Oxford Road

Spotify is cranking up the volume to 11 with an all-new premium subscription tier 🎧 The Verge has the scoop on the incoming Spotify HiFi: a higher-quality streaming tier aimed at $17-18 a month. (Link in comments) 🎵 Better audio 💪 More user control 🤖 AI-powered playlists 📚 Advanced library management 🎧 Headphone sound-quality optimization Why the upgrade? A “good subset” of Spotify’s 246 million subscribers wanted a better version of the service. (It did take a minute though–HiFI was first announced in 2021.) True, it’s not ad-supported, but we’re still fans. Anything that increases the enjoyment of audio for listeners, we’re all for it. For all the Chief Audio Officers (CAOs) out there, here’s some tips for elevating your creative efforts with HQ audio in mind: Can’t get your hands on lossless audio? You can still elevate your creative by designing your audio for a better headphone listening experience. Need some inspiration? We recommend putting on some headphones and cranking up Gorillaz. Looking for free lossless audio? Check out radioparadise.com. #OxfordRoad #AudioAdvertising #Podcast #Radio #Streaming #MusicStreaming #Strategy #SubscriptionTiers #Marketing #TechNews #CAO

“We had 30 percent of the US podcast industry represented in one room.” - Daniel Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) We’re back from the CAO Summit, which means… 🙌 New Influencer 🙌 Plus, an episode of the Media Roundtable recapping the best moments of the Summit 👇 Daniel Granger (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) breaks down CAO Summit highlights with brilliant CAOs/attendees: 🤩 Mae Haynes, (Brand Media Manager, The Home Depot/GCC/Blinds.com) 🤩 Brynn Greenelsh (Marketing Manager, Auctane–Stamps.com & ShipStation) 🤩 Dominic Palombo, (Senior Partnerships Manager, Caldera + Lab) 🤩 James Ingrassia, (EVP of Client Services, Oxford Road) Their biggest takeaways? ⚾ Creative Testing: Don’t Bunt 🦉 Podcasting: Older and Wiser 🕰 The Oxford Clock Also well-worth your time: 💸 Podcast Buyers Market No More 👂 More Commuters = More Ears for Ads 🎧 Spotify Goes HiFi Relieve your CAO Summit FOMO now–check out the new Influencer. -- #OxfordRoad #AudioAdvertising #Podcast #Radio #Streaming #Creative #ROI #Strategy #Growth #Performance #MediaBuying #CAO #CAOSummit

“It was like being at summer camp.” 🤩 We’re coming down from an epic, whirlwind time at the 2024 Chief Audio Officer Summit last week and still basking in all the memories. Can’t wait to share the highlights in our Media Roundtable episode dropping tomorrow. Plus we have an embarrassment of riches with upcoming insights, studies, and white papers fueled by everything we learned at the summit. Stay tuned 👀 If you made the 2024 CAO Summit, what was your highlight? Sound off in the comments 👇 -- #OxfordRoad #CAO #CAOSummit #AudioAdvertising #Podcast #Growth #Conference #Marketing #Audio #Advertising #Team #Insights

Honored to be the first recipient of the Oxford Road #ExtraMileAward for 2024. The Extra Mile Award is awarded to one OXFORd employee per year, to acknowledge those who go above and beyond their regular job scope to help their teammates grow, the agency and our clients prosper, and accomplish OXFORd’s mission by consistently going “the extra mile.” Thank you to my brilliant and supportive boss Stew Redwine, for the touching presentation at our recent 11th Anniversay Town Hall in Los Angeles. Everlasting thanks also to Daniel Granger, Steven Abraham, Kraig Kitchin and to all of our amazingly kind and mega-talented managers & colleagues at this stellar advertising agency.

The New York Times’ newest sound-proof barrier? A paywall 🚧 A paywall strategy worked for The New York Times—why not for their podcasts? Our friend Steven Goldstein (CEO, Amplifi Media) breaks down why paywalls might not be the answer. (Link in comments) Podcasters face a whirlpool of churn in the subscription market, leading to unique challenges like creating content that’s especially hard to duplicate. A more viable approach? The freemium model: core content remains free, with exclusive content offered at a premium. Instead of keeping listeners out, a more sustainable path could allow podcasters to focus on… 💎 Creating high-value content. 💎 Fostering audience loyalty. 💎 Exploring diversified monetization strategies This may sound shocking since we’re an ad agency (🙃), but we agree: podcasts should remain mostly free and ad-supported. To be fair, though, the majority of consumers would opt for ad-free content, even if it meant paying for it. But then what happens? Podcasts get overloaded with ads, the quality of content goes down, and we end up mirroring the missteps of the TV broadcasting industry, which led to around 60% of households subscribing to Netflix—according to MRI-Simmons survey data. So instead, let’s protect the value exchange between podcast creators and their audiences by providing quality content without disrupting the listening experience. Keeping ad loads below 10% is a good start. How about you? Are there any podcasts you pay for? -- #OxfordRoad #AudioAdvertising #Podcast #Radio #MediaBuying #Strategy #ROI #Advertising #Marketing #Growth #Performance #Insights #Audio

“We really want to deliver on the connectivity between the host, the sponsors, and the audience.” - Mike Jensen, CEO of Rhapsody Voices Need a Thursday pick-me-up? Look no further! This week's Influencer just dropped. Catch the TL;DR of this week’s Ad Infinitum, where Oxford Road’s Stew Redwine (VP, Creative Services) chats with Mike Jensen (CEO, Rhapsody Voices) about the three pillars of audio every marketer should know: Host, Audience, and Sponsor. Then, Mike breaks down the key boxes every host-read ad should check: 🗝️ Authenticity 🗝️ Simplicity 🗝️ Process And as usual, we run down the biggest news stories in our corner of the industry. Think: 💪🪑 Wondery’s new favorite Armchair Expert, Dax Shephard 🔍🇺🇲 GARM coming under scrutiny in the US House of Representatives And so much more... Let us know what you think of this week’s Ad Infinitum treasure and heavy-hitting news stories in the comments 👇 -- #OxfordRoad #AudioAdvertising #Podcast #MediaBuying #Strategy #CAO #Growth #Performance #Audio #Advertising #Marketing #Creative #Host

A few weeks ago at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, our CEO, Daniel Granger, sat down with LUMA Partners partner Conor McKenna, who shared how he views podcasters as creators, and podcasts as creative endeavors. Should creative media be peppered with ads? Should someone’s creative pursuit be paused every 15 minutes for a 6-minute ad break? 🤔 If you have 60 seconds, do yourself a favor and hear how Conor approaches these questions. Conor talks about the best way to protect what makes podcasts special—their creativity—while making sure podcasters get the monetization they deserve to keep making their content. Shoutout to Spotify for providing us with a top-notch recording studio for this live episode! -- #OxfordRoad #AudioAdvertising #Podcast #MediaBuying #Strategy #CAO #Growth #Performance #Creator #Creative #Audio #Advertising #Marketer

Everyone’s favorite Armchair Expert has struck a new deal! That’s right, Dax Shepard’s massively popular pod has signed an exclusive distribution and ad-sales deal with Amazon’s Wondery 🏆 The fine print? The two powerhouses will co-develop two new podcasts and one livestream per year, and Wondery gets a first-look option for additional pods. Starting on September 1, Wondery gets the rights to the full back catalog of podcast content and distribution rights to the RSS feed. They’ll also launch video episodes and translated versions for the global audience. What’s this mean for audio marketers? A couple things: 📺 Video podcasts are becoming ever more relevant! Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard is just one of the many other pods that are rolling out video formats. 🔁 Since the deal includes early access and ad-free versions of the pod for subscribers of Wondery+, we should take note of the traction subscription-based podcasting is gaining. Ad clutter is still low, subscription models are on the rise. -- #OxfordRoad #AudioAdvertising #Podcast #Video #Marketing #Advertising #Audio #Performance #Strategy #Growth #Scale #Insights #Marketer

This ain’t Texas… but it sure feels like it! 🤠 Following the release of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, country music is experiencing a renaissance. Both Spotify and Nielsen have reported spikes in country music listening, particularly in new demos. The kicker? Among Black 18 to 34-year-olds, Nielsen data shows a 40% increase in country music radio audience share (link in comments). Yes, you read that right: 40%! 😱 Queen Bey isn’t the only one perking the ears of young Black country fans—Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy) has hit No. 1 on both the Hot 100 and Hot Country charts, making him the first Black artist to achieve such a feat! 🍻 So listen here, partner: radio is not dead yet. In fact, it still commands close to 50% of total audio listening, and it continues to find new audiences. Radio now has an opportunity to take a page from Beyoncé’s book and reinvent itself. If Queen Bey is any example, the reward could be sky-high. -- #OxfordRoad #AudioAdvertising #Podcast #Radio #MediaBuying #Growth #CAO #Strategy #Advertising #Marketing #Audio #Performance #Insights

Hey audio marketers, remember when our industry was an indie corner of media? It was quirky, massively undervalued by corporations, and largely run by hobbyists. You know as well as we do that audio today looks a lot different than it did in 2019. Over the past 5 years, mass consolidation has led to audio—and especially podcasts—getting a much more ‘corporate’ feel. Daniel Granger, our CEO & Founder, draws a connection between the growing audio industry and a marked depersonalization in the content. So, how can marketers do their part to retain the special aspects of audio that drew us all to it in the first place? Well, for THAT, you’ll have to check out our recent episode of the Media Roundtable. Dan sits down with our very own Giles Martin (EVP of Strategy and Insights), Ricardo Martinez Simental (VP of Client Services), and Melissa Altamirano (Operations Manager), to get their insights into the future of audio. For the full episode, check out the link in comments! -- #OxfordRoad #AudioAdvertising #Podcast #MediaBuying #Strategy #CAO #Growth #Performance #Audio #Marketing #Advertising #Insights