Digitalization has long since transformed traditional radio, and the advertising market intertwined with it is also changing. As the medium integrates into the programmatic ecosystem, a new infrastructure is emerging that offers fresh opportunities for advertisers and broadcasters. One of the newer players in the audio space is the supply-side platform Aireal, a programmatic trading platform for all types of audio inventory. Jan Poelmann, Director of Demand Side at Aireal, describes his team as an extremely motivated group of radio professionals and technology experts. In this interview, Poelmann explains the potential lying within the ongoing digitization of radio and how it can be harnessed.

ADZINE: Jan, how are you connected within the programmatic ecosystem?

Jan Poelmann: The goal of our platform is to establish connections with every participant in the advertising market—that is, to interact in a completely neutral manner with every platform, every DSP, every SSP, every publisher, and every marketer.

That’s a success! Aireal itself is primarily an SSP for all types of audio inventory, including FM radio and DAB+. In that regard, connecting with established DSPs—some of which we’ve already integrated directly, and the number is growing—is our logical first step. However, to create the greatest value for all parties while keeping things as simple as possible, we’re also able to connect with any other SSP if there’s demand for it. We’re prioritizing a sensible and highly capable overall product over market-related sensitivities. We have to keep moving forward.

ADZINE: What kinds of attitudes are you referring to, and to what extent do they hinder progress?

Poelmann: The audio market is undergoing a transformation, and many market participants are facing major challenges—technological, media policy-related, and marketing-related. The digital divide that has already emerged—for example, between publishers and marketers or agencies—is already causing noticeable disparities in access to new markets, target audiences, and revenue. That’s exactly where we come in: We want to advance the audio market as a whole, which is precisely why we’ve built a neutral system that operates independently of existing structures and market dynamics, yet can still map them or integrate with existing technical systems upon request. It is not necessary for the market to switch to a specific technical system or a specific programmatic trading logic—we support them all. Ultimately, we are a neutral technical enabler, not a representative of any particular interests. It is in this spirit that we develop our technology, our expertise, and, through them, the market.

ADZINE: The audio market in this country is nearing the billion mark, with the lion's share coming from advertising on linear radio. However, online audio is growing steadily in this segment. Will linear radio be displaced by digital offerings?

Poelmann: No, on the contrary. Technological advancements and new platforms will make linear radio even more valuable from a business perspective in the future—without any risks or investment on the part of radio stations. Specific needs have always driven the development and adoption of advanced technologies. And these, in turn, determine the growth of the markets they must serve.

In the case of audio—and this is what makes it so exciting—these are, as is well known, on the one hand the listener market, that is, audio users for whom linear, easily consumable, free favorite programs in a wide variety of formats, topics, or with regional relevance remain consistently important. On the other hand, there’s the advertising industry, which has a voracious appetite for precisely targeted user and customer groups of the highest quality and in the greatest quantity.

All others between these two dimensions are merely “enablers.” Some produce, others market, and still others provide the systemic foundation for it all and serve as the technological heartbeat of the entire ecosystem. And no, the programmatic marketability of linear audio is NOT intended to force the displacement of linear audio by digital offerings, but rather to assign both offerings—fully digital and linear terrestrial—a very specific, measurable, and complementary role.

ADZINE: We’ve seen a few isolated cases here and there over the past few years, but the rush toward programmatic audio hasn’t materialized yet. Does radio even need to go programmatic, and how programmatic is the German radio landscape already?

Poelmann: Since Aireal sees itself as an integral part of the radio landscape—and with the support of many progressive publishers and marketers—we can say: Programmatic advertising on the radio is ready to go! So let’s get started—following in the footsteps of IP, linear radio has now caught up. We’re already beginning the systematic integration of stations and markets, as well as marketers and DSPs.

ADZINE: So the rush has started after all?

Poelmann: That’s right. But as we all know, every new technology goes through the same phases. It was the same with the automobile 140 years ago as it is with new technologies today: first, dissatisfaction with the status quo; the desire for growth and development; then the first technological steps, minor setbacks, and new approaches. The first “alliance of the bold” then yields the first real successes, which quickly become established practices, and everyone wonders how they ever managed without all of this before. And in the end, once again, the “thirst for the new”—curiosity—prevails! So the programmatic race began months ago, and while it may feel like a marathon from the outside, in reality it has long since become a sprint.

ADZINE: Ultimately, most advertisers are concerned with reach. Do local advertisers even want to buy radio ad space programmatically, or do they need to be persuaded to do so?

Poelmann: GAFA’s dominance has one key effect: a high degree of standardization in processes, established workflows and target metrics, and clear expectations regarding advertising effectiveness. The only thing missing for programmatic audio until now has been trust and confidence in the digital planning and control logic and the technological platform that makes it possible. Now that the right placement and the right audience can be achieved programmatically and convergently for all advertisers, and genuine campaign results are measurably emerging, soon no one will need to be coerced anymore.

Programmatic inventory is now everywhere. But the ability to programmatically target massive, linearly generated audio audiences and reach is catapulting radio into an entirely new position within the marketing mix. Whether as an extension of TV campaigns and a complement to DOOH, or on its own as a powerful activation channel with the best inventory and CPM for the campaign.

ADZINE: So, in your opinion, what does a modern audio campaign look like? What are its key components?

Poelmann: We leave it to the professionals on both sides of our platform to decide and develop these things! Despite all the talk of radiogenetics, Aireal is neither a marketer nor a planner nor an agency. We are the technological bridge between two worlds that need each other and benefit from one another in business terms.

Nevertheless—and this is evident simply from the significantly improved access to audio inventory provided by programmatic advertising—a modern audio campaign can be integrated and orchestrated much more effectively with other media formats. The modern audio campaign thus operates—once again—in harmony with the already fully automated media channels. It is flexible, can be adjusted quickly, and can be deployed precisely where it’s needed—without endless lead times or complicated booking processes that are disconnected from other channels.

ADZINE: What do you hope to see from the market?

Poelmann: A little more composure and confidence, more anticipation and a hunger for success—and less talk, more action.

ADZINE: Thanks for the interview, Jan!

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(This interview was conducted in German and translated into English.)