BOCA RATON, FLA. — Find yourself singing along to a particular tune while filling your shopping cart with victuals for the week ahead? You could be listening to Publix Radio, or perhaps the non-stop music mix at a Trader Joe’s.
Advertisers seeing to connect with individuals through these audio channels now have an opportunity to do so, as an audio out-of-home advertising marketplace enabling brands to target any combination of 4,000 individual locations has been launched.
Leading the effort is the former President of Emmis subsidiary TagStation LLC and the now-concluded NextRadio FM-on-your-smartphone app developer.
Effective immediately, Paul Brenner will serve as Chief Strategy Officer of Vibenomics, a cloud-based managed service provider of “audio experience solutions” to location-based businesses and connected cities.
Through its just-launched audio out-of-home (OOH) advertising marketplace, brands could effectively reach a national audience of nearly 150 million — without using a broadcast radio station in any way.
Indianapolis-based Vibenomics began beta testing the marketplace in early January, and thus far it has been used by more than 100 national and local advertisers; the company boasts that participants have achieved sales lifts of up to 45% by reaching in-market shoppers at such diverse locales as Purdue University, The Waterpark at Monon Center, and Grand Park Sports Complex and national brands including Monster Energy, Live Nation, General Mills, Body Armor, Pepsi and Red Bull.
A plus for advertisers is creative, created by Vibenomics, as it is able to produce them with any ad booking through the marketplace.
“How and where audio is consumed is changing rapidly with the emergence of podcasting, streaming services, and smart speakers, but inventory has been limited,” says Brenner. “Vibenomics is enabling brands to make the most of the emerging digital audio ecosystem by unlocking a whole new placement option that serves both the audio and OOH advertiser markets. We will build up our Audio Out-of-Home Advertising Marketplace with real-time custom branded and curated content, dynamic music and programmatic advertising across all marketing verticals and categories.”
Vibenomics launched in 2017 under founder and CEO Brent Oakley; its roots date to 2016, when the company was launched as Fuzic.
Executive Chairman Scott McCorkle said, “The OOH market is expected to grow from $8 billion to $11.5 billion through 2022. We are already taking market share from others in this space by offering more efficiency and better results.”
The Out of Home Advertising Association of America reports that the out-of-home (OOH) industry is experiencing growth not seen in more than a decade. Revenue grew 7.7% to nearly $2.7 billion for the second quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, marking the sector’s highest quarterly growth since 2007. For the first half of the year, revenue was up 7%. The strong quarterly growth occurred across all four major OOH channels: billboards, street furniture, transit and place-based. Moreover, nearly 70% of the top 100 advertisers in the space increased their spend in the second quarter compared to the same timeframe last year, while 25% more than doubled their OOH investment.
For Vibenomics, it’s pitching its ability to reach ears where radio doesn’t. This includes the “100% uninterrupted share of voice in places where other ad channels can’t reach,” and the ability of “endemic advertisers to reach consumers right at the point of sale.”
But, traditional radio may not be a focal point of Vibenomics’ growth plan. Rather, opportunities against Pandora and Spotify may be what’s in store — in addition to shifting ad dollars away from Entercom’s Radio.com and iHeartRadio, among other platforms. Vibenomics points to its “dynamic, in-stream, programmatic digital audio ad insertion” and “full service in-house audio production team,” which can turn around “IAB-standard digital audio creative in hours.”
Brenner will remain based in Indianapolis, where in addition to his roles at NextRadio and TagStation served as the 11 1/2-year President of the Broadcast Traffic Consortium.
From 1998 through January 2011, Brenner was SVP and Chief Technology Officer for NextRadio and TagStation parent Emmis Communications.
He’s been in Indianapolis since fall 1995, when he became a Senior Consultant at Datashare.
