l study reveals that 61% of Spanish Internet users IAB Spain, the advertising, marketing and digital communication association in Spain, has presented its ‘ Digital Audio Study 2021’, an annual report of reference for the industry. This edition is produced in collaboration with GfK Spain and sponsored by IKI Media and t2ó.
The main objective of the document is to deepen the consumer’s knowledge of Digital Audio content to find out quantitative aspects that determine their habits and preferences. The information collected in it offers a real vision of the Digital Audio market in Spain that allows understanding, quantifying and analyzing the scope of this discipline, as well as providing information on trends within the market framework defined by the IAB Digital Audio Commission Spain and that we will detail below.
Digital Audio Range and Listening Habits
Digital Audio in Spain is consolidated among Internet users over 16 years of age in 2021. Penetration has been maintained compared to 2020 and 6 out of 10 Internet users listen to Digital Audio, among them, 97% listen to it regularly . Digital Audio listeners are heavy Internet users .
They are more multi-device than the Spanish average and carry out a greater variety of online activities . The intelligent speakers continue to consolidate between these listeners having other promising devices like the connected car (14.3%). For yet another year, music is the protagonist of Digital Audio themes since 8 out of 10 listeners listen to this type of content.
In terms of formats , music on demand and live radio continue to consolidate. The flexibility, practicality and variety of content that Digital Audio offers are the main reasons that attract users to this discipline.
Consumer Trends: Voice Assistants and Pay-Per-Subscription
About half of Digital Audio listeners use a voice assistant , generating a very intensive use , since 6 out of 10 use them on a daily basis . The preferred devices for this format are the Smartphone and smart speakers . As for themes, the music and b Index search information / news lead.
The reign of Alexa continues, as more than half of respondents have this voice assistant. They are followed by Google Assistant and S iri , while Cortana falls 6 pp compared to last year. A 29% of Digital Audio users have a paid subscription, 3 percentage points more than in 2020 . The payment service that attracts the most users is Spotify , followed by Amazon Music .
Perception of advertising in Digital Audio
The advertising memory of this discipline is extremely high , 77% of listeners remember hearing advertising while consuming Digital Audio. In addition, 43% consider that advertising is useful for making purchasing decisions.
Among the most remembered advertising categories in Digital Audio, financial and insurance services dominate, with 37.5% recall, followed by automotive, technology and food with a level higher than 30%.
The content for voice assistants is an interesting niche for the advertising industry , especially as regards new launches since they are the format that most facilitates the decision to buy a product or brand and also the one that best helps to know products, services and new brands in the market.
The advertising industry and Digital Audio
It increases the interest of the advertising industry in the Digital Audio as 84% of professionals use it in their media strategies, being the digital department the main charge. Management as an independent means continues to be applied in 6 out of 10 cases . In addition, 81% think that investment in it will increase .
Coupling to real listening moments , access to a part of the planning target or its contemplation in the media mix are the main reasons for using Digital Audio for 1 in 2 professionals, with access to different targets being its greatest profit . On the other hand, the reluctance of its use by customers and the lack of promotion by the industry are its two main obstacles.
Despite this, 48% think that it will be decisive for the sector in the coming years. Knowledge of the different formats of Digital Audio has spread among professionals and they are now more popular within the sector, which also translates into an increase in investment intention in them.
Having a larger budget , greater measurement capacity and a greater knowledge of its possibilities are the challenges that should be met to improve investment in Digital Audio in the future . For Belén Acebes, Operations Director of IAB Spain : “Digital Audio is one of the great topics of our industry as we see in the different forums this year, and as the Digital Audio Commission has demonstrated with its activity.
In addition to this Study which is already a reference in the market, the Commission is preparing the White Paper on Digital Audio that will be launched soon, with which it intends to establish a guide for the industry by creating standards that serve as a reference framework and provide clarity to the audio market. Digital Audio.
From IAB Spain and its Commission, we will continue promoting Digital Audio as we have done before. ” For Córdoba Ruiz, General Director of IKI Media: “From the Digital Audio Commission of IAB Spain, we have been developing this study for 7 years and improving it to turn it into an updated and effective instrument, at the service of professionals, which allows us to better understand the behavior of people when listening to Audio Digital.
If we focus on immediacy, voice is a key communication and interaction tool. Therefore, Digital Audio must be integrated into the communication strategies of brands, if they want to be relevant and connect with their consumers As we have seen in the study, Digital Audio is already a constant in the media landscape and, now more than ever, we have to exploit it to approach consumers in an integrated way, taking into account that they are already choosing where, when and how to listen “.
For María Castellanos, CMO of t2ó : “As we have been observing for a couple of years, the consumption of online audio shows a sustained growth and begins to reach a relevant penetration. This consumption is increasingly massive and this can be verified both with the increase in listening to podcasts and live online audio in the last year with formats all of which are having great success. Also highlight the interest of the advertising industry in these new formats and the good results obtained with them “.