It’s something championed and pioneered on the TV side of the linear media business by NBCUniversal. Now, iHeartMedia is taking a similar approach to giving advertisers a single entry point for audio ad placement on its terrestrial radio, streaming, and podcast platforms — ushering in an omnichannel programmatic media buying opportunity for marketers.
The “first-of-its-kind marketplace” is thanks to a partnership with independent sell-side advertising giant Magnite, and is built from a custom implementation of Magnite’s SpringServe ad serving technology. In short, the marketplace enables advertisers to transact with a data-driven approach via real-time-bidding across iHeartMedia’s broadcast and digital audio inventory through a single activation channel.
“With today’s consumers spending a third of their media time with audio, expanding programmatic’s access to iHeart’s audio assets is imperative for the industry,” said Brian Kaminsky, Chief Data Officer and President of Revenue Strategies for iHeartMedia. “Not only are we expanding what role programmatic can play for advertisers, we are also improving the efficacy of their campaigns by allowing them to use real-time data to message their audience in the most engaging way possible, in an environment of trust and interest. We’re excited to expand our partnership with Magnite because they have proven expertise in programmatic and the ability to build technology fit for the unique needs of audio advertising to take its place in omnichannel.”
Magnite Chief Revenue Officer Sean Buckley added, “Establishing more direct connections within the advertising supply chain benefits both publishers and buyers and we’re proud to build technology to facilitate this for the largest media owners in the world like iHeartMedia. We’ve worked closely with iHeartMedia to develop bespoke and new-to-market solutions for podcast and audio. Consolidated paths will continue to gain momentum and we look forward to continuing to pave the way in this effort.”
Already a fan is Publicis Groupe Chief Growth Officer Jay Askinasi. “The premium audio marketplace created by iHeart provides PMX clients with direct programmatic access to scaled, high-quality audio inventory. “As we expand our PMX Lift solution to connect across platforms, including audio, it will be important to have this combination of broadcast and digital assets and data to achieve better efficiency, control and analytics and drive greater value and insights for our clients.”
The announcement did not magnetize iHeartMedia shareholders, as IHRT, which trades on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market, fell 12.4% to $1.97 on Tuesday on heavier-than-usual volume. The company’s dip could be due to its No. 1 presence in the Radio industry, and the exposure the bankruptcy of No. 2 Audacy Inc. has had on Wall Street and in the mainstream press.
