SpeechKit Audio Articles

Personalised audio and dynamic video content are among the innovations that the BBC is touting to advertisers in the year ahead.

At a Digital Content NewsFront presentation in New York this week, the broadcaster outlined how it plans to develop its commercial online business, including tapping into the explosion of interest in podcasts via a text-to-audio product.

Project Songbird aims to create automated audio versions of all BBC News’ online articles that people can listen to without having to click on or browse, AdWeek reported, while the technology will also learn readers’ preferences and recommend other related content.“We know audio is really important for our audiences and we are looking to really hone our technology around that,” explained Krystal Bowden, the director of BBC StoryWorks. “We’re building something that’s going to be really useful for our readers but done in a way where advertisers will want to align themselves to that,” she said, adding that for the latter the benefits will include “associating your brand with a new innovation”, as well as taking advantage of things like pre-roll and mid-roll ads in audio files and the improved targeting options enabled by knowing listeners’ preferences.

Meantime, work continues on creating a tone of voice that is appropriate for the stories being read and in ensuring that journalistic neutrality is maintained, The Drum noted The issue of personalisation crops up again in the use of object-based-media (OBM) technology, which allows viewers to customise the content according to their own preferences.

This is currently being trialled by Click, BBC News’ tech program, which is creating a program in parts that can be dynamically rearranged to suit viewers in particular markets or viewers at different levels of knowledge.“Each week, I have to make these horrible decisions about what to put in [the program] and what level to pitch it at – and I can only make one show,” said Simon Hancock, program editor of BBC Click.“In OBM is the possibility to give everyone what they want. And [the] localisation [piece] will have benefits for advertising if you’re trying to make campaigns that are impactful around the world.”

Sourced from AdWeek, The Drum; additional content by WARC staff

In 2018, digital audio advertising revenue reached $2.3 billion.

This represents a 22.9% increase over 2017’s fiscal year revenue of $1.8 billion.

A large percentage of this growth is from podcast advertising revenues.

Though digital audio advertising revenues continue to grow year-over-year, its share of the total internet advertising revenue pie remained at 2.1% in 2018.

Newsreaders have access to more stories than ever before. Their problem isn’t finding them, it’s finding the time to read them. Subsequently news publishers are struggling to engage distracted newsreaders for more than a minute .

Pew found an average of 57 seconds of interaction time (scrolling, clicking, and presumably reading) for stories shorter than 1,000 words.

On the other hand, the convenience and mobility of audio editions served alongside news articles are giving newsreaders a completely new way to dive into the stories that matter to them — and the engagement-time speaks for itself.

The average time spent listening to an article, across our news publishers, is around 3 minutes and 44 seconds. That’s nearly a 300% increase in engagement-time when compared to traditional articles.

SpeechKit found an average listening-time of 3 minutes and 44 seconds per article — based on 1M audio streams.

Our partner publishers, like The Canary, Daily Maverick and many more, aren’t the only publishers benefiting from the automated audio editions. Bloomberg recently launched automated audio editions alongside all their news articles and they’re now the second most popular media-type preceded only by live TV, according to Bloomberg’s Global Chief Product Officer, Julia Beizer.

Despite our original assumptions that audio editions would be used only by mobile newsreaders — over 40% of audio consumption happens on desktop — giving easily-distracted newsreaders the freedom to continue browsing other interesting reads whilst listening.

Over 40% of audio edition news consumption happens on desktop

Follow us on Twitter for regular insights into how automated audio is changing the way newsreaders engage with the stories that matter to them and how publishers can make the most of this new medium.

Innovation Bias: The Chinese AI News Anchor

This last week The Verge published some news about an AI news anchor launched by the state-run press agency. The tech used by the ‘digital anchors’ is not clear, however, it seems the agency, Xinhua, used a form of machine learning programmed by real footage to create facial movements to correspond with synthesised Chinese speech.

The article purveys a chilling sense that this is perhaps one more step towards an Orwellian dystopia where fake news is indistinguishable from the truth. This response certainly wouldn’t be unfounded given the nature of the origin of the experiment; a state-run Chinese news agency.

However, if we put our bais to the side for one moment and view this purely as an innovative development, perhaps this is a step towards elegant communication of information between human and computer. Automation gets a bad rep as it displaces workers, but in this instance look some of the advantages.

The article suggests that two anchors, one Chinese and the other English, would be used to generate news reports for TV, web, and mobile output. Instantly this tool will increase the reach and engagement of this news agency’s output by offering content in multiple languages across various formats, instantly and economically. Furthermore, this reformatting will allow Xinhua to reach and engage their audience through their modern media habits. The agency as simple innovated to create a format that better serves their audience.

This is a natural evolution as news companies continue to tailor their products around the changing habits of the news consumer. This trend dates back decades even before newspapers went from broadsheets to tabloids for easier reading ‘on-the-go’. It just so happens that this innovation comes from a state-run Chinese news agency. But should that be so surprising as China continues to become a leading force for innovation?

At SpeechKit we shared the bias that computer-generated news content would lend itself to dystopian visions. However, once we started to test this technology and experienced its potential to reformat content to be delivered through our headphones, we instantly were convinced of it’s potential to help inform a generation addicted to audio.

Furthermore, once we launched an MVP, we found that this increased convenience was favoured by early adopters. Readers converted to audio and were retained whilst dwell time improved dramatically where automated audio was served. For a format in its infancy, early customers have been impressed and audio impressions across SpeechKit have increased 23% MoM over the last 6 months.

Modern Audio Habits

Audio has gone through some revolutionary changes over the past ten years. The days of the terrestrial FM/AM incumbency are leaning towards an end as new digital formats, new delivery and new devices appear around us. We spent some time looking into the modern audio, borrowing from the following sources; Reuters Institute , Ofcom , Acast and The IAB .

Space to grow

Podcasting takes audio one step towards the on-demand culture we live in today created by Netflix and others. Perhaps due to the nature of voice, or perhaps due to entrenched legacy technologies, spoken audio remains one of the few mediums that still relies upon a linear feed of content for the lions share of its traffic. Despite signs of a forthcoming decline, the radio format remains resilient; 9/10 adults in the UK listen to radio every week for an average of nearly 21 hours per week (75% of all audio listening is live radio). However, this may be about to change as new formats, new creators and delivery mechanisms appear.

“58% of news publishers claim they’ll be focusing on audio as a priority.”

In 2018, for the first time, more than half of radio listening was done through digital platforms (DAB/Online/Smart Speakers). Furthermore, new audio publishing players are emerging; 58% of news publishers claim they’ll be focusing on audio as a priority, to meet the swelling demand as consumer habits change (73% of Smart Speaker owners indicate they want more news content to listen to).

Sways young

On-demand audio primarily serves a younger demographic of habitual listeners trained by their uptake of music streaming services and detached from traditional radio format behaviours. Less than a third (29%) of weekly radio listeners are under 35 (increasing to 41% of those who listen online).

However, podcasts listener demographics sway disproportionately toward the younger markets; 49% of weekly podcast listeners were aged 15–34 (77% of podcast listeners are between 18–54).

Highly Engaged + Affluent

Digital audio consumers are likely to be media junkies; highly engaged in this medium and willing to pay for quality service. Podcast subscribers are highly likely to pay for subscription services, 84% opt to pay for a service to avoid advertising, whilst 31% use ad-blockers. Consumers are 23% more likely to pay for audio services that pay for news.

Furthermore, podcast listeners often express the experience of getting ‘hooked’ on this format. The broad spectrum of content caters from a vast array of interests and improvements in delivery have meant this medium is accessible where reading and linear radio will not suffice. 50% of people who say they listen to podcasts spend 5 or more hours listening each week.

Mobile

Whilst the traditional radio experience relied upon a fixed positioned audio receiver and speaker, perhaps around the breakfast table or at the local cafe, modern digital audio offers a very different experience. Modern technology paved by investment into music streaming has made access to mobile audio instantaneous and seamless.

“27% of 18–43s engage in at least five online activities while commuting, but only 9% of 35s so do so.”

85% of listening to podcasts takes place on a mobile device and this trend continues to grow as new behaviours develop. Young adults are more likely to multitask on their smartphones whilst they commute; 27% of 18–43s engage in at least five online activities while commuting, but only 9% of 35s so do so. Whereas radio listening spikes early in the morning and again in the early evening, digital audio listening is relatively stable throughout the day.

Change Delivery

Smart Speakers, although still relativity in their infancy, are changing the way consumers interact with media. Within a couple of years, these devices have become the fastest-growing tech product since the mobile phone and their effect on audio will be profound. 18% of Americans 18+ own a Smart Speaker or around 43 mill...