• by Felicia Greiff , December 16, 2015

Ad-tech company Mediaocean is partnering with iHeartMedia, giving Mediaocean customers access to iHeartMedia’s broadcast radio inventory.

With the partnership, Mediaocean claims it can offer agencies access to more than 80% of the entire U.S. streaming audio market by adding iHeartMedia’s digital audio inventory to its list of partners, which include Pandora and Spotify (added in March). 

Within Spectra, Mediaocean’s media management platform, buyers can now manage, research and buy iHeartMedia’s local digital audio available on desktop, mobile, in-car digital dashboard, tablets, gaming consoles and home entertainment systems. 

Cordie Depascale, Mediaocean's VP-product and partner development, said iHeartMedia is unique because buyers can browse the audio giant’s many radio stations along with custom ratings from Nielsen and Triton Digital, as opposed to the manual way of doing things.

The point, Depascale said, is to reduce friction, make it easier to transact, and get everything reconciled and audited. 

A bonus with advertising on digital radio, Depascale said, is that everything can be counted. Media buyers can see a representation of subscribers that have accessed content or seen an ad when they receive an invoice. That's rare  in an industry plagued with viewability issues and ad blocking.

As for the partnership, Depascale said there's more to come, including engaging with agencies and working with Nielsen, Triton and local broadcast partners.

iHeartMedia, formerly Clear Channel, serves more than 150 markets through 858 owned radio stations.