Commercials may soon be taking a different form. Rather than absentmindedly listening to another ad about a product you already knew about, Pandora radio is introducing interactive voice ads. Instead of manually skipping advertisements, users will be prompted to say aloud “yes” to learn more about a product or “no” to return to what they were originally listening to. Many music streaming platforms have been trying this new kind of advertising for months, including Spotify. Pandora radio has been testing ads on mobile users who use Voice Mode, which is a feature that allows listeners to operate the app using only voice commands.
While the technology currently only requires users to reply with “yes” or “no,” developers say that the ads may be able to support more complex commands in the future. For now, though, the ads will stick with the simplicity of Y/N answers. According to Pandora’s VP of ad product strategy Claire Fanning, this is so listeners will get used to the new ad tech. Time will certainly tell whether or not this new advertising strategy is an exciting breakthrough!