SCA continues ‘deep tech’ strategy to build ad personalisation
Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has taken an unspecified stake in US adtech company Frequency in a move the Australia business said will increase its ability to personalise audio ads.
SCA described it as a minority investment but did not disclose financial details.
It said Frequency will power dynamic creative optimisation on the LiSTNR digital audio platform and SCA’s linear broadcast business.
Frequency is said to have launched the first Creative Management Platform (CMP) specifically for audio advertising. It uses data signals to create multiple personalised versions of audio ads in real-time, across live radio streaming, music, podcasts, and FM/DAB broadcast.
“The investment in Frequency is our third in the area of deep tech as we continue to develop the digital tech capability roadmap for LiSTNR and our digital audio first model,” SCA chief executive Grant Blackley said.
“We have already taken stakes in Australian AI and machine learning companies SourseAI for content recommendations, and Sonnant for content discovery for the spoken word.”
SCA chief Grant Blackley
He added that a key benefit of LiSTNR being developed in-house is to “create our own future”.
“We are leading the market by investing in high performance, deep technology partnerships, providing them with scale and strategy, that can accelerate our roadmap,” Blackley said. “Frequency will now enable LiSTNR advertisers to plan and execute dynamic creative seamlessly.”
SCA chief sales officer, Brian Gallagher, added: “We have a total audience network of 4.5 million listeners which continues to expand. The number of digital audio advertising campaigns at SCA has doubled year on year and we anticipate that our digital audio revenues will grow by between 75% to 100% year-on-year.
“Our investment in Frequency is an exciting media capability with the ability to change the ads based on what is happening – making advertiser messages most relevant to the consumer.
“The ability to provide our advertisers with dynamic creative, real time optimisation and measurement analytics will make LiSTNR an even more compelling advertising proposition.”
