Programmatic Supercharges Your Connected Device Campaigns

From smart speakers in your home to apps in your car, the proliferation of connected devices has radically reshaped the audio landscape, bringing digital audio entertainment to thousands of IoT products. Consumers are tapping into more devices than ever before, with 58% of households having two or more smart speakers. Additionally, current projections have 72% of drivers in connected vehicles by 2026.

These changes create exciting new opportunities for brands to engage with their customers. And our programmatic ad-supported platforms now make it easier than ever for brands to engage these consumers.

Connected Goes Programmatic

Some time ago, we launched our dedicated connected home offering for Pandora, giving advertisers the ability to reach listeners across their smart TVs, set-top boxes, home speakers, and voice-connected devices. In the car, we developed an audience derived from Bluetooth connectivity signals, refreshed every 15 minutes, to reach roughly three million listeners a month as they hit the road. 

Now, we’ve developed fully programmatic, biddable versions of these products, giving advertisers the ability to control budgets, manage reach and frequency, and measure performance in the context of their entire media buy. And the innovation doesn't stop here. In the not-so-distant future, we’ll leverage SiriusXM’s primary position in-dash to expand our programmatic audio offering to native vehicle functionality. With this, we’ll be able to offer the first fully addressable, scalable programmatic in-car marketplace.

Programmatic is Better for Connected Device Advertising

Audio weaves itself into every part of our day, from that early morning sweat to the pre-bed winddown. And connected devices are making digital audio even more accessible, bringing listeners and brands together in more ways than ever before. 

Now, let's talk about why programmatic for connected device advertising is a great fit for your next campaign.

Become a of Part Moments Shared with Family and Friends

Co-listening on Pandora is higher than ever—48% of those who listened to Pandora on connected devices like smart speakers and connected TVs do so with others. Similarly, 48% of those who tune into Pandora in the vehicle listen with others (up 4% from 2018). That means for every 100 paid advertising impressions on the platform, advertisers get 48 additional impressions. Whether it’s cooking together, hosting a family celebration, or embarking on a cross-country road trip, brands have the opportunity to capitalize on these co-listening moments with tailored messaging for the at-home and in-car environments.

Drive Incremental Campaign Reach

Digital audio, particularly via connected devices, is a powerful tool to complement video/display and to optimize reach beyond desktop and mobile. This is borne out in the data—37% of Pandora listeners listen exclusively on connected home. When we rolled out our programmatic connected vehicle beta earlier this year, advertisers saw as much as 47% incremental reach and as little as 1% overlap with existing programmatic mobile audio lines. If you aren’t showing up in these environments, you are missing a potentially significant portion of your target audience.

Shine in an Uncluttered Ad Environment

Traditional desktop, mobile, and terrestrial radio are saturated with advertising. These cluttered environments fueled the hunt for better ways to capture and measure attention, with advertisers often leaning on viewability metrics. But it turns out, it’s audio that is getting more attention for brands.

Recently, research from dentsu and Lumen Research shows that audio ads exceed attention benchmarks for visual ads, driving 50% more attention from audiences. With lower ad loads and less competition with other channels (e.g., display and video), serving audio ads through connected devices offers advertisers a more attractive avenue to reach their consumers. Nearly 40% of listeners agree that voice ads on smart speakers are less intrusive and more engaging than TV, print, and online ads. But don't take our word for it! All programmatic campaigns are third-party served, giving advertisers full ownership over their reporting and data.

Make a Data-Informed Media Buy

Like their desktop and mobile audio siblings, connected devices allow advertisers to leverage an extensive set of targeting levers, including age, gender, geography, multicultural, genre, first-party Pandora segments, and first- and third-party segments via DSP. Purchasing programmatically allows advertisers to control budgets, manage reach and frequency, and measure performance in the context of their entire media buy. 

Living in a last-click world, that last piece on measurement is especially important. In addition to traditional DSP attribution reporting, we have the ability to measure the entire funnel on connected home devices, including “hear-thru” conversions. The future of advertising will only become more data informed, and our programmatically enabled connected device products are perfectly positioned to thrive in this context.

Ready to Get Connected with Programmatic?

We are your connection. With 10.2M monthly uniques, our Apple Carplay/Android Auto Connected Vehicle offering is our second largest segment after our cornerstone mobile/desktop audio product. Currently in programmatic beta, advertisers can incorporate vehicle into their existing cross-channel buys, bringing all the data, frequency, and budget control advantages of DSP buying to this unique and differentiated environment.

And we can make it easy. So, let’s talk programmatic for your next connected campaign.