RadioADMaker: How an AI Tool Ts Set to Revitalize the Radio Advertising Market

Many people get their best ideas in the shower. The Managing Director of Radio Gong, Johannes Ott, came up with one while getting a haircut. The initial spark for his new AI-controlled marketing tool came from his hairdresser Manuel. He had placed a job advertisement on Facebook. When Ott asked him why he wasn't doing it on the radio, the hairstylist replied: “Because it's just easy.” In contrast, radio advertising is certainly complicated to implement and certainly too expensive. Manuel had hit a sore spot. Companies like Meta are sucking advertising money out of the radio industry, the only source of income for private broadcasters. For Ott, it was immediately clear: “We need a tool that allows advertising customers to create their own spots - without much effort and at a low price. This is how Manuel, who had often already provided Ott with good ideas for radio features or station formats, became the midwife of RadioADMaker.

Radio advertising in transition: How the RadioADMaker works

THE KI WRITES, SPEAKS AND PRODUCES THE ADVERTISING CONTRIBUTION

RadioADMaker is very easy to use: advertisers specify what they want to advertise - for example, “Six veal sausages for the price of four. Only this Saturday at Metzger Moser” - and the AI provides several text suggestions based on the core information. ChatGPT is used for this. Customers then choose the right combination of different voices and music and the program produces the finished commercial using synthetic voices. Bookers can specify the region in which the advertisement is to be broadcast - whether Munich, Freising, Starnberg or throughout Germany. The price is based on the desired reach (thousand contact price CPM) and is paid directly on the platform, for example by Paypal or credit card.

THE KI-BASED SPOTS MUST NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE MAIN PROGRAM RIGHT AWAY

You can still hear that the commercials are spoken by synthetic voices. “Speech synthesis is not yet at the level we would like it to be,” admits Ott. This is why the AI commercials can only be booked as pre-streams so far. This means that they do not run on the FM station Radio Gong, but are only placed on the web radio offerings before the program starts. “However, we assume that in a year at the latest there will be no difference,” says the radio manager. In the future, the high-quality advertisements will also be produced with machine support. But only when the voice quality is really right. So far, the AI can only speak High German. In the near future, however, it should also be possible to play out commercials in different dialects.

Ott and his sales team attach great importance to this: Every audio advertisement is checked by employees before it is broadcast. “We don't want to rely on an algorithm alone,” says the Managing Director. The internal review process ensures that the content complies with the advertising guidelines. “This offer is particularly attractive for small businesses that want to place their offers without a lot of effort and without long lead times,” says Ott. Locksmiths, clubs and an Airbnb provider on Lake Tegernsee are among the newly tapped customer base. They benefit from the significantly lower costs compared to a non-AI-based spot. A spot costs 140 euros per 1,000 contacts, including text, moderation and production. The more contacts you book, the cheaper it becomes. With a classic booking, the production of the spot alone costs around 500 euros.

RadioADMaker attracts international interest

NO ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL COSTS IN THE SALES AREA

Radio Gong is an innovation leader with ADMaker. The new “made in Munich” marketing tool can also be used by other radio stations. According to Ott, stations from all over Europe are knocking on Munich's door. There have even been inquiries from a major radio network in the USA. “We have now launched ADMaker AT with Antenne Vorarlberg. Audiotainment Südwest is also on board with RPR1, as well as 107.7 Stuttgart, Radio Ton, KulthitRADIO NRW and the radio stations in Würzburg and Aschaffenburg,” says Ott, pleased with the interest in the market. The industry is enthusiastic about the tool, which opens up new customers without incurring any additional personnel costs.

MODERATION WITHOUT PEOPLE? NOT AN ISSUE FOR OTT

With RadioADMaker, Ott was one of the first to demonstrate how AI tools can be used. Meanwhile, the entire industry is electrified by the many new fields that AI is opening up. At the Local Broadcasting Days in Nuremberg, visitors stood right up to the doors during the panels on its use in the radio business. “Radio Gong's initiative shows entrepreneurial spirit and a 'do it first' mentality that will be even more in demand in the future,” says audio entrepreneur and radio consultant Martin Liss, who is also part of the Radiodays Europe program group. The media company Audiotainment Südwest, which owns the stations BigFM and RPR1, has also set itself the goal of “doing it first”. It is planning a new radio program with machine support that does without real presenters but is still moderated.

For the time being, Ott rules out stations that manage completely without presenters, as was also discussed by the industry at the Radiodays. “I can't imagine people wanting to listen to a program when a digital being is audibly speaking,” says Ott. “Radio is the medium that enjoys the highest level of trust, and we certainly don't want to gamble that away.” Of course, it makes sense for the AI to interrupt the automatic program at night for a ghost driver report if there is no editor on the station. But otherwise, radio needs to be human. “People want to hear people,” says Liss.

CAN INNOVATIONS LIKE THE RADIOADMAKER BE THE SOLUTION?

The entire radio industry is facing challenges. Streaming services such as Spotify are grabbing media usage time, social media giants such as Meta are taking advertising euros. The “share of ear” and competition for marketing money - these are the two major pain points for broadcasters. “Word has now got around that the real enemy is not the neighboring broadcaster, but the GAFA companies, including Spotify,” says Liss. “It's no longer enough to just be present on FM.” If you want to be in the game tomorrow, you have to position yourself as an audio content provider today. “Livestreams, voice assistants, podcasts, social media, newsletters and YouTube are becoming increasingly relevant from a content and sales perspective,” says the audio expert. It is only smart to be present “where the target group is”. Radio Gong also uses these channels. In addition to the main program on FM, there are ten web streams. All of them have similar content consisting of news, service, advertising and moderation, only the music is different. The DAB+ station 089Kult was also launched six months ago. “The question of whether listeners find the content on the digital playout channels and whether the broadcasts are easy to receive will determine whether it is a success or a failure,” says Liss.

Apparently they are. According to the MA 2023 IP Audio reach survey, Radio Gong was able to increase its online audio reach by ten percentage points in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter. Johannes Ott has risen to the challenges of the market, including with RadioADMaker. According to the station boss, the new technology may even have what it takes to become the “tool of the future”. So it could be that other radio managers will soon be visiting Manuel in Giesing, hoping for some inspiration as well as a new haircut.