Paulo Dias, an audio specialist talk about his work in audio tech, innovation and his latest gig as ahead of audio innovation at Ultimate Media, one of South Africa’s leading media buying and producers of audio sound. Dias is the brain and strategist behind some of the big promotions and marketing radio campaigns that Ultimate Media produces. TechDailyPost Editor Rethabile Mohlala, recently had the privilege to chat with Paulo, radio and audio aficionado about the podcast, radio and audio innovation.
Enjoy the full interview below!
TDP: Tell us about you, who is Paulo Dias?
PD: I’m currently the Head of Audio Innovation at Ultimate Media and have had an interest in the tech side of audio since the first time we realised we could put an audio file online way back in the early 2000’s. I’m a huge fan of using technology to connect audiences to audio whether it be through podcasts, streaming, social audio platforms like Spaces and Clubhouse and whatever else is out there.
TDP: What does your job entail?
PD: Predominantly I help advertisers navigate the world of digital audio using language that they understand. Having a strong terrestrial radio background, I use what people are comfortable with to help them understand how they can use new audio platforms to reach and measure audiences they may not be accessing.
TDP: What’s the best medium for Brand managers or CMOs to make use of, between traditional radio, online radio and podcasting?
PD: Which of your children do you love the most? My unique position allows me to look across the entire audio landscape and make the best decision for the brands marketing problem. Unlike most of my contemporaries I don’t back one horse. I’m flexible and neutral enough to assess what they need and bring them the best platform to solve their challenge. While I fully believe that all audio listening will be online within 10 years and digital audio is my passion, you cannot ignore the reach of South African radio stations and the best combination in 2022 is a mix of all of them
TDP: Personally, what’s your favourite medium between radio and podcast?
PD: I’m a total podcast convert and have been consuming and producing for almost 20 years now. The magic and craft of radio that I grew up on is no longer readily available, and I totally understand the reasons why, but for someone like me who loves narrative, diverse conversation and audio craft, podcasts are my personal preference
TDP: Why are most marketing managers and CMOs still reluctant to accept podcasts and digital audio?
PD: It’s usually a measurement and effectiveness issue which I think standardised IAB measurement will resolve. The first issue we had to overcome was, “South Africans don’t use their mobile data on digital audio’’, which we find to be untrue. South Africans will use their data on good content, so if the content is not good, it’s not because of data. The next issue was audience size. When it comes to listening we only had massive radio audiences to compare with. If it wasn’t in the millions – like radio – we thought it was ineffective. That barrier has also come down as marketers realise these are niche and hard to reach audiences and smaller and engaged is better than massive and passive. The pandemic was the best thing to happen to digital listening as marketers themselves had time to experiment and consume these mediums and give them validity. I truly believe that we will enter the golden age of podcasts and streaming with a standardised measurement.
TDP: Some brands are beginning to open up for the podcast, what is behind the shift?
PD: A lot is mentioned in my previous answer, but my observation is that through lock-down people actually started listening to podcasts themselves and saw the potential. It’s also the ability to reach untapped audiences that are no longer on your legacy platforms. Add in the relative affordability, the effective measurement and let’s be honest, the ‘’cool’’ factor and you get the shift we’re seeing.
TDP: The podcast is slowly becoming mainstream, do you agree or its only purists who consume podcasts?
PD: I’m so glad it is no longer for purists as for very long podcasts were for podcasters and they kind of didn’t want anyone else in. Podcasts is now for everyone and the biggest influence on this has been Mac G. Every reason ‘’experts’’ gave for passing off podcasting as a fad was blown out the water by him and his ‘’Chillers’’. The next shift we’ll see is more and more podcasters will add video to their podcasts and create a hybrid podcast/Vlogger experience and this will bring even more people in the world.
TDP: The brand pays for the actual listeners it reaches with Podcast, not the potential listening audience, what’s your take?
PD: That’s why from my position it’s important to look at the brands marketing problem and in an ideal world offer numerous forms of audio. Terrestrial radio is great for short term bursts due to cost and the potential to burn-out but podcast or streaming advertising allows you to be more granular and make your audio campaign clickable. Where you can you want to create a campaign that has reach, frequency and engagement and a full-funnel digital audio strategy gives you this.
TDP: What’s your take on the debate that digital audio and podcasting space can provide far more accurate metrics than traditional radio?
PD: The ability of digital audio to measure the way it does has forced traditional radio to upgrade their measurement and I think we’re getting to a place where terrestrial is being measured in a much more effective way. Again that’s why it’s important ,where you can, to attach all facets of audio into your campaigns. Look to coupling your traditional radio with streaming or podcast advertising as well as social media off radio platforms to create a campaign that is bulletproof.
TDP: What are 2022, radio and podcasting looks like, that you can share with us?
PD: I think integrated campaigns across terrestrial and digital audio platforms will be the norm – placing pre-rolls on Spotify or Deezer will be as natural as running 30 second spots on radio.
Podcasts will become a hybrid of audio and video – even if it’s low-spec video it will open up the content to new audiences.
I have a sense that a very disruptive streaming audio content platform is on the horizon that will challenge the way we think of radio/audio/video/social and content.
And my hope is that a 3rd strong independent podcast player – after CliffCentral and Mac G – will enter the space, having learnt from what they have done, with a market friendly commercial model and shake up the industry.
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