In a major agreement that seeks to advance online audio advertising generally, as it helps two companies reach their business goals, Triton Digital and AudioHQ are announcing today that AudioHQ will be the exclusive seller of Triton’s ad inventory in the U.S.
In the multi-layered deal, AudioHQ will onboard Triton Digital’s sales team, and put all its existing publisher clients whose advertising AudioHQ represents into Triton’s Webcast Metrics Local ratings service. Additionally, AudioHQ takes control of the Triton Local Network, a view of available ad inventory which appears in buying platforms used by advertisers to plan media campaigns. Today’s announcement indicates that AudioHQ will rename the Triton Local Network sometime in the future.
To summarize the deal points:
- AudioHQ now represents all the U.S. streaming audio ad inventory that exists in Triton’s ad platforms, including a2x, which is Triton’s programmatic system.
- AudioHQ absorbs Triton’s sales staff, who become AudioHQ employees. AudioHQ’s headcount doubles.
- AudioHQ, which represents many audio publishers like SoundCloud, 8tracks, AOL Radio, Bloomberg, and others, will pile into Triton’s Webcast Metrics Local subscription product for audience measurement.
- As a result of being in Webcast Metrics Local, all those publishers represented by AudioHQ will appear in the Triton Local Network, which appears in the buying platforms like Strata and Mediaocean, used by ad agencies to plan and purchase campaigns.
- The Triton Local Network will eventually be renamed by AudioHQ, presumably with its own brand, giving the ad-rep company a stand-out presence to agency buyers.
John Rosso, Triton Digital
One important aspect of the deal is that it removes competition between Triton and AudioHQ, streamlining sales flow through a larger array of available audio advertising.
“Sales representation is still an important service we offer to publishers, and AudioHQ is going to be our representative in the U.S.,” RAIN News was told by John Rosso, President, Market Development at Triton Digital. “In order to do that, they have hired the majority of the Triton ad sales team.”
The partnership is framed as a venture to scale digital audio advertising in the U.S.
The view of this arrangement from Rosso’s perch is several fold, and full of advantages. Listening platforms represented by AudioHQ gain more exposure to big agency buyers. Advertisers get to see more inventory through a single vendor, enlarging and simplifying their campaign options. For John Rosso, the whole online audio advertising ecosystem benefits, while focusing Triton Digital on its core business of developing technology.
Matt Cutair, AudioHQ
“The combination of Triton Digital and Audio HQ teams and assets creates a larger scale sales effort that will be able to more effectively promote online audio advertising,” Rosso told us. “While Audio HQ focuses on building that aspect of the business, Triton will now devote even more energy to advancing the technologies that underlie programmatic audio advertising and yield optimization.”
For AudioHQ, the deal doubles down on that company’s core mission of representing digital audio advertising availability.
“Since the day we founded AudioHQ, our focus has always been on building the most complete monetization solution for digital audio publishers and this arrangement allows for a significantly broader approach across all sales channels including national, local and programmatic.” said Matt Cutair, CEO of AudioHQ. “We could not be more thrilled to be bringing over such a talented team of individuals who have built a top class ad-sales business.”