Everyday across the world, it’s a competition of who can put more screens between their eyes and the wall: billboards, digital signage on cabs, TV, laptop, tablet, smart phone, smart watch, and soon, AR/VR goggles.

Eye-catching adverts are constantly flashing in front of consumers, and as a business, you are vying for that split milli-second window. Including non-digital (e.g., paper) materials, the visual ad market is a clustered battlefield.

But Soft, Do You Hear That?

What’s one commonality you see with the people in the subway, at the gym, or anywhere on the street? They all have earphones in their ears. Even if you don’t have a pair yourself, you are surrounded with audio in cars, cafes, and bars. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an average person spent 18.4 hours listening to music every week in 2021, and an average American listened to music 26.9hrs/week, or 3 hours and 50 minutes per day.

This is the airspace that you need to be going after.

Audio Ad Platforms

Spotify leads the charge with 456 million monthly active users, with YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and SoundCloud following up. Of course, you also can’t ignore the traditional radio ads. The difference here is that with apps like Spotify and YouTube, you can target specific demographics, geographies, and timings of your messages to create a personal connection with the end-users when they are the most receptive.

What is an Audio Ad?

While the exact length and details may vary depending on the platform of your choice, audio ads are construed of a 15~60second audio spot with or without an accompanying display image.

1. Engaging

Spotify and SoundCloud audio ads are played between songs during active listening sessions, ensuring that the advertiser is able to grab the full attention of the listener. Interested audience can click on the display image to be redirected to the desired destination. Or they may pull up a browser and research a product online, connect with brands on social media, or discuss with their friends and family about the product or service in question. This experience is all seamless because audio, unlike videos or images, can be played and heard while the listener is doing something else. It plays into the ambiance and can work on the subconscious of a potential consumer without interrupting their routine. Especially so because the ads are tailored to the most ideal demographics based on their preference and behaviors.

Traditional video players like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are also recognizing this trend and moving quickly with audio ads leveraging simpler video or image requirements. One of the key benefits of YouTube audio ad is the fact that it can be managed from the same dashboard as you operate Google Search and Display ads, ensuring a holistic view.

2. Cost-Efficient

You can see significant cost savings because you don’t need to make any videos or special imageries. All you need is a script and a voice to go along.

3. Responsive

Because you don’t need to make any visual assets, you can respond rapidly to changing market and product situations. All you need is a savvy copywriter and solid voiceover artists.

Voice is The Most Important Piece in Audio Ads

Even if audio ads are stacked with all these benefits, we are still left with the challenge of securing a squad of voice actors on-call.

It’s not easy to find the right voice actor for the job, but even if you do, the chances of that voice actor being available whenever you want them is slim to none. On top of that, you have to negotiate contracts and spending time on revisions each time you make adjustments to your script. I said squad of voice talent because you’ll want different voices based on the target demographic –  different languages, dialects, gender, age, and even style. And what if you wanted to add a bit of flare to your audio ad with music and sound effects?

This is where an advanced Text to Speech platform can help by providing a sprawling library of human-like, authentic AI voices and a suite of audio production and editing tools.

Using TTS to Produce Audio Ads

Personalized Messages

Using AI voices, brands can deliver personalized audio experiences. You have the flexibility to choose among hundreds of voices that not only fit your brand and product, but the ones that will cater the best to your target consumers. Create multiple versions of your ads, in different languages, accents, genders, ages, styles, and emotions. You can also create a branded voice just for your company that customers can remember you by.

For example, if you are pitching a legal agency, it makes sense to use a calm, professional, persuasive yet friendly middle-aged adult voice, and the right vernacular of your target audience. If you are promoting a local college, you are better off using young, spirited, but smart voices rather than children’s voices.

Reduce Voiceover Production Time & Cost

Getting a voice seems simple, but there’s a lot of work behind the scenes for that file to reach your hands. The list includes searching, sampling, and signing a voiceover talent, reserving a recording studio, handling editing and re-editing of voiceovers, and managing the entire project. Usually, this can take anywhere from weeks to months, and you’ll have to add special effects to this afterwards as well.

On the other hand, with Text-to-Speech, you can browse through a catalog of voices, listen to samples, upload your script, create the voiceover, make necessary edits and add music and sound effects, and be done in minutes. And you can do this without any special knowledge in audio engineering.

Consistency & Availability

The platform is available whenever you want, 24/7. There are no reservations, waiting, or unexpected conditions to worry about.

Scriptwriting for Audio Ads

Below are some tips we’ve heard from our users regarding writing the copies for audio ads.

1. Keep It Simple

Audio ads are usually shorter than visual ads, and more often than not, your audience will be doing something else while listening. Make sure you know what message you want your customers to retain and keep to that.

2. Use the Voice of Your Users

I don’t mean the voice you choose to make the audio file (that’s important too). I mean the tone of your writing; it needs to be direct, succinct, and easy on the ears. Jargons, rambling messages, and simply droning on about your product features will fall on deaf ears.

3. Consistency Is Key

Remember that everything your ad portrays is a message delivered from you, your company, or your brand. The idea, message, words, phrases, and tone should match across the board.

A Win-Win

Utilizing AI Voiceovers, AI Voice Generators and TTS tools is a win-win scenario for both the advertisers and the customers alike. Companies get to save money and time with a better return on their ads, and consumers get to hear tailored ads of products and services they are more likely to be interested in via voices they are more likely to engage with.

The power is in your hands – unleash your creativity with Genny.

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