Google Ad Manager, Google’s ad exchange platform, has expanded support for audio ads to give publishers and an opportunity to grow their revenue from audio ads piggybacking on the growth of online audio streaming as well as podcasts.

According to Google, as yet, audio advertising hasn’t kept pace with the online advertising world and often publishers have sold audio ads directly or retrofit video ads into a digital audio ads format leading to poor listening experiences and limited revenue.

TuneIn and Spotify are using the Google Ad Manager for audio ads already, and the service is opening to more Ad Manager customers now. For podcasts though, Google is currently running a podcast ads pilot with AdSense partners to explore podcast monetization solutions.

With new features like Dynamic Ad Insertion for audio programmatic monetization and new audio forecasting capabilities, publishers will be able to monetize their digital audio content and advertisers will be able to reach more relevant audio audiences.

The new features, currently in beta, allow publishers to develop a cross-format monetization strategy across their audio, video, and display content with all the inventory in one place. The Dynamic Ad Insertion allows the insertion of ads into live audio streams across a variety of devices, no matter how someone is listening. Google has also launched new audio forecasting capabilities that break out audio from other formats, giving publishers insight into audio inventory availability and how audio ads are performing.

Spotify has always taken a Programmatic Guaranteed-first approach for display, video, and premium formats. The company was one of the first partners to work with Google Ad Manager on the development and testing of Programmatic Guaranteed for Audio.

TuneIn, the popular audio streaming service has been using Google Ad Manager’s new audio features to manage all of their inventory across formats since early 2020. “Not only do Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals have a lasting role, they will soon be our most preferred ways to sell ads,” Kellan Barker, Director of Monetization at TuneIn shared.