This is an archived page from 2019. Find out more
The new version of the AdsWizz ad insertion software will now support NPR’s Remote Audio Data standard. RAD is technology that is supposed to be able to show advertisers whether their ads are actually being listened to. Are the ads being skipped? Are listeners actually tuned in to the ads advertisers and brands are paying for? However, it has not yet been widely adopted.
The RAD technology is supposed to address whether ads are being listened, skipped, etc. by having the technology installed by podcast listening apps, capturing data after the download from the player, and sending that data back to the hosting company. There are some concerns in the industry about how that would affect privacy.
RAD has been in the works since 2017. In December 2018 NPR introduced open source mobile SDKs, allowing podcast clients to integrate the technology. It has not been widely adopted as of yet. For the most part advertisers rely on downloads and listens which many podcasting executives believes works just fine.
According to NPR, other companies committing to implement RAD in their products are: Acast, ART19, Awesound, Blubrry, Megaphone, Omny Studio, Podtrac, PRX, RadioPublic, Triton Digital, WideOrbit.