Audacy

Audacy Bolsters Its Addressable Audience Targeting And Personalization Capabilities

~ jen

Audacy is strengthening its addressable audience and identify capabilities through a collaboration with Experian, a global data and technology company.

Audacy will leverage Experian’s digital identity graph to gain a more comprehensive view of listeners’ digital identifiers, ultimately enhancing the listening experience for its digital audience across the Audacy app and website. By better understanding its consumers and their preferences, Audacy plans to deliver more relevant content and offer more precise advertising solutions, enabling advertisers to reach specific goals with greater accuracy.

Additionally, Audacy will integrate Experian’s Audiences into its platform. This will allow advertisers to build and reach target audiences in real-time using accurate listener insights such as demographics, shopping behaviors and interests. This integration will lead to more personalized and relevant advertising experiences, providing advertisers with a higher return on investment.

“As we continue the re-imagination of Audacy, our investments in our digital audio product suite are essential,” said Brian Benedik, Chief Revenue Officer, Audacy. “The creation of an Experian-powered Audacy identity graph is an important step in the process and allows us to create more value for both marketing partners and our listeners.”

“We are collaborating with Audacy because of their innovative vision for the future of audio,” said Chris Feo, Chief Business Officer, Experian. “Historically, audio advertising lacked precise targeting capabilities, making it challenging for advertisers to reach specific audiences. By integrating our digital identity graph and syndicated audiences with Audacy’s platform, we’re transforming how advertisers connect with listeners. This collaboration enables more effective audience targeting and delivers personalized, impactful audio experiences across all channels.”

Audacy Podcasts Partners For Sales/Distribution Of PAVE Studios Podcasts

~ jen

Leading premium podcast network Audacy Podcasts announced a strategic partnership with PAVE Studios to manage ad sales and distribution for a wide range of original podcast titles from the media company’s Crime House and OpenMind brands. Audacy’s PAVE Studios slate will move to Audacy Podcasts starting on October 7, 2024.

PAVE Studios is setting the stage for a better way of producing, distributing and consuming the world’s greatest content, while empowering creators, simplifying content discovery, and fostering vibrant communities. Founded by Max Cutler, former VP, Head of Talk Creator Content and Partnerships at Spotify and founder of Parcast Studios, the recently launched media company is already collaborating with top creators to unveil an array of original content across video, audio books, live experiences, merchandise and more.

PAVE Studios is experiencing remarkable grown driving entirely by original content, already boasting millions of downloads with listeners increasing by more than 100 percent every month. This impressive momentum is reflected in their initial slate of original series from Crime House and OpenMind, which consistently chart on both Spotify and Apple. 

“PAVE Studio’s forward-thinking business model places storytellers at the forefront, offering enhanced monetization opportunities that drive more revenue back into their hands. We believe that when creators thrive, everyone wins,” said Max Cutler, Founder of PAVE Studios. “Our one-of-a-kind partnership with Audacy not only supports our creator-first strategy but also highlights our shared commitment to valuing creators above all else. Together, we’re paving the way for a new era of media that connects them with audiences in bold, new ways.”

“Max Cutler’s track record of success speaks for itself, and we have been truly impressed by the exceptional creativity and vision of PAVE Studios,” said Jenna Weiss-Berman, EVP, Audacy Podcasts. “This partnership aligns perfectly with Audacy’s path of growth and innovation across our podcast and overall digital platforms, positioning us to amplify their expanding slate of audio content and top creators, engaging both dedicated fans and new audiences alike.”

OpenMind powered PAVE Studios is a vibrant and dynamic, global community whose creators aim to inspire, educate, entertain, and empower listeners’ personal growth and well-being through meaningful conversations, uplifting stories, curiosity-inspired content and transformative experiences.

Audacy’s slate of OpenMind series includes:

“Health Hacks”: an original weekly video podcast hosted by fifteen-time New York Times bestselling author and leading Systems Medicine expert Mark Hyman, MD, on which he explores that art of living well and shares his unique perspectives on the latest health trends that impact on our well-being.

“Horoscope Weekly”: hosted by bestselling author and renowned celebrity astrologer Aliza Kelly, this weekly original series decodes the latest astrological trends and offers tailored forecasts across love, career, health, and more.

Additional OpenMind original series coming Q1 2025 with Jemma Sbeg (Host of The Psychology Of your 20’s, a Top Podcast Globally) as well as Ally Lewber (Vanderpumo Rules star and spiritual astrologer).

Crime House powered PAVE Studios is the ultimate destination that delves deep into the human psyche and explores the captivating world of true crime, delivering thought-provoking investigations, gripping narratives and immersive experiences like never before.

Audacy Completes Financial Restructuring

~ jen

Audacy, Inc. (the “Company” or “Audacy”) announced that it has successfully completed its financial restructuring, implementing a fully congenital, deleveraging transaction that equalized approximately $1.6 billion of funded debt, a reduction of 80% from approximately $1.9 billion to $350 million

The Company emerges as a healthy, scaled, multi-platform leader in the dynamic audio sector, with total new leverage of approximately 2.7x, differentiated by its #1 position in exclusive, premium audio content.

Audacy will continue to be led by David J. Fried, its current President and CEO, and its existing management team. Field will also serve on the Company’s new Board of Directors.

“We are pleased to have successfully achieved all of our restructuring goals, emerging with an outstanding balance sheet, delivering industry-leading growth, serving our listeners and advertisers with excellence and honoring our commitments to employees and partners,” said David J. Field, President and CEO, Audacy. 

“Today, Audacy embarks on our next chapter, capitalizing on our position as a scaled, multi-platform audio leader, differentiated by our exclusive, premium audio content, including our unrivaled leadership in sports audio, powered by our industry-leading financial strength and focused on accelerating our innovation and digital transformation. We are maximizing a broad set of opportunities to future accelerate our growth for the benefit of Audacy and all of its stakeholders.”

Audacy has continued to steadfastly execute its transformation strategy, inviting in talent, content, ad tech and its audio streaming platform to further enhance its competitive position and drive accelerated growth opportunities. 

The Company is delivering industry-leading top-line and bottom-line growth, driven by significant gains in revenue shares, accelerated digital revenue growth, sustained audience share gains and prudent expense reductions to enhance operating margins despite ongoing challenges in he traditional advertising market. In the first half of 2024, the Company delivered Adjusted EBITDA growth of 128%.

Audacy continues building and enhancing its exclusive, premium content offerings, reaching over 200 million listeners. With a leading position in 45 of the largest U.S. markets the Company boasts a robust portfolio of more than 220 local radio bands with the premier and influential on-air talent.

Audacy Podcasts delivers award-winning hit shows, as well ad exclusive and expanded partnerships with leading podcasters, including Office Ladies, Fly On the Wall, Tenderfoot, The Moth, Amy Poehler, Glennon Doyle and Puck, and continues to be an audio partner of choice for brands, including HBO, Netflix, Amazon, the WNBA, Roc Nation, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Audacy continues to launch exclusive digital content with numerous A-list artists and is further extending its unrivaled leadership position in sports audio, operating 40 leading local all-sports stations, the #1 Sports Podcast Network with 600+ titles and the Infinity Sports Network. Audacy is the flagship home of 37 pro teams and is the exclusive audio sales partner of Major League Baseball.

In conjunction with the completion of its restructuring, Audacy is expected to become a private company.

 

Audacy Partners With Leading Storytelling Nonprofit The Moth

~ jen

Leading premium podcast network Audacy Podcast announced a strategic partnership with acclaimed storytelling nonprofit The Moth, to handle sales and distribution for the organization’s award-winning podcast, including video, social and sponsorships for live events.

To date, The Moth’s podcasts have been brought to listeners in partnership with PRX. PRX will continue to represent The Moth on public radio, which includes continued distribution of “The Moth Radio Hour” to more than 560 stations nationwide.

The Moth podcast feed will move to Audacy on January 1, 2025, and be accessible on the Audacy app and everywhere podcasts are available. The Moth will continue its release schedule with new and encore episodes of “The Moth Radio Hour” on Tuesdays and original episodes of “The Moth Podcast” on Fridays.

For over 27 years, The Moth has forged the modern storytelling movement, presenting over 60,000 true, personal stories to standing-room-only crowds at events and through storytelling workshops worldwide. Since 2008, these stories have reached tens of millions of listeners each year through “The Moth Radio Hour” and “The Moth Podcast.”

“As a nonprofit organization, the opportunity to broaden our reach with Audacy perfectly aligns with our mission of building a more connected world through the art of true personal storytelling. We’re thrilled to partner with their talented team to ensure these vital stories are amplified and heard by more listeners— and help brands connect with our community meaningfully through our audio programming, 600+ live event yearly, 1.33MM+ social media follower, and our digital extensions,” said Sarah Haberman, Executive Director of The Moth.

“Early in my career, I was a producer at The Moth, so I know firsthand how special this storytelling giant is. The Moth is unparalleled in the innovative work they create, and we’re thrilled to welcome them to the Audacy family,” said Jenna Weiss-Berman, EVP, Audacy Podcasts. “From the award-winning podcasts to live events and more, our partnership offers tremendous opportunities for advertisers to connect with deeply engaged listeners.”

With a deep archive of episodes, The Moth’s audio programing has garnered critical acclaim and cultural relevancy by featuring captivating, hysterical, gut-wrenching, unbelievably true stories from everyday people all over the world alongside notable names like Parma Lakshmi, Elizabeth Gilbert, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kathleen Turner, Malcom Gladwell, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, John Turturro, Molly Ringwald, Boots Riley, Krista Tippett, Damion Young, Mike Birbiglia, Rosanne Cash, Danyel Smith, Tig Notaro and more.

The Moth is represented by WME.

About Audacy

Audacy, Inc. is a leading scaled, multi-platform audio content and entertainment company that connects with 200 million consumers. Powered by its exclusive, premium audio content that includes unrivaled leadership positions in news and sports radio, Audacy operates one of the country’s two scaled radio broadcasting groups, a rapidly growing direct-to-consumer digital audio platform, multiple audio networks, a major event business and a leading, award-winning podcast studio and network. Learn more at www.audacyinc.com, Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Audacy And ElevenLabs Strike Partnership

~ jen

Audacy is partnering with voice AI research and deployment company ElevenLabs to augment its existing programming and production workflows.

Through ElevenLabs’ market-leading synthetic voice capabilities, this partnership will create a robust library of voices for Audacy to deliver custom experiences for listeners and advertising clients. Audacy will infuse creator-led ideas and concepts with ElevenLabs’ technology to further bolster its programmers’ and talents’ unique ability to engage deeply with audiences at scale.

“By experimenting with ElevenLabs’ synthetic voice capabilities, we’re transforming how we connect with our listeners and create value for our advertising partners,” said Jeff Sottolano, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming, Audacy. “By streamlining workflows, this collaboration will empower creators with more bandwidth to focus on the exceptional content and listening experiences our audiences love and expect from Audacy.”

“Through our work with Audacy, we’re bringing new voices to life, making radio more diverse and accessible for everyone,” says Carles Reina, Vice President of Revenue, ElevenLabs. “This technology also means we can produce more creator-led content faster, keeping up with the speed of today’s world.”

ElevenLabs is a voice AI research and deployment company with a mission to make content universally accessible in any language and voice. ElevenLabs creates the most realistic, versatile and contextually aware AI audio, providing the ability to generate speech in hundreds of new and existing voices in 29 languages. As a technology research company, ElevenLabs is at the forefront of developing new cutting-edge voice AI. The company deploys the most advanced models and features accessible via web app or API to a user base from creators to publishers and beyond.

About Audacy

Audacy, Inc. is a leading multi-platform audio content and entertainment company that connects with 200 million consumers. Powered by its exclusive, premium audio content that includes unrivaled leadership positions in news and sports radio, Audacy operates one of the country’s two scaled radio broadcasting groups, a rapidly growing direct-to-consumer digital audio platform, multiple audio networks, a major event business and a leading, award-winning podcast studio. Learn more at www.audacyinc.com, Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Audacy Renews Relationship With Veritonic

~ jen

Veritonic, the industry’s comprehensive audio analytics and research platform, announced that Audacy has renewed its partnership with the company. The continued partnership will allow Audacy to provide their clients and advertising partners with insightful and comprehensive data that can be used to optimize their audio campaigns, resulting in an increase in both reach and ROI.

“Measuring the impact of our total Audio campaigns — including radio, streaming, and podcast advertising — with Veritonic allows us to show the power of Audacy’s content in connecting with audiences and mobilizing customers,” said Idil Cakim, Senior Vice President of Research and Insights, Audacy. “We’re thrilled to continue our partnership and enable our clients and advertising partners to leverage audio to achieve the utmost in competitive edge, reach, and ROI.”

“We take great pride in our ongoing partnership with Audacy, supporting their clients and advertising partners with unparalleled data & insights to inform their audio strategies,” said Scott Simonelli, CEO of Veritonic. “Through the utilization of our creative measurement and brand lift solutions, Audacy can continue to empower their clients with the data required to fine-tune their campaigns and ensure a robust return on their investment in the channel.”

Veritonic’s measurement platforms and tools enable Audacy to pressure test the sonic qualities of the company’s clients’ messaging and advise them on the optimal sounds that will generate positive emotions, recall and action. Audacy uses Veritonic’s audio-first Brand Lift and Creative Measurement solutions to measure the impact of their clients’ audio campaigns on key brand performance metrics, across the funnel.

The studies provide a deeper understanding of how audio contributes to achieving a client’s goals in terms of emotional resonance, awareness, favorability, intent, and recall. By equipping brands with these tools for validating their investments, Veritonic helps mitigate risks and enhance the performance and ROI audio across various formats, including streaming and audio and podcast advertising.

Veritonic’s AI-powered Creative Measurement solution provides brands and agencies with robust pre-market insights that delve into the emotional resonance, recall, and engagement of audio content. With this actionable information in hand, brands and agencies can optimize their content for maximum impact, ensuring that every element of their audio campaign captures the attention and hearts of their target audience.

The exclusive provider of independent and holistic audio data and analytics, the Veritonic platform is supporting the audio strategies of leading brands, agencies, and platforms around the world.

Audacy Partners With Women’s Meditation Network For Sales & Distribution

~ jen

Audacy has entered into a sales and distribution agreement with the Women’s Medication Network beginning on January 1, 2024, further solidifying its position as a leader in women’s lifestyle content.

Founded by Katie Krimitsos, the Women’s Meditation Network offers a wide range of guided meditation podcasts created to be easily accessible, approachable, and deeply fulfilling for people of all ages and experience levels, as well as children. The shows offer a variety of prescriptive help, including relieving stress or anxiety, starting the day with mindful intentions, falling asleep easier, and more.

All of the shows in the Women’s Meditation Network are available on the Audacy app and everywhere podcasts are available.

Audacy’s Women’s Mediation Network slate includes seventeen shoes; including: Meditation for Women; Sleep Meditation for Women; Morning Meditation for Women; Sleep Sounds Meditation for Women; Daily Affirmations Meditation for Women; Water & Nature Sounds Meditation for Women; Ambient Sounds Meditation for Women; Healing Meditation for Women; Meditation for Anxiety; Mindful Mediation for Women; Panic Attack Meditation; Meditation for Moms; Sleep Stories; Sleep Meditation for Kids; and Meditation for Kids.

Katie Krimitsos is a mom, wife, adventurer, podcaster, seeker, and change maker. She’s committed to brightening the light of women around the world through her work under the Women’s Meditation Network, 17 podcasts that provide meditations for women across a variety of styles and topics. Since launching her first podcast in 2018, Krimitsos’ network of shows has published more than 2500 episodes and accumulated over 100 million total downloads.

Brands Are Safer Than They Think On Podcasts

~ jen

A new study has revealed that consumers are highly accepting and open to podcast advertising despite persistent brand concerns about suitability and safety. 

The research, conducted by Alter Agents – an independent market research consultancy – in partnership with Audacy, found that podcasts provide a safe advertising environment for brands, with eight in 10 consumers finding branded podcast messages suitable as long as they are contextually relevant, even when it comes to controversial content. Podcasts garner an engaged listening environment that bolsters attention, with 80% of listeners claiming they listen to ads, most as they enjoy the whole podcast.

The study identified key themes regarding brand safety and suitability in podcast advertising for marketers and consumers. The B2B community listed controllability, genre-specific myths, trade-offs of produced vs host-read advertisements, and the complex categorizations of podcasts. Consumers indicated ads must be a good fit within the content, hosts must be authentic, and controversial topics in the content can be acceptable and even enjoyed as long it is not defamatory towards one group.

Engagement and ad fit are also fairly consistent across genres. Ad parings in potentially controversial genres like true crime and news genres perform similarly to less contentious genres like sports and health/fitness/lifestyle pairings.

Brand fit is not an issue for listeners. Few say they have heard ads unsuitable for the podcasts they listen to but are more likely to call out ads sounding too much like a sales pitch or not being more native to the podcast style as reasons for unsuitability or poor fit.

Foul language is not a top reason for not listening to a podcast, but where content or hosts cross the line is through racist statements. In fact, foul language is accepted in many genres, especially comedy, entertainment/pop culture, music, and true crime.

“This study illustrates that with the right mix of authenticity and awareness, brands have an incredible opportunity to foster trust and loyalty with listeners of all backgrounds in the ever-expanding space,” said Jenna Weiss-Berman, Executive Vice President, Podcast, Audacy. “Today’s podcast listener is open-minded and willing to engage with a wide range of brands on multiple levels as they consume content ranging from true crime to investigative documentaries to comedy, sports, entertainment and beyond.”

“Brand safety is critically important, and there’s a perception in the marketplace that certain genres of podcasts may not be as brand-safe, given the free-form host-driven nature of podcasts. In turn, podcast advertisers have hesitated to leverage the reach and scale of podcasts to remain brand-safe,” said Idil Cakim, Senior Vice President of Research and Insights, Audacy. 

“While brands are smart to assess the risks and rewards of advertising on podcasts, they may be missing out on reaching critical consumers. That’s because podcasts deliver highly engaged audiences, create prime listening environments, and host authenticity offers a strong personal connection to listeners.”

“Audacy’s study does a great job of highlighting that the material qualitative and technical advancements in brand safety and suitability within the podcast industry have mitigated a perceived risk for brands to advertise on podcasts,” said Kurt Kaufer, Co-Founder, Ad Results Media. “It also nicely contextualizes the positive listener perceptions of brands who make podcast ad investments a material part of their marketing mix.”

Methodology:

Audacy partnered with Alter Agents and leading media agencies for this 2023 study to assess brand safety perceptions among media industry executives and frequent podcast listeners. Audacy commissioned the 2023 Alter Agents study. Four audio and podcasting company executives were interviewed. 6,000 respondents were surveyed through a 20-minute online survey collected between July 28 and August 3, 2023. Participants were a nationally representative sample based on age, gender, and ethnicity.

Frequency Drives 3x Efficiency For Audacy With Podcast Vetting Automation

~ jen

Frequency, the next generation of ad management for the audio industry, and Audacy Inc., a leading multi-platform audio content and entertainment company, reveal how technology is fueling Audacy’s dramatic increase in podcast sales productivity. Since using Frequency’s automated workflows, Audacy’s podcast vetting process is now 3x more efficient.

Audacy is driving sales speed and scalability with automation. Having used Frequency’s platform to vet 10K+ requests across ~200 podcasts, the results are in:

  • Hundreds of hours saved for the ad ops team
  • 300% faster responses from shows
  • Happier team members
  • More revenue supported and captured

Frequency’s unique ad management platform for audio is the necessary infrastructure Audacy needs to conduct individual vetting requests for thousands of advertisers. Audacy can turn around RFP’s quickly, include more pre-vetted shows, and win larger budgets.

“A 3x more efficient vetting process is a huge advantage. We’re responding faster and minimizing human error. Our ad ops team, talent, and agency partners are happier and less frustrated too,” said Danny Kutrick, Senior Director, Podcast Operations & Traffic, Audacy. “Without the typical ad ops pain points, we’re scaling with ease. There’s no doubt that Frequency is an essential platform for audio publishers to improve workflow, save time, and make money.”

“For too long, Podcasting has been held back by the process to get an ad placed, approved, produced, and delivered,” said Pete Jimison, CEO of Frequency. “Audacy has been an amazing partner leading the charge with us to automate all of the manual work, saving their team time to focus on stronger partnerships with talent and sponsors, and opening up new revenue opportunities.”

Audacy and Frequency have been working together since 2019 when Audacy first signed on to use Frequency’s platform. Audacy saw immediate advantages with Frequency’s copy rotation and contextual ad serving tools.

The two companies are excited to unveil additional podcast sales optimization features and integrations later this year.

Companies that want to become more efficient should look to tech to make it happen. Frequency offers audio publishers essential infrastructure to move quickly and accelerate podcast, radio, and streaming sales growth. 

Serving 4B+ ad impressions a month, 1K users tap into Frequency to automate workflow, centralize campaigns, and maximize revenue. Frequency simplifies the ad ops process and speeds up vetting by 3x+.

Audacy and CBS Sports Digital Announce Content Distribution

~ jen

Audacy and CBS Sports Digital have announced a partnership where Audacy will be the exclusive, multi-year ad sales and distribution partner for CBS Sports’ leading network of award-winning sports podcasts.

“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with CBS Sports in the podcasting space – properties I know well from my time spent there,” said Ken Langara, Executive Vice President of Digital Sales, Audacy, “Adding this family of content to our roster provides Audacy with a number of the leading sports, fantasy sports and betting podcasts, areas we have enjoyed significant success to date and are important to our clients. This partnership could not come at a better time with football season fast approaching.”

“We are continuing to heavily invest in our podcast network and the creation of award-winning audio content at a time our network is experiencing sustained periods of audience growth and engagement,” said Jeffrey Gerttula, Executive Vice President, Digital, CBS Sports and CBS News and Stations. “We’re exited to partner with Audacy, an industry leader in ad sales and delivering premium opportunities for advertisers, to bring impactful interactions and campaigns to the podcast market.”

CBS Sports Digital has grown to reach more than 90 million monthly active users, making it the second-largest sports group in the U.S., and with more than 65 shows and nearly 100 million downloads in 2021, CBS Sports also has one of the largest multi-platform sports podcasts networks. Its shows include Pick Six, The Early Edge, Fantasy Football Today, the Cover 3 College Football Podcast and Attacking Third as well as the network of 247Sports podcasts.

Audacy’s podcast network reaches nearly one-third of all monthly U.S. podcast listeners, and over 40 million monthly listeners globally, in addition to over 30 million monthly sports fans across Audacy’s broadcast and digital assets. Audacy is the nation’s leading collection of radio play-by-play coverage with over 90 professional and Division 1 collegiate teams.