Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has reaffirmed its audio-first commitment announcing the launch of LiSTNR Precision Plus.
Touted by the company as a ‘world first’, LiSTNR Precision Plus was unveiled to advertisers and media at an exclusive breakfast held at Sydney’s Micron-12.
LiSTNR Precision Plus is the latest addition to LiSTNR AdTech suite, and has been described as the company’s most sophisticated product to date, allowing for real-time adjustments to campaigns, enabling advertisers to modify targeting during the campaign period.
It uses AI-driven tools, first-party data from LiSTNR’s 2.4 million signed users, and advertiser data matching to inform these changes.
The LiSTNR app
Early growth
Launched 18 months ago, the LiSTNR AdTech platform quickly established itself as a key player in Australia’s digital audio advertising landscape, supporting multiple world-first media campaigns.
Olly Newton, Executive Head of LiSTNR Commercial, told Mediaweek the platform has seen a more than 200% year-on-year increase in the number of campaigns using the hub.
“We have seen a significant uptake in ad tech adoption,” Newton said. “It also means our sales teams are becoming increasingly confident and competent and turning themselves into true digital audio consultants. Plus, the market is clearly buying into it.”
LiSTNR Precision Plus is the latest feature integrated into SCA’s existing AdTech platform, which currently serves 2.4 million users. Its targeting capabilities are further supported by SCA’s collaboration with DataCo, which supplies purchasing and transactional data.
Real life, real time
Campaign settings can be adjusted during the flight if early data indicates a shift is needed, for example, if the target audience has already engaged or completed a purchase, if campaign objectives change mid-flight, or if audience behaviour suggests the message would perform better in a different segment.
Advertisers can also test variations of creative with different audience groups and use performance data to refine delivery, directing content to segments where it is most effective.
Newton explained that advertisers can also test variations of creative with different audience groups and use performance data to refine delivery, directing content to segments where it is most effective.
“So all of those metrics that exist in advertising when you set up a campaign, we’re able to see that in real time,” he said.
For example, if a listener engages with a podcast and then purchases a featured product, the system can register that transaction and remove the listener from further targeting for that product. “We can clock that the person has interacted with that product; they bought that brand, therefore, we don’t need to target them again,” Newton explained. “So let’s remove that person, and let’s find another audience segment to target there.”
Olly Newton
The platform also allows brands to test multiple creative assets within the same campaign and adjust delivery based on performance.
“A brand could potentially give us eight different bits of creative for the same products,” Newton said. “So you go okay, it looks like these three ads are better than these three over here. So let’s dial down the three that don’t seem to be resonating and dial up the three that do seem to be resonating in real time.”
This approach supports more efficient use of ad inventory by reallocating impressions to the creative executions that are delivering stronger results.
Beyond performance tracking, Newton said the system offers insight into how and why different segments respond to different messages. “We need to ask why is it that we are seeing person one, who is consuming the ad, make a purchase, while person two, who is also consuming the ad, does not,” he said. “The data shows that people react to different ads in different ways.”
Australian made
Newton closed by noting the distinct position LiSTNR holds within the local market.
“Australian media should really be proud of LiSTNR because it’s forging this path forwards of a thought leadership position in the marketplace,” he said.
He added that the platform’s autonomy allows it to respond directly to local needs, without waiting for international updates or external technology rollouts.
“We’re taking agencies and advertisers on a journey with us. And on top of that, we’re so relevant to the Australian marketplace because we don’t have to wait for any global tech updates or tech upgrades or global products that get passed down to Australia as such,” he said. “We’re able to go, okay, we think this product right now is really, really relevant.”