Best practices for digital audio ads

Stay on message

The more focused an ad is, the more engaging and memorable it is to listeners. Avoid overwhelming your audience by keeping things simple and focusing on one or two key messages and takeaways.

Introduce the brand the right away

Ads with brand mentions in the first five seconds drive stronger favorability, message association, and intent. Our creative recommendation? Make the brand name the last word of the opening sentence.

Ads with brand mentions in the first five seconds drive 24% higher favorability than those without a mention in the first five seconds.¹

Say it, then say it again

Additional brand mentions after the first five seconds boost memorability and perception. We recommend keeping the brand top of mind with multiple mentions to help boost key performance metrics even further.

Ads with two or more brand mentions see 3x more favorability than ads with a single brand mention.²

Keep it casual

Listeners should feel like they're hearing about a product from a friend, so use shorter phrases and sentences that reflect how people talk in real life. We recommend 60-80 words, which typically works out to about 30 seconds of runtime. Be succinct, and leave room to breathe.

Follow a three-part format

Ads following a three-part format score higher in key performance attributes. The key three parts are:
1. Introduce the brand
2. Define the brand and outline its benefits
3. Close with a clear call-to-action

Ads following a three-part format score (on average) 5pts higher in recall compared to ads that follow a different format.³

Clearly convey your CTA

Choose a short URL that's easy to read out loud. If the URL or offer code is difficult to understand by ear—or if the spelling might catch listeners by surprise—repeat it, and spell it out.

Hit the 15-30 second sweet spot

Simply put, ads that last longer than 15 seconds perform better. For best results, don’t rush your message—instead, build in enough time to ensure it's heard and absorbed.

Ads that run longer than 15 seconds score (on average) 36% higher on message association compared to ads that run under 15 seconds.⁴

Go easy on the ear

Sound design can create an immersive experience for the listener—but beware of excessive sound effects (SFX). Put yourself in the listener’s headphones, and avoid SFX that could be distracting or disruptive to their experience.

Let the music play

Ads with background music drive stronger intent, brand awareness, and message association. To avoid competing with the voiceover, choose background music that contains no vocals, with ambient or rhythmic melodies to minimize distraction.

Ads containing background music score (on average) 76% higher on intent than ads without.⁵

Hear Grammarly's top-notch ad in action

To raise awareness of their new advanced tone suggestion service, Grammarly tapped Spotify to run a music streaming ad campaign. As an early adopter of the new Spotify Ad Analytics solution, Grammarly was able to use data to ensure the campaign struck all the right notes.