iHeartMedia has announced it’s entered into an agreement with The E.W. Scripps Company to acquire Triton Digital for $230 million USD.
Operating in more than 50 countries, Triton Digital provides ad tech and audience measurement solutions to the podcast and audio streaming industry, including Webcast Metrics and Podcast Metrics, one of the first IAB certified podcast measurement services.
iHeartMedia, one of the leading podcast publishers in the U.S., in addition to its 850 live broadcast stations in 160 U.S. markets, and iHeartRadio digital service, says the acquisition will allow it to provide audio content to producers and advertisers with a full ad service package for streaming and podcasting. The company purports to reach nine out of 10 Americans every month, with a quarter of a billion monthly listeners.
“The addition of Triton Digital’s vast array of infrastructure and measurement solutions will complement iHeartMedia’s current advertising technology services, data platforms and programmatic platforms while providing additional solutions for those in the digital radio industry, allowing iHeartMedia to be the first and only company in the audio market to provide four distribution methods for audio, including on-demand, broadcast and digital streaming radio and podcasting, and to service all audio assets programmatically,” the company said in a release.
The acquisition of Triton Digital is iHeartMedia’s latest investment in the audio technology space, following the acquisition of podcast publishing, analytics and targeted ad serving provider, Voxnest, last October. Over the past two and a half years, the company has also acquired Jelli Inc, a digital-compatible buying platform for radio that includes programmatic buying, data targeting and creative optimization; Radiojar, the centralized, cloud-based audio playout platform, through iHeartMedia, Inc.’s subsidiary RCS; and social advertising data intelligence platform, Unified.
“Adding Triton Digital and its industry leading services to the iHeartMedia audio ecosystem establishes iHeartMedia as the only company with a total audio advertising technology and data solution,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, Inc., in a release. “iHeart, with our strong leadership position in podcasting, digital radio and broadcast, already provides cutting edge audio management, programmatic and data solutions for the broadcast radio, digital audio and podcasting industries, and this acquisition further strengthens our position as the No. 1 audio company in America and provides unique — and critical — solutions for the industry and for advertisers.”
“We are thrilled to join the iHeartMedia family,” added Neal Schore, CEO of Triton Digital. “We remain deeply committed to providing the world’s broadcasters, podcasters, and online audio publishers with continuously innovated, best-in-class solutions and services for online audio management, advertising, and consumption data, and are well positioned to enhance iHeartMedia’s value proposition to audiences and advertisers.”
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