Largest Podcast Publisher iHeartMedia Launches First-of-its-Kind Private Podcast Marketplace for Brands

May 05, 2021 at 09:15 AM EDT

New Private Programmatic Marketplace Offers Advertisers Access to Premium Audiences at Scale Across iHeartMedia’s Vast Catalog of Podcasts

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ: IHRT) today announced the launch of a new, first-of-its-kind Private Marketplace. The new Private Marketplace will provide advertisers with programmatic buying access to distribute their marketing to audiences across the most diverse and comprehensive library of shows in the world from the iHeartPodcast Network - the No. 1 podcast publisher globally - which has more than 30 million US monthly uniques and 257 million global downloads and streams.

This new technology allows brand advertisers to create their own unique, tailored marketplaces – composed of their specific audience targets and pricing, to dial up and down across each year as their marketing needs require – across iHeart’s mass reach podcast network, the largest in the world. With this new technology developed through iHeartMedia’s recently acquired Voxnest, advertisers will gain private access to target iHeartMedia’s unparalleled and diverse podcast library by content, geography and consumer psychographics. The iHeartPodcast Network includes hundreds of iHeartRadio original podcasts spanning every category from business, sports, spirituality and technology to entertainment, family, comedy and true crime including the most successful podcast of all time, “Stuff You Should Know,” and hits like “The Ron Burgundy Podcast” and the “Atlanta Monster'' series as well as over a hundred shows from its on-air talent like the popular “Bobbycast” and “The Breakfast Club” on-demand podcasts.

“We acquired Voxnest last Fall with the plan to be able to provide podcast advertisers with additional targetable inventory at scale by allowing the effective and efficient monetization across an entire range of podcast inventory. Voxnest connects all of the fragmented platforms that exist in podcasting - the launch of this Private Marketplace is a huge milestone in the podcast industry and advances these capabilities to buyers,” said Brian Kaminsky, Chief Data Officer and President of Revenue Strategies for iHeartMedia. “Our podcasts attract some of the most engaged and passionate podcast listeners in the world and now advertisers will have massive scale and highly specific targeting at their fingertips, to reach these hundreds of millions of listeners who are now consuming podcasts.”

With this new Private Marketplace, advertisers will have the ability to reach their specific audience based on three specialized targeting options:

● Category -- Allows brands to advertise across the iHeartPodcast Network’s diverse and comprehensive network of shows and includes categories such as Business & Finance, TV & Film, History, True Crime, Society & Culture, Music, Sports, Health & Fitness, Comedy, Science & Tech, Parenting & Family and News & Citizenship.

● Geolocation -- Allows brands to tap into the iHeartPodcast Network’s massive audience to deliver relevant messaging to a specific region within a premium podcast environment.

● Psychographic -- Uses a suite of data-driven Psychographic Podcast Networks, enabling brands to buy across a set of shows that speak to specific consumer behaviors like the conqueror, explorer, legend, cultivator, decider, thriver, rising star, advocate, backer and intrepid.

iHeartMedia’s Private Marketplace will offer advertisers multiple deal types including Programmatic Guaranteed (PG), Preferred Deal (PD), Private Auction (PA) and Open Marketplace (OMP). Buyers interested can email ProgrammaticAdOps@iHeartMedia.com.

About iHeartMedia, Inc.

iHeartMedia, Inc. [Nasdaq: IHRT] is the leading audio media company in America, reaching over 250 million people each month. It is number one in both broadcast and digital streaming radio as well as podcasting and audio ad tech, and includes three segments: The iHeartMedia Multiplatform Group; the iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group; and the Audio and Media Services Group. Visit iHeartMedia.com for more company information.