Using DAI for the Ask

Before I hop in here, I want to wish you all a happy, healthy holiday season – here’s to your happiness, joy, and continued health and prosperity!

Alright, alright, alright, let’s get on with the show! Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) has been around for about 20 years now, and it has come a long way since the early days of streaming. It’s been called a few different things too: Ad Injection, Server Side Ad Insertion (SSAI), Client Side Ad Insertion, and Ad Insertion Software.

The basic gist of DAI today in 2022 is that 99% of all digital audio ads on live streams are being delivered on the server side, and the technology has come so far that whether you are playing pre-rolls or mid-rolls, your options on what you can do and who you can target are not only limitless, but also easier than ever. (Quick aside here: The digital audio industry nomenclature calls ads in the spot sets on radio stations “midrolls;” so while most of us think of a midroll in a podcast, for the radio station, it can also include sponsorship or advertising you may be doing in the spot set on a traditional clock.)

Which brings me to my topic today: Using DAI for the ask. As a non-profit organization, your station’s revenue is generated largely by listener donations. From an advertising/branding point of view, I would imagine that an ask is like an ad in that you need both reach and frequency, which makes perfect sense, but what if you could do more? Using DAI software to target specific messages to specific people could help increase conversion rates, but also drive larger donations.

For example, you know your coverage area and if you are lucky, you also have some behavioral/contextual data on your listening audience. Now let’s say in your coverage area you have two zip codes that are in range of your transmitter site and flamethrower of an antenna (don’t forget to thank your engineer today). In one zip code you know the area is mostly blue collar workers renting homes or apartments, and the other zip code is predominantly affluent, white collar workers who own their own homes. Now, you want to make sure everybody that is listening to your station online or via your bad-donkey app is aware of your fundraiser, but what if you could target these zip codes with different asks? In the blue collar area of town, you could target a pre-roll to that particular zip code and have a message asking for as little as $10/month to help your radio ministry; and in the other part of town you could target a pre-roll to that particular zip code to ask for $50/month.

Now I realize that I am generalizing. In many areas blue collar workers are more likely to give more and more often than the more affluent folks, but you get it, and you probably have a good understanding of where those folks are. From my perspective here in the San Francisco Bay Area – I can target the East Bay cities like Fremont, Union City, and Hayward where I know I have about ½ my listening audience, and then I can target Menlo Park where Steph Curry lives. Might my messaging and asks be a bit different, abso-freakin-lutely!

With DAI software, you not only have the ability to target zip codes or locations, but you can also target time of day – maybe your data suggests people tend to give more in the morning, so you can make your higher level of commitment ask then. Or you can target devices like smart speakers and even digital appliances – hey if they can afford a refrigerator that plays the radio while they’re cooking, maybe they can afford to give more too. Or you can even target audiences based on probabilistic first party data -– you want to target females that are between the ages of 34-55? You can do that too! Although additional ad serving fees may apply for that last bit.

So in summary, if your station is not currently using DAI to play pre-rolls on your station streams – then you need to get on the bus, it’s been trucking along for 20 years now. And if you do have the ability to play pre-rolls, then you also have the option to do so much more with the technology today than you did a few short years ago.

Matt Kellogg is VP of Sales & Business Development at SoundStack, which simplifies audio through the development of platform-agnostic technology for creators and advertisers.

matt@soundstack.com