iHeartMedia had one more surprise up its sleeve to complete its week at Cannes Lions: the broadcaster is deepening its relationship with one of Big Tech’s biggest players, expanding its deal with Amazon Ads to position iHeart as a local reseller of audio and video inventory.
The partnership gives advertisers access to Prime Video, Twitch, Amazon Music, Fire TV, and Alexa through iHeart’s sales and creative infrastructure, while unlocking Amazon DSP targeting across iHeart’s owned-and-operated digital inventory locally and nationally. Buyers get Amazon’s shopping, browsing, and streaming signals applied across iHeart’s digital audio, podcasts, and creator-led content, with a single activation path spanning both platforms.
iHeart had been reselling Amazon Prime streaming ad inventory for roughly three years before Thursday’s announcement. In November, the two companies went deeper, launching a programmatic audio offering that put iHeart’s streaming portfolio inside Amazon DSP, with broadcast radio and podcast inventory flagged as coming this year. iHeart President and CEO Bob Pittman named Amazon DSP specifically on last quarter’s earnings call as a key target for broadcast radio’s programmatic push in the second half of the year.
iHeartMedia Chief Business Officer Lisa Coffey said, “By combining Amazon Ads’ shopping insights and advertising technology with iHeart’s audio leadership, we’re creating a more seamless, data-informed way for brands to create more effective campaigns across sound and sight.”
