Multi-track audio creatives

Audio ads are a unique way to reach customers when they aren't looking at their devices, but are still engaged with content and receptive to brand messages. Whether listening to a podcast on a drive, streaming music while out for a walk, or using voice with a smart speaker, there are multiple times a day to reach users through audio. But creating professional grade audio ads can be difficult and costly. Audio Mixer can help you create audio ads at scale.

Upload multiple tracks including music, sound effects and voice, then adjust timing and volume to create a high quality audio ad. You can also add a companion display creative to show with your audio ad in supported publisher players.

A demo of Audio Mixer’s track setup and editing ability

Benefits

Layer different tracks to give your ad depth
Adjust track volume and fade sound in and out without professional audio editing software
Adjust track length and starting time to create a polished audio experience

Assets

You can add up to 5 total audio tracks of any type to your Audio Mixer creative.

Asset	Description	Specs
Voice track	Audio file with someone describing your product or service.	File types: .ogg, .mp3 Maximum file size: 1 GB
Music track	Audio file with background music.	File types: .ogg, .mp3 Maximum file size: 1 GB
Sound effects track	Audio file with sound effects.	File types: .ogg, .mp3 Maximum file size: 1 GB
Companion asset	An image or HTML5 display ad that appears while the audio ad is playing (if supported by the publisher).	Supported file types: .jpg, .png, .zip File size: Up to 250 GB Dimensions: Varies by publisher Responsive creatives aren't supported
Landing page URL	The URL a person is sent to when they click on an ad.	Up to 1024 single-byte characters

Make an Audio Mixer creative

Make a creative and add assets

Before you get started, review the Audio guidelines for best practices and tips on choosing the right audio tracks.
Open your advertiser, then click Creative Format Gallery in the left menu. (Alternatively, you can click Creatives, then click New Creative from format gallery).
Find Audio mixer, then click Create. A new creative opens in Ad Canvas with an empty preview and a timeline where you'll be able to select and adjust your audio tracks.
In the Assets panel, click Add asset and select a track type (voice, music, or sound effects).
1. Browse and select an OGG or MP3 file (up to 1 GB). Your file is shown in a new track in the timeline.
2. Repeat this step to add up to 5 tracks.
In the Assets panel, enter a landing page URL.
(Optional) In the Companion creatives panel, upload a companion creative or assign an existing display creative. If your publisher supports more than one size companion, add as many as you need. Note: You can only add one companion per size.
(Optional) Trim or set a start offset time for each track as needed. Trim removes audio from the start or end of the file. Set a start offset to delay a certain amount of time before the selected track plays.

Name the creative and add tracking

At the top of the page, click the Creative details tab.
In the Basic details section, enter a name for the creative in Display & Video 360.
(Optional) To track the creative outside Display & Video 360, click Serving properties.
1. If your advertiser is linked to Campaign Manager 360 and you want to track impressions and clicks there, click Add Campaign Manager 360 tracking ad. You can search by the tracking ad's name, ID, or placement ID. Note: After you save the creative, you won't be able to add or remove a tracking ad because it would affect reporting. Instead, make a new creative.
2. If you want to track audio interactions or quartile events using a third-party verification service, add a tracking URL for each audio event you wish to track. Click Add URL and then select the type of interaction to track. You can enter multiple versions of each type of URL. Only URLs are accepted; don’t include any HTML tags.
(Optional) Click Additional details to add an integration code for an external system or notes about the creative.
Click Save.

Listen to one or more tracks

While you edit your tracks and apply affects, you can play a single track, all tracks at once, or only the selected tracks in the timeline.

Play one track

To listen to a single track, click the track in the timeline, then click the play button above the timeline.

Play more than one track

To listen to more than one track, hold Shift, click the tracks you want to listen to, then click the play button above the timeline. Only the selected tracks will play.

Play all tracks

To listen to all of the tracks, click the play button below the Ad Canvas live preview.

Deselect a track

To deselect tracks, click the selected tracks in the timeline. The border will change from blue to gray.

Preview

You can open a preview to listen to audio creatives and make sure they work correctly. If you just saved the creative, you might need to wait a few minutes for the audio to be processed before you can play it.

Open an audio creative.
Click Preview or . If the audio creative has an Ad Canvas tab, hover over the preview area, then click Preview . A preview opens in a pop-up window. Click Open in new window . A preview of your audio ad opens in a mobile streaming app preview. Most audio inventory is available through audio streaming apps, so this preview is the closest to what people will see and hear when your ad serves.
Find the audio player controls at the bottom of the device screen. Click play to hear your audio file. You can also pause or adjust the volume. How to test creative events
Preview companion creatives, if assigned. Open the Companion size menu to select a different companion. In mobile preview mode, companion creatives are only visible while the audio is playing. If you have multiple companions and want to see them all on one page, use the Preview mode menu to switch to assets preview.

Reporting

All audio metrics and dimensions such as quartiles, completions, and so on work the same for multi-track creatives built with Audio Mixer as they do for other audio campaigns.

Available third-party tracking URLs

When you add third-party tracking URLs to audio creatives, you can choose to track any of the following events:

Impression: Tracks video impressions.
Click tracking: Tracks clicks on the audio or audio controls. This URL is for tracking only. If you're using a click tracker URL that redirects to your final landing page URL, enter this as the landing page URL in the "Assets" section of the creative.
Start: Tracks the number of times a user starts playing audio.
First quartile: Tracks the number of times the audio plays to 25% of its length.
Midpoint: Tracks the number of times the audio plays to 50% of its length.
Third quartile: Tracks the number of times the audio plays to 75% of its length.
Complete: Tracks the number of times the audio plays to the end.
Mute: Tracks the number of times a user mutes the audio.
Pause: Tracks the number of times a user pauses the audio.
Rewind: Tracks the number of times a user rewinds the audio.
Full screen: Tracks the number of times a user expands the player to full-screen size.
Stop: Tracks the number of times a user stops the audio.
Custom: Tracks the number of times a user performs a custom click, such as clicking on a hot spot.
Skip: Tracks the number of times a user skips the audio.
Progress: Tracks an optional time marker agreed upon with the publisher.

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