SCA today announced that it has taken a minority investment position in US company Frequency, which will power dynamic creative optimisation on the LiSTNR digital audio platform and SCA’s linear broadcast business.
Frequency has been a pioneer in the audio industry, launching the first Creative Management Platform (CMP) specifically built for audio advertising. The Frequency platform utilises data signals to create multiple personalised versions of audio ads in real-time, across live radio streaming, music, podcasts, and FM/DAB broadcast, providing advertisers with a unique opportunity to speak to their desired audience in a personalised manner across all platforms and devices.
Frequency combines workflows and data to enable advertisers and SCA to streamline audio production, manage campaigns and customise ad products, with an intuitive analytics system to measure results. This investment will see LiSTNR and Frequency work together to create new data integrations and custom audio products to further mature the audio market.
“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. 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 CEO, Grant Blackley, said.
“A key benefit of LiSTNR being developed in-house is our ability 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. Frequency will now enable LiSTNR advertisers to plan and execute dynamic creative seamlessly.”
SCA Chief Sales Officer, Brian Gallagher, said: “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.”
Frequency CEO, Pete Jimison, said: “We’ve really enjoyed working with SCA and are thrilled to now be growing our partnership as we both push the industry forward and press the bounds of what the audio creative experience can be for listeners. LiSTNR’s personalised content combined with Frequency’s personalised ads will make for an even more enjoyable end listener experience and provide a greater impact for advertisers.”
About SCA (Southern Cross Austereo)
Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) is one of Australia’s leading media companies reaching more than 95% of the Australian population through its radio, television, and digital assets. Under the Triple M and Hit network brands, SCA owns 99 stations across FM, AM, and DAB+ radio. SCA provides national sales representation for 23 regional radio stations. SCA broadcasts 94 free to air TV signals across regional Australia, reaching 2.8 million people a week, with 10 Network programming and advertising representation across Australia’s East Coast, Seven Network programming in Tasmania and Darwin, and Seven, Nine and Ten programming in Spencer Gulf. SCA also features Sky News Regional in 17 markets across regional Queensland, southern NSW, and Victoria. SCA operates LiSTNR, Australia’s free, personalized digital audio destination for consumers featuring radio, podcasts, music, and news. SCA provides Australian sales representation for global open audio platform SoundCloud and Sonos Radio. SCA’s premium brands are supported by social media, live events and digital platforms that deliver national and local entertainment and news content. https://www.southerncrossaustereo.com.au/
About Frequency
Frequency® is digital audio’s first Creative Management Platform (CMP) that offers publishers and advertisers greater control over the creative lifecycle for audio ads. From ad production to ad delivery and measurement, Frequency provides the tools to make ad operations more efficient and audio ads more effective. Frequency combines data and creative to enable personalization of audio ads and empower advertisers with intelligence to make smarter decisions with ad creative and audience targeting. For more information, visit www.frequencyads.com.
