AMA, the leader in dynamic creative for audio, today announced a significant update to its API integration tool to streamline the management of first-party data for brands. This update allows brands to easily upload and manage both static and live data through a seamless Google Sheets integration, offering a more efficient and user-friendly solution for handling large data sets.

The enhanced tool helps brands maintain highly personalized, data-drive campaigns using any custom data source and up-to-the-minute information. With AMA’s new “data library” feature, brands can store first-party data centrally, allowing them to access it across multiple campaigns without having to re-add.

“As data becomes increasingly critical to effective advertising, brands need tools that make it easier to manage and leverage that information,” said Paul Kelley, CRO at AMA. “On top of our existing contextual data points, our new update gives brands the ability to seamlessly control their first-party data so campaigns are always relevant, personalized, and driven by real-time insights.”

The new update also lets brands refresh live data at intervals of their choosing to maintain real-time relevance — a key advantage for industries like retail and betting where personalization and timeliness are crucial.

Powerball successfully used AMA’s API integration to dynamically mention the prize pot for each lottery event they promoted, with the pot size changing weekly. This allowed the brand to provide fresh, relevant information to listeners, making their advertising more engaging and timely. Another noteworthy campaign was for Chevron, who used the tool to dynamically share the distance to the nearest gas station, providing customers with valuable real-time information.

“With brands owning vast amounts of first-part data, they are constantly seeking ways to leverage it across their marketing efforts — delivering real-time, relevant messages that resonate with their audiences,” added Kelly. “Our enhanced tool now allows audio to be an integral part of these hyper-personalized campaigns and make a greater impact.”

To learn more about this tool, as well as AMA’s cutting-edge technology and how it enables data-driven, dynamic ad experiences, visit amillionads.com.

About AMA

AMA is the leader in Dynamic Creative for audio. We deliver customized, data driven, dynamic ads on the world’s largest audio platforms.

By using any combination of contextual and audience-level data, we can dynamically serve the most relevant and actionable ad to each listener. With over 10 billion ad impressions served to date, our platform automates the delivery of ‘platform-intelligent’ ads across all audio formats, including streaming, podcast, and broadcast radio.

Founded in 2015 with offices in New York and London, we have delivered personalized ads across the globe for leading brands such as Google, Walmart, Target, Uber, Amazon, McDonald’s, American Express, and Meta.

AMA, the global leader in dynamic creative and personalization for digital audio advertising, today shared revealing insights from its recent survey, which polled over 1,000 U.S. consumer about their podcast listening habits and advertising preferences. Conducted in January 2024, the survey uncovers the pivotal role of social media in podcast discovery. Additionally, it sheds light on listeners’ preference for ad formats and timing, underscoring the growing demand for personalized ad experiences within podcasts.

“The data is unequivocal: Listeners want advertising that speaks directly to them, not just around them,” asserted Steve Dunlop, Founder and CEO of AMA. “Our research confirms that when ads are well-integrated and hit that sweet spot of timing and content, they’re not just heard, they’re listened to.”

Social Media Emerges As A Key Player In Podcast Discovery

Key findings from the research indicate a strong link between social media usage and podcast discovery, with YouTube leading at 61%, followed by 46% of respondents discovering new podcasts through Facebook and 43% through Instagram. Other platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok also played a role, with usage rates of 20%, 9%, and 39% respectively.

Varied Listener Comfort With Ad Personalization In Podcasts

When it comes to personalization, 80% of listeners show a preference for personalized ads in their podcast experience, signaling a substantial market appetite for customization. Nearly 20% of respondents seek highly personalized ads, tailored directly to their individual interests and listening habits. This highlights the importance of hyper-personalization, which can be achieved at scale with dynamic creative.

“Ad relevance is more than just a convenience; it directly leads to purchases,” Dunlop explained. “The study’s findings reinforce that dynamic creative both enhances brand impact, and aligns with listener preferences. Given that tailored ads resonate with listeners and benefits brands, the choice for dynamic audio advertising is clear.”

Listener Preferences Lean Towards Pre-Recorded and Host-Read Podcast Ads

The survey highlights listener preference in ad formats with 38% favoring pre-recorded ads (short commercial messages recorded by someone other than the podcast host and typically last 15-30 seconds) casting a shadow over the belief that host-read ads are more effective. Furthermore, just under a third (31%) of listeners enjoy host-read sponsorship ads, while another 31% prefer branded content (promotional messages seamlessly integrated within the podcast content, like a branded segment or episode.) Regarding ad placement within a podcast, 42% of respondents prefer pre-roll ads at the start of the podcast, one-third favor mid-roll ads, and one-quarter are inclined towards post-roll ads at the end.

Ad relevance proves to be a key driver in listener response, with a combined 42% of respondents finding podcast ads either very relevant (15%) or somewhat relevant (27%) and acknowledging that such relevance has led to actual purchases. This highlights how relevant ads boost listener purchases, demonstrating targeted advertising’s effectiveness in driving consumer action.

Diverse Listening Habits Indicate The Need For Dynamic Creative In Podcast Ads

While 15% of listeners are devoted, never missing an episode, a third of the respondents identity themselves as regular listeners. This highlights a potential risk of ad fatigue, particularly for regular listeners who might encounter the same ad repeatedly. This situation is all too familiar — repetitive ads can become irritating, distracting from the listener experience.

AMA’s dynamic creative technology offers a solution by adjusting the ad content to suit each listener’s context. With features like message rotation, even the same campaign can deliver unique ads to a listener — keeping the content fresh, engaging and reducing ad fatigue. This innovation is crucial for maintaining listener engagement, emphasizing the need for flexible advertising strategies.

“Personalized advertising is the future of engaging listeners,” emphasized Dunlop. “Our study shows that listeners aren’t just open to personalized ads — they prefer them. This shift is monumental, steering us away from one-size-fits-all generic creative ads toward those what resonate with individual tastes and interests. Particularly revealing is the potential for programmatic advertising to transform podcasting, inviting major advertisers to engage at scale. By embracing this evolution, we’re not just reaching audiences but genuinely engaging them — marking a new chapter in digital audio advertising.”

To learn more about AMA and how the company’s technology delivers customized, data-driven, dynamic ads on the world’s largest audio platforms, visit amillionads.com.