon Project, App Nexus and The Trade Desk to make its audio inventory available through exchanges.

In a statement, The Trade Desk Asia-Pacific SVP Matt Harty said buying advertising on Spotify delivers a powerful mix of scale and data for brands seeking to connect with specific groups.  

“We see digital audio advertising as an upper funnel channel as the branding opportunities are significant,” he added.

OMG said that it has secured strong brand uptake and spend for programmatic audio advertising campaigns on Spotify’s ad supported portion of the platform.

Australia is no stranger to programmatic audio ad exchanges, having been the pioneer market for two such exchanges this year: Xaxis Radio and a2x.

It is also one of the most digital-forward markets, with online advertising spend hitting a total of US$6 billion in 2015, according to an IAB/PWC Online Advertising Expenditure Report.

Speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific, Tom Fryett, programmatic director for OMG, based in Sydney said the agency has so far seen “great take up from major advertisers” for this approach to audio from multiple brands, belonging to diverse sectors including CPG, Tech, Travel and Beauty.

“Our brands understand from traditional broadcast radio that audio is a powerful and emotive medium,” he added. “Depending on the role of channel, some have seen it as a complementary medium to linear broadcast radio and assigned spend from a larger audio budget, others have seen it as an innovative extra format within an overall programmatic approach to digital.”

According to Signal, Australian marketers had the highest digital ad spend per internet user in the world. By 2018, the market is predicted to become one of the first in the world where more than 50 percent of its total ad spend is invested in digital channels.

Asked where the platform sits within the wider landscape of audio channel offerings in the market, when it comes to media considerations, Fryett noted that what’s been “really impressive” is the treasure trove of data Spotify has on its users.

“However they also understand the value exchange here – you only have to look at features like Discover Weekly and Release Radar to see they are a technology company that keenly understands what data at scale can add to the user experience,” he said.

“This follows through into the opportunities for advertisers, and we have seen success in building bespoke data segments with Spotify based on playlists and listening habits to move beyond standard audiences into some very interesting audio-specific targeting opportunities,” he added.

Fryett also shared that due to the positive results seen to date with campaigns on Spotify, the agency will significantly expand this part of its programmatic offering next year, with audio joining other channels such as display, video and social.

He added that one of the biggest positives has to date has been the scale of the audience the agency has been able to tap into, allowing advertisers to segment their desired overall audience and target different groups with different audio messages within a single buy.

“Alongside recent studies by Spotify into music streaming delivering incremental reach to radio, the opportunity to be data-driven in our audio approach is a key reason we see this being a fast growing part of our overall offering next year,” said Fryett.