Call it fashionably late: Pandora has finally showed up to the programmatic audio party. The digital audio platform said Tuesday buyers can now purchase its audio inventory programmatically through a private marketplace (PMP) via The Trade Desk, MediaMath and AdsWizz’s AudioMatic DSP. Pandora is testing the PMP in a pilot program with five to 10 […]
Spotify was an early mover in programmatic audio, and it’s taking that momentum into 2018. “Marketers are moving so much money to programmatic. We’ve seen that channel explode,” said Brian Benedik, global head of ads monetization at Spotify. “We’ve seen brands [come to Spotify] that have never invested in audio because we’ve made it programmatic-enabled.” […]
Podcast publishers, rejoice: At long last, Apple has released the beta version of its podcast analytics tool. In June, Apple said it would share with podcast publishers aggregate online and offline listening behavior for episodes downloaded through iTunes and its Podcast player app. Previously Apple, which captures over half of all podcast listening, didn’t share […]
Radio giant iHeartMedia has had a big first year as a producer and distributor of podcasts – and it’s ready to go deeper into on-demand audio in 2018. Since launching a dedicated podcast section in January, podcast listening has grown 60% on the iHeartRadio app. iHeartMedia is the second-largest podcast network ranked by measurement firm […]
Gaps in Pandora’s ad tech stack slowed growth in the last quarter, CEO Roger Lynch said Thursday in his first earnings call since taking the helm. “One consistent theme I’ve heard from advertisers is that we don’t have all of the features they need to easily transact with us,” he said. “This is starting to have material impact on our revenue.” Revenue […]
UK-based Digital Audio Exchange (DAX) has acquired AudioHQ, a US-based digital audio sales rep firm that works with media clients like Major League Baseball, SoundCloud, TuneIn and Slacker. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. DAX is a programmatic audio exchange owned by UK broadcast giant Global and consisting mostly of UK-based media supply. By […]
The podcast industry is about to take a bite out of a formerly forbidden fruit when Apple shares its podcast listener data with publishers this fall, and it’s sure to be a hot topic at the IAB’s annual podcast upfront in New York City on Thursday. In June, Apple said it would share aggregated online […]
Panoply, a podcast network owned by the Slate Group, hopes to attract big brands with the promise of audience-based buying. The podcast network teamed up with Nielsen in July to launch Megaphone Targeted Marketplace (MTM), an exchange that allows marketers to buy podcast inventory across audiences rather than individual episodes. Audience-based buying is nascent in […]
It’s been a tough year for SoundCloud. In July, the music streaming and discovery platform cut 40% of its workforce, or 173 employees, to keep the company afloat – for just another quarter. The company has long faced battles with music rights holders, an expensive problem that makes the streaming business tough to monetize. SoundCloud, […]
Pandora’s active listeners in Q2 declined 2.7% YoY to 76 million, the company reported on its Monday earnings call. That’s down from 78 million active listeners during the same period last year. To bolster its user base, Pandora will refocus its marketing efforts on getting users to sign up for its ad-supported tier and upgrading […]
