iHeartMedia, the company behind podcasts like Things you should know and hundreds of radio stations in the United States, today announced that they are spending $ 230 million to acquire a platform that many people outside the audio industry have probably never heard of: Triton Digital.
Triton Digital specializes in audio advertising technology, especially for live radio broadcasts and podcasts. The company is able to insert ads dynamically, which means that they are personalized for the individual listener on the fly, and create their own podcast ratings based on access to third-party podcast networks, such as NPR. Essentially, iHeart can now take on an even greater role in the audio advertising space, both in sales and in ad programming.
This news suggests that ad technology will determine who will ultimately profit from audio. We have already seen this point manifest in other recent acquisitions. Spotify purchased Megaphone, a hosting platform with a dynamic ad insertion market, in November, and SiriusXM acquired Midroll, an ad serving market and platform, in July.
Spotify has made the biggest noise in the past two years with eye-catching acquisitions of podcasting networks and businesses with big names like Kim Kardashian West and the Obama family. But the exclusive route is not necessarily working. Joe Budden, one of Spotify’s original exclusive programs, left the network when his contract expired in September to instead make his program available everywhere, along with bonuses, exclusive content from Patreon. Michelle Obama’s show, which was widely praised as an exclusive grand prize, now also has its first season available everywhere.
Exclusive offers attract headlines and attention, but when it comes to medium and long-term success, ad sales are critical. Brian Kaminsky, data director and president of revenue strategies at iHeart, said The Verge this acquisition allows the company to create the equivalent of Google Ad Manager for audio, where advertisers can be combined with all types of audio programming to achieve their goals. For iHeart, data about programs, ad purchases and ad scheduling will take place on a united backend. (Kaminsky clarifies that iHeart will continue to employ and rely on a sales team, not just a digital market.)
“We will have the only stack of complete ad technology for all forms of audio, for streaming experiences, streaming, podcasts, voice audio content,” he says. “This puts iHeart in a position to literally meet the audio advertising needs of every possible customer, not just the kind of business-class customer you think of when you think of big agencies, but all the way to the tail of small businesses and people who were using self-service platforms to buy video, display and social media from companies like Facebook and Google. “
Although Google entered the podcasting industry through its Google Podcasts player, the company only mentioned running audio ads as a beta feature in August last year. The company says it is exploring more ways to monetize audio, however, and will have updates.
Of course, when it comes to acquisitions, Triton’s existing customers can now be placed in an uncomfortable situation. Entercom, a competitor of iHeart that runs radio stations in the United States, is a customer of Triton, for example, as are NPR and others. They may not want to put their money in the pockets of iHeart. Kaminsky says that Triton will remain separate from iHeart with its own management and technology teams, and he points out that iHeart already operates three other companies that regularly do business with competitors without problems.
“Obviously, we’re going to be sensitive to people’s concerns, we’re not just going to be arrogant about it, but I think most people in the audio community are going to see this as a good thing,” he says. “IHeart has been a staunch advocate of radio broadcasting, companion audio, audio as part of the community, as opposed to audio that is driven exclusively by technology, and I think players in the audio space will see this and will continue to enjoy it the technology and services that Triton offers. “
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