Audio & DOOH · also called digital audio advertising
Programmatic audio
Programmatic audio is buying and selling audio ads, on music streaming, digital radio and podcasts, through automated platforms and real-time or deal-based auctions.
Programmatic audio brings the machinery of programmatic advertising to sound. When a listener on a music app, online radio stream or podcast reaches an ad break, an ad request goes to an audio SSP or exchange, DSPs bid, and the winning audio file is inserted into the stream.
Audio ads are usually described using VAST (the older audio-specific DAAST standard was merged into VAST 4.1), often with an optional companion banner on screen. Major sellers include music and radio streaming services, audio networks and podcast platforms. Targeting uses context (genre, show, time of day), location, device and consented first-party data.
Audio has particular measurement challenges. Listeners often cannot see or click anything, many streams play on smart speakers or in cars, and "listen-through" depends on whether the device was actually playing out loud. Fraud exists too: bots and spoofed devices can fake streams or podcast downloads, so buyers check sources and verification.
Think of it like this
Programmatic audio is like an automated radio station controller that sells each ad break to the highest bidder moments before it airs.
An example
A car brand buys 5 million programmatic audio impressions on streaming music in Germany at a €12 CPM during commuting hours, with a companion banner shown on phones.
Related terms
Podcast advertising
Podcast advertising is paid messages placed in podcast episodes, either read by the host or produced separately, sold per thousand downloads and increasingly inserted dynamically or programmatically.
Dynamic ad insertion (DAI)
Dynamic ad insertion (DAI) is technology that inserts ads into audio or video content at the moment it is downloaded or streamed, so different listeners or viewers can receive different, up-to-date ads.
VAST
VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) is the IAB Tech Lab standard XML format that tells a video player which ad to play, where to fetch it and which tracking events to report.
Programmatic advertising
Programmatic advertising is buying and selling ad space through automated software, usually one impression at a time, instead of through manual negotiations, phone calls and paper contracts.
DSP (demand-side platform)
A DSP (demand-side platform) is software that advertisers and agencies use to buy ad impressions automatically across many exchanges and publishers, deciding which impressions to bid on and how much.